Why We Stopped Selling Broken Tea
Most tea bags exist because of a tradeoff: convenience, in exchange for using up the broken leaf, dust, and fannings left over after better-grade tea is sorted out. In 2015, Baoputang decided not to make that trade. 放弃碎末茶 — give up the broken stuff — became the rule: if it goes in a bag, it has to be whole leaf, the same grade as anything sold loose.
That's a harder thing to commit to than it sounds, since whole leaf doesn't pack or infuse the way ground tea does — corn-fiber bags were chosen specifically because they're roomy and breathable enough to let an intact leaf actually open up inside one. 紫笋, Zisun, was one of the first teas to go into this format: an early-spring, non-smoked Tongmuguan red tea from gardens above 1,500 meters, picked from the Jiang family's six-century tea-making lineage, with the same floral-fruit front and honeyed finish it would have loose-leaf.
This particular run, from winter, was folded into what Baoputang calls its 冬煮系列 — a winter simmering series — tea meant for the season when convenience and care don't have to be opposites.