Updated 2026-10-13 · Wubaiyi Agarwood (伍佰艺沉香), Hainan plantations & Beijing flagship store
**Agarwood tea is an infusion made from the leaves (and sometimes the young shoots) of the agarwood tree, primarily Aquilaria sinensis in China — not from the valuable resinous wood. Brew it like a light oolong: roughly 3–5 g of leaf per 150–250 ml of water at 90–95 °C, steeped 30 seconds for the first infusion and lengthened thereafter. It is naturally caffeine-free, tastes mellow and faintly sweet, and has a long history in southern Chinese folk practice. Human research is limited, so everything here is traditional and experiential context, not medical advice.**
Key takeaways
- Two very different products are sold as "agarwood tea": leaf tea (affordable, daily) and wood-shaving tea from resinous heartwood (expensive, occasional).
- Leaf tea: 3–5 g per 150–250 ml at 90–95 °C. Rinse briefly, then 30 seconds for the first steep; good leaf yields 6–8 infusions.
- Wood shavings are simmered, not steeped — about 0.5–1 g in 500 ml for 10–15 minutes at a low simmer.
- Naturally caffeine-free and low in tannin, so it doesn't go astringent the way over-steeped black tea does.
- Evidence for health effects is mostly laboratory and animal work. If you're pregnant, diabetic or on medication, talk to your clinician first.
Agarwood leaf tea comes from the foliage of Aquilaria trees. The leaves contain no meaningful resin — trees produce resin in the heartwood only after injury or inoculation. Producers pick leaves, wither them, fix them with heat, roll them, and dry them much as they would any other tea. Done well, the result is a pleasant, mild, slightly sweet infusion that works as an evening drink. Reference retail prices run roughly USD 8–40 per 100 g, with well-processed spring leaf at the upper end.
Agarwood wood tea (sometimes sold as gousi, chips, or shavings) uses actual resin-bearing wood — sometimes production offcuts from bead-making. This is genuinely aromatic, resinous, and priced accordingly: anywhere from tens to hundreds of US dollars per 100 g depending on resin content. It is usually simmered or prepared in a thermos rather than steeped gongfu-style.
If someone offers you "agarwood tea" without specifying which, ask. The gap is the difference between a daily beverage and a special-occasion one.
Expect something quiet. Honest description beats marketing here.
Leaf tea: a pale yellow-gold liquor; gentle hay and dried-grass aromatics; a soft rounded sweetness in the middle with very low astringency; the finish brings cooling energy. Compared with green tea it's rounder and less grassy; compared with oolong it's simpler and less floral. Most people describe it as "easy."
Wood-shaving tea: noticeably richer — warm resin, a faint bitterness underneath that good material turns sweet, and a lingering aromatic finish on the breath. Low-resin material tastes woody and thin; high-resin is more like drinking something with body.
Neither tastes like a scented tea. There's no added fragrance in properly made agarwood tea; whatever aroma exists comes from the plant material itself.
| Step | Detail |
|---|---|
| Vessel | 100–120 ml porcelain gaiwan or small pot |
| Leaf | 5 g (roughly two tablespoons of rolled leaf) |
| Water | 90–95 °C — just off the boil |
| Rinse | 5 seconds, discard |
| Infusions | 30 s, then 45 s, 60 s, 90 s, then extend as needed |
| Yield | 6–8 infusions before it flattens |
Rinse always. Rolled leaf needs that first contact to open, and it rinses off storage dust.
3 g per 250 ml, 95 °C, steeped 4–5 minutes. Strain. One portion can be re-steeped twice. Lower the temperature to 85 °C and shorten to 3 minutes if you prefer a lighter cup.
Leftover shavings can be dried and used again once or twice, though the second pass is thin.
If you already own agarwood chips or powder intended for burning, they can technically be repurposed this way — but please don't use anything you don't know the treatment history of. Material sold for burning is not necessarily handled to food-grade standards, and oil-enhanced or dyed pieces have no business in a teapot. Buy material sold as tea. Our leaf and shaving lots come from managed sources, and anything crossing a border commercially travels accordingly — Aquilaria is on CITES Appendix II, though routine small personal orders of packaged leaf products are handled very differently from bulk wood shipments; check your own country's rules. Mandarin readers can extend from here with 勾丝怎么用（煮水、泡酒） and 沉香养生.
We sell this material, so let's be careful and straight.
Aquilaria leaves have attracted genuine scientific attention, largely because they contain compounds including mangiferin, genkwanin and various iriflophenone derivatives. Laboratory and animal studies have reported antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and glucose-metabolism-related activity for these compounds. There are published pharmacological reviews of Aquilaria species broadly.
Here is the caveat, stated plainly: those findings are overwhelmingly in vitro (cells in dishes) or from rodent studies, often using concentrated extracts rather than an infusion of dried leaf. A mug of agarwood tea is not a dose of extract, and nobody has run the human trials that would let anyone make a health claim. Traditional Chinese and folk use is real and longstanding — usually framed around settling the stomach, clearing heat and general ease — but tradition is not clinical proof.
Practical implications:
This section is general information. It is not medical advice.
From the counter. A retired teacher named Lin started buying agarwood leaf tea from us roughly two years ago for one unglamorous reason: she wanted something hot to drink after 8 p.m. that wasn't going to keep her awake. She had tried roasted barley tea and didn't like the taste. We set her up with 200 g of spring leaf and the western-style ratio. She now goes through about 100 g every six weeks, brews it in a 400 ml pot, and re-steeps twice. Asked whether it did anything for her sleep, she shrugged and said no idea — it just tastes nice and she isn't awake at 2 a.m. anymore, which she attributes mostly to not drinking tea after dinner. That's probably the most honest testimonial we've received, and the most useful.
Want to try it? We supply leaf tea and food-grade shaving lots separately, clearly labelled. Browse products or ask which suits your taste.
Usually the dried leaves and young shoots of Aquilaria sinensis, processed much like conventional tea. This is different from products made from the resinous heartwood, which are far more expensive and prepared by simmering rather than steeping. If a listing doesn't specify which it is, ask before buying — the two products differ dramatically in price and character.
For leaf tea, use 5 g per 100–120 ml at 90–95 °C: a 5-second rinse, then infusions of 30, 45, 60 and 90 seconds, extending thereafter — expect 6–8 rounds. Western style, 3 g per 250 ml steeped 4–5 minutes works fine. Wood shavings are different: simmer 0.5–1 g in 500 ml for 10–15 minutes, or steep 1 g in 400 ml in a thermos for 30–45 minutes.
No — it is naturally caffeine-free, since it comes from Aquilaria rather than Camellia sinensis. That makes it a workable evening drink for people who want something warm without stimulation. It's also relatively low in tannin, so it stays smooth rather than turning astringent when you forget the timer.
Tell us the use case and budget — we will tell you what actually fits, and what does not.