Cedar Claw
A new spring offering from our good friend Balazs Henger in Chehalis, WA, made using the young cones of Red Cedar trees on his property. The inspiration for this tea comes from what is called "dragon claw" in Northern Vietnam or simply "buds" in Yunnan. Below is a bit about the process in Balazs's own words -
"After the cones are harvested, they are piled and managed to heat up under their own pressure to 120°-130°. When the center of the tightly bundled pile reaches this temperature range, the bundle is loosened, and cones spread thin to cool. As soon as the cones have returned to room temperature 《65°-70°) they are bundled tightly and allowed to heat up again. This process is repeated every 12 hours until desired fermentation occurs. Usually, the bundle will only heat up to 100° at the end of the piling.
The comes start to dry, and it's time to remove the leaves that some are attached to. Hand rubbing the cones frees them from the stams and leaves.
Next step is wind winnowing. Everything gets poured from a height of 15 feet into a big catch bin. With the right breeze, consecutive pours remove all of the stems and leaves while the heavy cones fall straight down into the bin. Usually the process is repeated 5 times before the cones are free of stems and leaves.
The cones are laid out on bamboo trays and allowed to dry in the sun for one day, then room temperature air dried until they reach 4%-5% moisture.
All of the wind winnowed leaves and stems land on a big sheet. They are collected and dried and further processed into stand alone conical incense. Respecting the trees, none of their gifts are wasted."
Like all of his teas, Cedar Claw can be used in either a gongfu setting or in a western brew style. With notes of camphor, caraway and anise milk, this tea provides a complexity and nuance that is perfect for the caffeine sensitive, or for those just looking to gongfu a tea in the evening and not stay up till two in the morning.
Teamaker - Balazs Henger
Location - Chehalis, WA
Harvest Time - May 2026
BREWING INSTRUCTIONS
- Gong Fu - This tea works great in both porcelain and semi porous vessels. Since it is small buds, we recommend filling less than a quarter of the vessel with dry leaf.
- Western - Use 1 large pinch of tea per 8 oz of water. Add 212F water and steep for 4-6 minutes. Can be re-steeped a second time, adding 2-3 minutes to the original steep time.