Zi Ya Purple buds Raw Pu-erh Tea Cake 2017

Zi Ya Purple buds Raw Pu’erh Tea Cake 2017

First of all, Why is the Tea purple in colour?

“Zi Ya”  happened to be purple, because of the anthocyanin pigmentation. Anthocyanin is a type of flavonoid, a compound with natural colour substance found in a range of food, that gives purple, red and blue plant their rich colouring. It is also commonly found in some food plant like blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, purple cauliflower and cherry. It resulted in a mutant phenotype that has a striking purple color in young foliage and stem of “Zi Ya” . Some Research found that low temperature and long illumination of specific growing area promote anthocyanin accumulation in the Tea, which can help protecting the plants against various biotic and abiotic stress. The purple coloration was found in the tea buds, young leaves and stem in early spring, but started to disappear when the Tea become mature with 3-4 leaves, the mature leaves will turn back into green colour. Its harvest period is very short, usually last only from early to Mid-March; which make these Purple Tea a kind of rare Tea with very low quantity of harvest throughout the year.

Varietal:

Zi Ya is a kind of Yunnan Big Leaf Varietal naturally grown from a natural mutation, mostly found and harvested in the forest of south-west part in Yunnan province.

Tea Leaves Appearance:

The Fresh Leaves of Zi Ya Looks purple when it is young, and it will completely turns into green when the leaves become mature, so the tea leaves will looks no difference than other Pu’erh Fresh leaves once it become mature with 3-4 leaves, the leave looks fat with apparent venation, like other wild Tea. The dry leaves of Zi Ya is partly in dark green (similar to other raw puerh tea) and partly in purple colour. The wet leave of “Zi Ya” looks green once infused.

Level of Anthocyanin component:

Based on the research of Tea Research Institute in 2014, the level of  Anthocyanin component in Zi Ya is 6.69mg/g.

Health Benefit of Anthocyanin:

Many researches found that Anthocyanin demonstrates range of health benefit, it is rich in antioxidants, and also found to have positive effect on blood vessel heath, cancer, urinary tract infection and colds. But once again, we are just Tea sommelier, not a professinal nutritionist or medical consultant. All the health benefit mentioned are just for your reference.

Harvest Location: Menghai, Yunnan, China

Harvest Time: Spring 2017

Tasting Notes: This Zi Ya here is made into raw pu’erh, which also taste very similar to raw Pu’erh, but is a sweet version of raw Pu’erh. It is very smooth, thick , with strong honey notes and sweet aftertaste

Tea Liquor Colour: Bright and clear golden yellow colour

Weight per Tea Cake: 200g