2023 Qianjiazhai Sun Dried Black Tea

This wild-foraged tea comes from the Li Family of the Dongsa Cooperative within Mt Ailao National Forest Preserve, where ancient tea trees aged 100-800 years grow among evergreens and wildflowers on rocky mountainsides. The labor-intensive harvest allows sun-roasting and oxidation without wok heating, retaining more moisture and making it ideal for aging like traditional sheng pu'er. Only high-elevation, remote locations like Qianjiazhai provide sufficient spring sunlight for this rare technique, creating a tea that combines black tea's sweet malt with sheng pu'er's complex herbaceous undertones.