Tea Drunk ’Til Dawn: Poker, Pu’er, and the Oldest Tree in the World main image 1
Tea Drunk ’Til Dawn: Poker, Pu’er, and the Oldest Tree in the World main image 2
Tea Drunk ’Til Dawn: Poker, Pu’er, and the Oldest Tree in the World main image 3
Tea Drunk ’Til Dawn: Poker, Pu’er, and the Oldest Tree in the World main image 4

Tea Drunk ’Til Dawn: Poker, Pu’er, and the Oldest Tree in the World

Yesterday, we got together with the guys to play poker. I wasn’t too keen on losing all my possessions 🥸, so I took responsibility for the tea — sticking to the basics 😎

After warming up with two introductory shu pu’ers, we moved on to the crown jewel—a wild white tea from the oldest tea tree in the world! This 2,800-year-old tree grows in Thailand. The leaves were harvested in February 2023. In the aroma, we picked out hay, the sweetness of grape-flavored Skittles, white wine, lichen, and hints of citrus. The taste revealed marzipan, greater celandine, linden, and cherry pit.

Next, we decided to warm up with a red tea — Zhen Shan Xiao Zhong, smoked over pinewood, from the Tongmu nature reserve in Fujian Province. The aroma carried notes of salted bream, cervelat sausage, smoked string cheese, smoked paprika, pinene, the sweetness of baked red apples, halva, linden sauna whisks, and redwood. In the fairness cup, we picked up eucalyptus and the scent of a pinewood sauna. The taste featured a sour cherry jam tartness, nettle, wormwood, fruitwood chips, fig, and dried apricot. Upon swallowing, a lingering menthol coolness spread across the upper palate.

For dessert, we had a heavily fermented Hong Shui oolong (Grade A) from the spring 2016 harvest. The cultivar was Jin Xuan (TRES #12), grown in Thailand at an altitude of 1,300 meters. The dry leaf enticed with the aroma of chocolates filled with cognac ganache. The taste showcased pine cones—or rather, pine cone jam—linden honey licked off a wooden spoon, and the minty freshness of menthol.

To wrap things up, we finished with another Thai guest: a well-aged 15-year-old sheng from 300-year-old trees growing at 1,300 meters above sea level. Its organoleptic profile featured medicinal balm, the antique coziness of knitted socks, dried apricot, pear, and mangosteen peel. The infusion had a jelly-like texture.

We got extra tea-drunk and were chilling listening to J Dilla’s beats until 4 AM, playing board games and having deep conversations. 🌸