2013 Bai Mu Dan White Tea Cake

Rarely found aged Bai Mu Dan Tea stored for more 8 years

This is a rarely found aged Bai Mu Dan stored for more than 8 years. Talking about aged white tea,  wee usually heard of the aged Shou Mei. It is not very common to find an aged Bai Mu Dan Tea Cake stored for more than 5 years. This beautiful Bai Mu Dan is full of downy white pekoe and silvery buds. As it is made of fine buds and small leaves, its transformation is not as intense as the aged Shou Mei, which is made of mature leaves. Instead, aged Bai Mu Dan transformed as very high and elegant in sweetness, like the crystal sugar.

Weight: 285g/cake

Tea Farm Location: Organic Tea Farm at Ma Guan Jian, Dian Tou Town, Fuding, Fujian Province, China

Harvest Time: Spring 2013

Tasting Notes: smooth and rounded mouth-feel, elegant sweetness like the taste of crystal sugar, well balanced fruity and honey notes

Tea Liquor Colour: Bright and clear apricot colour

Dry Leaves Appearance: 1 bud and 2-3 leaves; lots of downy pekoe in between, and the leaves is darken in colour

Brewing Method in Gong Fu Style: Gong Fu Style: 5g Tea| 150ml water (90-95°c) | 1-3 infusion : 15’s, After : Add 5’s each

*As this cake is tightly pressed, we recommend to add few seconds for the first few steeps

New vs Aged White Tea – What is so special about aged White Tea?

When talking about Fuding White Tea, people always mention about the aged White Tea and how to age it. In Fuding, there is a saying about the aged white tea going like this ” One year Tea, three year medicine, seven year treasure”. (In Chinese：一年茶，三年藥，七年寳). There is some researches found that Fuding White Tea is special in its medicinal value, the more year it was aged, the more medicinal benefit it can bring. As a Tea sommelier, despite all that findings about the medicinal value of aged white tea, it is more about the taste dimension to us. So, Let’s talk about the transformation of the aging white tea! You can try our Master Tasting Collection Box #21 – New VS Aged White Tea to know more!

Dry Leaves Appearance of New and Aged White Tea

The longer it was stored, the darker it will get. The newly harvested Tea is bright green in colour; and Tea stored for 2-3 years is still very green, but slightly become darker; and aged Tea with more than 10 years, will basically turn into brown but still with some green colour tones.

The Colour of Liquor of New and Aged White Tea

Similar to the transformation of dry leaves, the liquor will also get darker when it was aged. The newly harvested Tea is light yellow in colour, and Tea stored for 2-3 years is still yellow, but slightly become darker into light golden yellow; and aged Tea with more than 10 years, will basically turn into orange.

Taste and Mouthfeel of New and Aged White Tea

For almost every aged Tea, there is a saying “the aged the better in taste”. For us, both new and aged white tea include different unique taste characteristics we can appreciate. For new Tea, it is relatively lighter and soft, smooth and refreshing, slightly grassy but flowery with lingering aroma and sweetness. And for aged white tea, It become rich and full in its mouthfeel, the more age it get, the sweeter it become. Aged White Tea is usually having layered sweetness, mixed with honey, jujube, woodsy and sometimes even herbaceous or Chinese medicine notes.

How to store and age the White Tea?

• Temperature: no need to store in the fridge, just store it in a ventilated room with room temperature, remember to avoid the high heat from the room heater in Winter.
• Sun-shine: avoid direct sunshine
• Container: White Tea need to be stored in a relatively more air-tight container, you can store it in a sealed bag/jar/ bottle/pot/ aluminum foil bag
• Odorless: Avoid getting in touch with any Odor, as the Tea may absorb any unfavorable odor in the environment around them
• Humidity: Keep it in a dry environment, beware of the humidity (Level of humidity in the storing environment is recommended to be less than 70%)

How many grades are there for Fuding White Tea?

Fuding White Tea are classified into four grades according to the picking grades, including the first grade “Silver Needle”, second grade “White Peony”, third grade “Gong Mei” and fourth grade “Shou Mei”. You can learn more about the four grades of Fuding White Tea in our Master Tasting Collection Box #7: Four Grades of Fuding White Tea

What is the making process of Fuding White Tea?

The making process of White Tea is simple, only requires withering and drying after picking the tea leaves. We took the below picture in the organic tea farm in Panxi last year. Although the process is simple, skills is still very important, like time controlling, humidity controlling, change the angle for placing the tea leaves for sun-drying… all make it the best way to show the simple beauty and natural taste from the Fuding White Tea.