This aged shoumei white tea was picked and pressed in Fujian in 2014, and was then stored in Guangzhou for several years. Chinese white teas such as this are known for their fragrance and sweetness, and the solid storage and age on this tea lends itself well to those aspects. Whilst shoumei has less buds than a gongmei or baimudan grade white tea, the higher proportion of larger leaves means this tea is very robust, and is suitable to many styles of brewing, including gongfu in a small teapot or gaiwan, brewed directly in a mug, in a large Western-style teapot, or for being boiled/simmered in a kettle or on the stove. Depending on how strong you brew the tea, the flavours can range from light and softly sweet and fragrant, to thick and rich, with a smooth and very satisfying honey-like character, hence the name. 

Aged white teas from Fujian have exploded in popularity in recent years in the Chinese market, and it's increasingly difficult to find teas that were actually aged rather than being processed to mimic age, especially because ageing white tea is a fairly new concept, only being done since around 2011 in any commercial sense. We think this tea is great value, and a perfect introduction to Chinese tea if you're just beginning to explore, or after a solid tea of this style to keep on rotation. 

The cakes are 360g, which is the traditional size for tea cakes in China based on Imperial measurements, but a fair bit larger than most of our in-house productions which are normally 200g. At $0.25AUD per gram, this tea is the equivalent of a $50AUD 200g cake. 

Artwork produced in collaboration with Eroductions.