Zi Ye Smoked Pu Erh Tea

Gongfu!

Last but certainly not least was yet another smoked tea – this time a roughly fifteen(ish) year old purple sheng pu’erh from Marika’s stash. This was the first tea that she’d sourced for her tea company back in the day. In the words of her producer, it was “a mistake”. However, it most definitely does not taste like a mistake!

Coming off the back of Smokeshou this was a much more gentle smokiness with a rounded and overall cleaner finish. We only had a few steeps and my memory of them is fleeting at this point, but I remember loving the second steep in particular because the mid sip had this lush plum note that weaved together with the smoke in a way that felt very… I don’t quite know how to phrase it. Exotic was the first word to come to mind, but it’s not really what I mean. I think what it felt like in the moment was the taste version of when you’re travelling abroad and you discover the perfect hidden gem that’s not in any tour guides or travel brochures. No one local guided you there. You just stumbled upon it yourself and it feels like being let in on a really, really big secret.

Anyway… damn good tea to end the afternoon on.