2021 Jinggu Purple Bud Sheng Pu-erh

A genuinely uncommon leaf: purple bud tea, one of only two recognized purple varieties from Yunnan's tea gardens (the other being a separately bred purple cultivar). This one isn't purple through breeding — it's a natural mutation, where only the very tip of the new bud turns a deep purple-red from a high concentration of anthocyanins, before settling back to ordinary green by the third or fourth leaf.

Grown on a family tea garden of more than 400 mu (about 65 acres) in Manzhuan Village, Minle Town — part of Jinggu County, one of Pu'er City's lesser-known but genuinely old tea-growing areas in Yunnan. This is the spring 2021 harvest, processed as raw (sheng) pu-erh and left loose rather than pressed into a cake, so the leaf itself — buds still faintly purple-tinged — is easy to see.

Purple tea has a mixed reputation, and honestly: some purple-leaf green teas do turn out bitter and overly astringent, which is part of why the variety stays a niche curiosity rather than a mainstream favorite. As a raw pu-erh rather than a green tea, though, this is a different case — young and lively, with the brightness typical of a 2021 spring sheng, and the naturally higher anthocyanin and flavonoid content that purple varieties are known for.

Like any young sheng, expect it to keep developing with age if you store it dry and well-ventilated. Worth trying if you like exploring genuinely less-common Yunnan varieties rather than just restocking the usual ones.