2024 'Optic' Raw Puerh Tea
In a similar vein to last year's ‘Macroscope’, this tea is a distillation of the 2024 spring season in Yunnan. Pure old-tree material from across our favourite pockets of forest, blended into a weaponised disc of raw puerh. Yet another year with zero rain means old-trees had to dig for moisture with their deep taproots, resulting in an intensified flavour, fragrance, and deep texture in the leaves.
When brewed, this tea offers a luxurious viscosity akin to glistening oil, with a very elegant bittersweet initial kick that relaxes into smooth, lingering fragrance that will stick in your mouth and throat for hours afterwards. Optic is very dynamic from steep to steep — if you don’t find yourself pleasantly drifting off in a potent fugue after the first few. An engaging, potent tea and our favourite kind to make; an exercise in purely selfish drinking pleasure.
Open that third eye and drink this over the years to come as it ages gracefully.
Wrapper artwork by Jon Marshall.
2024 tea material produced in Yunnan, China.
200g per compressed cake, with 5 cakes per traditionally wrapped bamboo tong. 25g samples are cut or broken from the cakes and sealed into bags.
All orders are shipped from our HQ in Melbourne within 1-2 business days, using Australia Post.
Australia: $9.95 AUD flat-rate standard shipping, free above $75 AUD. $14.95 AUD flat-rate express shipping, free above $100 AUD.
New Zealand: $20 AUD flat-rate, free above $90 AUD.
Asia: $25 AUD flat-rate, free above $150 AUD.
North America: $30 AUD flat-rate, free above $150 AUD.
Europe: $35 AUD flat-rate, free above $150 AUD.Use boiling water (100C).
We recommend using approx 1g of tea per 15ml of water for gongfu-style brewing in a teapot or gaiwan. Rinse the leaves once and then brew as usual. You can re-steep the leaves several times until there's no flavour left.
For Western-style brewing in a larger teapot, use approx 5g tea per 100ml of water. You can re-brew the leaves a few times.
To brew direct in a mug, use 1-2g of tea in the bottom of the cup, fill to top with boiling water, and drink once cool. Re-fill the cup with more water when you've drunk 1/3rd of the tea. Repeat until there's no more flavour left.
All of our teas are suitable for long-term storage and ageing.
Keep your tea away from sunlight and strong smells, and somewhere with stable climate conditions.
You can keep it sealed inside the re-usable bag the tea comes in, or another non-porous container.