Wild Purple Chrysanthemum

These amazing purple chrysanthemums grow wild in the mountains around Qiandao Lake in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. The total harvest this year was 10 kg, and we are thrilled to have received a small, very precious, amount of them.

At 4500 ft elevation, the climate in Hangzhou is quite cold, meaning there are few insects and pests. The delicate chrysanthemum flowers have taken advantage of these conditions, flourishing here without human intervention. All the farmers do to tend to them is manually pull out weeds around where they grow.

Each purple flower is harvested by hand in the second week of October. Afterwards, they are spread out on small bamboo mats in a mud-walled drying room. The flowers are not heated directly, so to dry them the craftsmen gather pine branches from the mountain, light them, and maintain a fire in the small mud house, drying them indirectly by the warm, pine scented air as it circulates through the room. Once finished in the mud house the flowers are carried down the mountain, where they are finished over charcoal at very low heat. This process requires a great deal of patience and skill to ensure that their delicate petals do not fall off.

These beautifully preserved, purple tinted flowers brew a crystal clear liquor, disguising the intense medicinal qualities they impart to the water. Their bright yellow pistils glow in the liquid, and the petals expand, turning translucent as they slowly come to fill the carafe.

The leaves on the flowers are much more robust this year, and the tea has been produced in much smaller quantities. This tells us the region saw harsher weather, and that we are meeting more resilient flowers.

Their liquor strikes the tongue with a fresh menthol sensation. It is herbaceous and active, like rosemary and thyme, and is balanced by a rich, broth-like mouthfeel. It has a lingering, lemony aftertaste with hints of pine mushroom and wet earth. You can enjoy this tea through many infusions, and it will become sweeter and sweeter as you do.