2024 Prickly Pear Red Tea

This red tea undergoes an additional transformation that sets it apart from any standard hongcha. Whole hand-rolled red tea leaves are stuffed directly into sun-dried prickly pear fruit shells and left to age through a process called contact-drying. During this time, the tea absorbs the natural sugars and fruity compounds from the fruit wall, with no flavoring agents and no added sweeteners. The prickly pear acts purely as a vessel and a slow, natural source of flavor.

The leaves are pressed tightly inside the fruit, which also affects how they compress and age, similar in principle to how stored teas develop complexity over time, but here the environment is a fruit rather than a warehouse.

In the cup, the difference is immediately noticeable. The sweetness is pronounced and natural, the fruity note is subtle but persistent, and the texture is exceptionally smooth, qualities that a standard red tea wouldn’t produce on its own.

Each serving uses two fruit pieces and contains enough leaf for multiple steeps, making it well-suited for gongfu brewing.