Seven years ago, before the pandemic, I met a young tea seller online.
His family made tea, so he was a real tea farmer, not someone simply building a tea persona online.
At that time, I saw something else on his social media. He was in love with his girlfriend, and they were planning to get married.
They looked very happy together.
I felt happy for them, so I wished them all the best and bought a few kilograms of tea from him.
And yes, I paid him directly through WeChat.
He was surprised. He told me he didn’t expect me to trust him that much.
A few days later, a large box of tea arrived at my home.
There was much more tea in the box than I had paid for.
At that time, I was still new to southern Chinese tea, so I didn’t drink much of it.
I put the tea in my study and slowly forgot about it.
Later, I moved to another home in the city.
And the tea came with me.
Then I completely forgot about it.
Until a few days ago.
I was cleaning my old study when I found the box again.
It was covered in dust, but it had been stored very well.
I opened it and smelled the tea.
No moldy smell.
So I decided to try it.
I brewed a pot and took a sip.
And honestly, it was pretty good.
This was a nice surprise.
Pu-erh tea can be stored for many years, so perhaps the tea had been waiting for me all this time.
The tea also made me think of that young tea farmer.
We had sent each other holiday greetings every year, but I have so many friends on WeChat that, to be honest, I had almost forgotten about him too.
So I sent him a photo of the tea.
He looked at it and told me that I was lucky.
The room had stayed dry, and the tea had aged well over the years.
He said I could drink it.
But he reminded me to rinse the tea before drinking it.
And what happened to that young man?
Well, he married his girlfriend.
They now have a beautiful child, who will start school next year.
I think that’s the best part of this story.
Seven years passed.
The tea was still here.
And so was the friendship.
Sometimes, forgetting something for seven years can bring you a nice surprise.