Purple Bud and Zijuan: Purple Tea

Walk into a Yunnan tea garden in spring and now and then you'll see a few tea trees whose buds aren't yellow-green but purplish red, standing out in the sunlight. This is "purple bud" (紫芽, ziya). Later, Yunnan researchers picked out a particularly thoroughly purple cultivar from such trees and named it "Zijuan" (紫娟). The two are often mentioned interchangeably, but they're a little different.

What Is Purple-Bud Tea?

Purple bud isn't a cultivar but a phenomenon: the tea plant's buds and young leaves contain more anthocyanins, which mask the green of chlorophyll, so the buds and leaves appear purple. It turns up sporadically in Yunnan large-leaf populations, more often where sunlight is strong and altitude high. The same tree may be purple in spring and turn green in summer, because anthocyanins are diluted as young leaves grow.

Old books also mention "Zisun" (purple shoot) tea, but that's a small-leaf tea from Jiangnan, a different thing from Yunnan's purple buds. When Yunnan tea farmers pick purple buds and process them separately, the result is "purple-bud pu'er" or "purple-bud tea."

The Origins of Zijuan

The story of Zijuan (also often written 紫鵑) goes like this:

• In 1954, researchers at the Tea Research Institute of the Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences noticed that some tea trees in the population gardens of Nannuo Mountain, Menghai, had purplish buds and leaves.
• Following that lead, researchers later found, in a garden propagated from Nannuo Mountain seed, a tea tree whose stems, leaves, and buds were all purple; it was first called "紫鵑" and later formally named "紫娟" (Zijuan).
• In 1985, it was propagated by cuttings into a clonal cultivar.
• In 2005, it was granted variety rights by the New Plant Variety Protection Office of the State Forestry Administration, under variety rights No. 20050031.

So is Zijuan a "new variety"? By registration date it's a relatively young cultivar, but its ancestor is Nannuo Mountain large-leaf tea, a member of var. assamica, not a plant from elsewhere.

What Does Zijuan Look Like?

Zijuan is a small tree of the large-leaf type. The buds, leaves, and tender stems of new shoots are purple; semi-lignified stems are purplish red, turning brownish green once fully lignified. Mature leaves are mainly green with a hint of purple and an elongated, willow-like shape. The dry tea is usually deep purple-black, easy to tell apart from the dark or grayish green of ordinary pu'er.

What Does Purple Tea Taste Like?

• Liquor color: Made into green tea or sun-dried raw tea, the liquor has a pale purple or purplish-red tint; anthocyanins are sensitive to pH, so a drop of lemon juice turns the liquor pink, a fun little experiment.
• Taste: Tea drinkers often describe bitterness that appears but clears quickly, a smooth mouthfeel, and a clear huigan; some find it a bit green and astringent and prefer quicker pours.
• Aroma: More understated than typical large-leaf raw tea, with herbal and green-fruit tones.

The anthocyanins in purple-bud tea transform during storage and ripe pile fermentation, so the purple is mainly visible in young raw tea; after long storage or as ripe tea, the liquor color approaches that of ordinary pu'er.

Does Purple-Bud Tea Count as Pu'er?

It depends on raw material and processing. Zijuan and purple buds are both Yunnan large-leaf tea, so as long as they're grown within pu'er's geographical indication protected area and made by sun-drying, steaming and pressing, or pile fermentation, they meet the definition of pu'er and can be called purple-bud pu'er or Zijuan pu'er. Zijuan is also made into black tea, green tea, and white tea, which then belong to those other categories.

What needs distinguishing is "purple bud" versus "Zijuan": the former is naturally occurring purple buds and leaves; the latter is a specific registered cultivar. A product labeled Zijuan usually means tea from the Zijuan cultivar grown in terrace or newly planted gardens; one labeled ancient-tree purple bud usually means scattered purple buds from old gardens.

How to Brew Purple-Bud Pu'er

Brew it like ordinary raw pu'er: a gaiwan of around 110 ml, 5–7 grams of tea, water at 95–100°C; when young tea is noticeably bitter and astringent, lower the water to about 90°C and pour off the first few infusions a little faster, about 5–10 seconds. Use a white porcelain cup to look at the liquor and best appreciate its purple.

For differences in cultivar and leaf shape within large-leaf tea, see Large-, Medium-, and Small-Leaf Varieties and Modern Bred Cultivars.

Zijuan and Other Purple Teas

Zijuan isn't the only purple tea in Yunnan's gardens. Purple buds pop up sporadically in many large-leaf populations, and research institutes and tea companies have bred other lines with purple or purplish-red buds and leaves. When buying, you can tell the three labels "purple tea," "purple bud," and "Zijuan" apart like this: Zijuan usually means this registered cultivar; purple bud or ancient-tree purple bud usually means purple buds occurring naturally in population gardens; for plain "purple tea," it's best to ask which kind.

Recognizing Purple Bud by Its Infused Leaves

After brewing, purple-bud tea's infused leaves are often indigo, dark green tinged with purple, or dark purplish brown, very different from the yellow-green infused leaves of ordinary raw pu'er. Lay infused leaves of purple-bud tea and ordinary raw pu'er side by side on a white plate, and the difference in color is obvious at a glance, good tasting practice.

FAQ

Is Zijuan a new variety? Zijuan was selected from a Nannuo Mountain large-leaf population, became a clonal cultivar in 1985, and was granted variety rights in 2005; it counts as a relatively young bred cultivar.

Are purple bud and Zijuan the same? No. Purple bud is naturally occurring purple buds and leaves in large-leaf tea; Zijuan is a specific bred and registered cultivar.

Does purple-bud tea count as pu'er? If the raw material is Yunnan large-leaf tea made by pu'er processing within the protected area, it's a type of pu'er.

Why does purple-bud tea's liquor change color? The purple comes from anthocyanins, which turn pinkish with acid and gradually transform during storage and fermentation, so aged purple-bud tea's liquor approaches that of ordinary pu'er.