ZI RAN RED | black

notes — raisin | mulling spices | full

ZI RAN RED is an unsmoked zhengshan xiaozhong—or, lapsang souchong—production from Tongmu, Fujian province, China. Like ZI RAN SMOKE, this lot comes to us from Zi Ran Hong, a centuries-old smokehouse about 4 hours from Wuyi national park. For this production, the smokehouse, or qing lou ("green house", where lapsang is smoked with pine wood) was irrelevant; this is a modernist unsmoked lot. Save the smoking, this hong cha ("red tea") is produced identically to its smoked cousin: hand-plucked from wild-growing xingcun xiaozhong cultivar trees, withered, hand-rolled in cloth, and left to oxidize fully in bamboo baskets with no yaoxing ("shaking"—a process that accelerates oxidation).

Tongmuguan, where ZI RAN HONG has operated for 3 generations, has been a protected UNESCO site since 1979. The pine forests are nationally protected, with imposed limits on how much can be harvested. All the land in Tongmu is accounted for by long-time residents—Zi Ran Hong is in its third generation of tea making. Without sponsorship from a resident, tourists are not permitted in the preserve. Our ongoing partnership with Zhao Cong at Zi Ran Hong grants us rare access to one of Fujian's best-protected treasures.

The lack of pine wood smoking offers a unique glimpse into the natural character of Tongmu tea. The dry leaf offers a mulling spice musk, with the steeped tea giving raisins and dates wrapped in a drying—but not tannic—body. Steep aggressively, and alongside the same tea, but smoked, for the full lapsang souchong experience.

vintage — spring '22

style — unsmoked zhengshan xiaozhong ("mountain small leaf")

cultivar — xingcun xiaozhong

region — Tongmu, Fujian, China

locale — Zi Ran Hong tea farm

elevation — 1300 meters

producer — Zhao Cong

nomenclature — Zi Ran (自然)—"natural" | Hong (红)—"red"

STEEPING PARAMETERS