2026 Haunted Plum (梅占, Méi Zhàn, " Haunted Plum") is one of our favorite cultivars for making Wuyi Oolong. Originally from Anxi, this breed has an enigmatic name that is difficult to translate - the character Méi 梅 unambiguously means "plum", but the character Zhàn 占 is primitive and elusive - meaning to occupy, possess, stand in the place of, and divination. We've been calling it Haunted Plum for years and the name stuck. Sadly, because of the capricious nature of the Wuyi Rock Tea market, this breed has fallen out of favor and is not being widely produced in the region anymore.
After many years, our source for Haunted Plum, Xu Zheng Cong, has procured and roasted a new batch of Haunted Plum for us. This oolong retains the distinctive toasted-coconut and bourbon vanilla profile of classic Haunted Plum with an undertone of fresh loamy minerality.
Note: This tea was grown in Anxi, but processed in the Wuyi mountains using Wuyi techniques by a Wuyi tea master. Its high-oxidation, unrolled, heavily-roasted character make it so much more like a Wuyi oolong than an Anxi oolong that we have classified it accordingly.