High Mountain Pu-erh Tea is Now Available in Our Store

High mountain purple raw pu-erh tea is now available in our store. This is one of the very interesting raw pu-erh teas we made in 2019.

High mountain tea called Zi-Cha

High mountain purple tea is made from the specific varietry called Zi-cha by the locals. In Chinese, Zi-cha means purple tea. This variety is different from the Zi Juan cultivar which is famous in South Yunnan. Zi Juan was vastly cultivated as garden tea in South Yunnan in recent years. Zi Juan cultivar gives astringent taste while the purple tea in Lincang gives very soft mouth-feel and easy drinking sensation. The leaf and tree of purple tea looks like the normal tea tree. The only difference is the stem that is slightly reddish-purple. Once it is processed into raw pu-erh tea, it turns into dark navy colour. The growing speed of the purple tea is slower than that of normal tea. This tea is only available close to the end of tea season when most of other teas has nearly finished.

Very rare tea in Yunnan

Most of the production area of purple tea is located at the high mountain area of Lincang. Generally, the altitude of its growing area is scattering at around 1900-2200m. In fact, the purple tea is quite rare kind of tea in Yunnan. In particular, the old tea tree is extremely rare. Fortunately, our manufacturer happens to own the very old tea trees of purple tea. Those trees were grown by his ancestor. Before tea plucking season, we have booked all trees.

Dry fruity flavor

The purple tea variety gives unique fruity flavor if it is process in a proper way. However, very few people are aware that purple tea is flavorful. It is because of purple tea is too rare and less common. In addition, during frying process some tea manufacturers often spoil the tea due to improper handling. Thus, tea losses its flavorful characteristic and taste turns bitter. In making our purple tea, we conducted series of trial and we have optimized the process to bring out the real characteristic. As a result, our high mountain purple tea gives thick fruity flavor that reminds me of dried mangoes, apricots or dates. I often think that the flavor of purple tea has a lot in common with Phoenix oolong too.

Naturally farmed tea at 2100m

This year we collected the fresh tea leaves of purple tea from the garden at about 2100-2200m. Thanks to the high altitude and the old age of tea tree, it gives very thick after taste and soft mouth-feel. Another characteristic of purple tea is the strong body. It gives very bold and rich drinking sensation on palate.

Honey flavor produced by aging

The high mountain purple tea gives no bitterness and astringency. I personally love to drink it when it is freshly produced. However it is also suitable for further aging. In particular, after a few years of proper aging, this tea produces sweet flavor like fresh spring honey. The price of high mountain purple tea is as follow. Japan and Oversea Customer: 200g JPY4600 Malaysian Customer 200g RM188 and 357g RM330

For more on how raw Pu-erh is made, aged, and stored, see What Is Raw Pu-erh Tea?.