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This special bundle includes four 25g offerings and one 100g pressed cake of white tea from across China for 200g total (about 40 sessions). China is going through a white tea renaissance of sorts - a pivotal moment in the history of an incredibly unique kind of tea thanks to surging popularity and innovators across the country bringing new techniques together with ancient tradition. On the one hand, old-school white tea craft is all about locking in the freshest most aromatic flavor possible from buddy da bai varietal leaf. On the other hand, modern white tea pioneers are taking that fresh flavor and aging it, pressing it into cakes, and even scenting it or blending it with other ingredients. This tasting kit is a chance to explore both traditional white tea and modern explorations from all across China. You’ll taste the delicate young spring buds of the Wu Family’s wild-arbor groves all the way to Yunnan white tea cakes and white tea jasmine.
This bundle includes three 25g offerings of white tea for 75g total (about 15 sessions). The Wu Family has been growing tea for generations, with bushes scattered across the mountainside between groves of bamboo and evergreens. With white tea’s recent surge in popularity, the family is rediscovering groves planted generations ago left for years untended, and picking them without introducing pruning or intervention. The Wu Family's white tea craft is all about non-intervention. There is no firing process, no heat applied at any stage. The fresh buds are rushed into a special drying room with continuous circulation to lock in the fresh vegetal floral complexity you'd get tasting a fresh leaf picked in the field. Mr. Wu combines this commitment to non-intervention with a meticulous background in engineering, crafting special fans to control air circulation and get the freshest most aromatic tea without heat or sun exposure.
The Wu Family's oldest prized tea bushes growing among wild trees, flowers and bamboo are picked once in the extreme early spring for a bud-only harvest, and then allowed to build up nutrients until they are picked a second time when delicate leaves begin to unfurl. This second harvest of buds and leaves is what makes their fine Bai Mudan- full of the complexity that later season sunlight brings but the sweetness and texture of the early cold-weather buds.
Fuding’s most iconic and famous white tea, pressed into gorgeous collectible cakes for long term aging. This is the Wu Family's masterpiece offering, the pride of Wuyang Village. The oldest and most established wild plants, growing among rich biodiversity on a mountainside fully devoted to organic practices are carefully selected and the first budding of the year is hand-picked and meticulously finished to lock in the sweet complexity of the terroir, the early harvest nutrients, and the natural quality of the established deep-rooted bushes. Expect incredible textural nuance and long drawn-out aftertaste in every sip.
This is the Wu Family's masterpiece offering, the pride of Wuyang Village. The oldest most established wild plants, growing among rich biodiversity on a mountainside fully devoted to organic practices are carefully selected and the first budding of the year is hand-picked and meticulously finished to lock in the sweet complexity of the terroir, the early harvest nutrients, and the natural quality of the established deep-rooted bushes.
The Wu Family’s Shou Mei is deep, rich and bold - a flavorful expression of white tea, picked from later season larger leaves that are packed with the complexity that a wild, biodiverse landscape brings to the Wu Family’s old-growth Da Bai varietal bushes. The Shou Mei grows even deeper, sweeter and darker with age like pu’er, and this year, the Wu Family pressed their Shou Mei in individual single session dragon pearls to protect them for transit and long term aging.
This tea was picked, finished, blended and pressed by Mr. Wu at his family farm using pristine high mountain leaves and buds, specially balanced for long term aging. While technically a Shou Mei, this cake benefits from an unusually amount of downy buds and tender leaves more in the style of Bai Mudan for the best of all worlds - getting the depth and juiciness of Shou Mei leaf but the creamy dessert flavor of Bai Mudan.
When it comes to white tea cakes, Mr. Wu’s approach is critical to creating teas that will age and get better and better over time. The key is his high airflow low heat technique. Without applying high heat to stop oxidative and enzymatic reactions by fixing the tea, Mr Wu leaves the tea open to slow steady change and growth.
Bai Mudan, or White Peony tea from the Wu Family represents their most balanced expression of the wild mountain terroir, with both flavorful leaves and tender downy buds for a tea that shows off whiet tea’s iconic sweet smooth texture and a deep wild forest quality. The Wu Family finishes these leaves under a special shaded air circulation process developed by Mr. Wu to lock in the freshest most aromatic flavors possible. This year they pressed a Dragon Pearl individual steeping size Bai Mudan to protect the leaves even better in transit.
Shou Mei is the biggest, boldest, most flavorful expression of White Tea, picked from late season larger leaves that are packed with the flavor and complexity that a wild, biodiverse landscape brings to the Wu Family’s old-growth Da Bai varietal bushes. The Shou Mei grows even deeper, sweeter and darker with age like pu’er, and this year, the Wu Family pressed their Shou Mei in mini wafer cakes to protect them for transit and long term aging.
Bai Mudan, or White Peony tea from the Wu Family represents a balanced expression of their mountain's wild terroir, with both flavorful leaves and tender downy buds for a tea that shows off whiet tea’s iconic sweet smooth texture and a deep wild forest quality. The Wu Family finishes these leaves under a special shaded air circulation process developed by Mr. Wu to lock in the freshest most aromatic flavors possible. This year, they pressed a 100g small format tea cake to protect the leaves for long term aging.
Bai Hao Yin Zhen is picked entirely from early spring buds, with almost no leaf at all. The result is extremely sweet and thick, with a light flavor but a lingering deep aftertaste and aroma. The biodiversity of the Wu Family’s multi-generational tea garden, left untended for decades yields tea with big rich flavor, the plant's response to competition from other plants and insects. The result is a silver needle with unparalleled refinement but a dynamic structure and energy. This year’s harvest is remarkably creamy while still maintaining a cooling, tingling aftertaste and deep herbaceous undertones.
The Wu Family's Shou Mei is picked from mature wild-arbor Da Bai varietal tea bushes on their high-elevation biodiverse plot. Their generously downy Shou Mei is a combination of young leaves and buds. The 2020 harvest has a generous amount of small fuzzy buds alongside the mature late spring leaves, brewing up extremely balanced and deliciously easy to sip all afternoon.
This wild-picked Shou Mei from the Wu Family's beautifully-forested misty mountain plot has been carefully aged for over five years to bring out deep complexity. A mix of buds and leaves, this tea has become sweeter and more honeyed over the years and picked up a cooling eucalyptus quality. Fine white tea like this can age for decades and continue to grow over time.
Mr. Wu selected these wild arbor leaves and buds for a special club pressing to show off the natural terroir of his family’s mountain slopes. The Wu Family has been growing tea for generations, with bushes scattered across the mountainside between groves of bamboo and evergreens. With white tea’s recent surge in popularity, the family is rediscovering groves planted generations ago left for years untended, and picking them without introducing pruning or intervention. The result is this wild arbor tea, full of deep tingling cooling aftersensation and complex rich aromatics.
This reserve-level white the cake from the Wu Family highlights their wild-arbor Shou Mei, carefully air-dried to lock in fresh floral aromatics after picking and then allowed to age in a carefully-controlled environment for nearly seven years before gentle steam-heating and stone-pressing. The results show off the cooling, deep, medicinal side of white tea, and evoke jujube date-filled lotus-wrapped sticky rice with a sweet sparkling aftertaste.
This tea was picked, finished, blended and pressed by Mr. Wu at his family farm using pristine high mountain leaves and buds, specially balanced for long term aging. While technically a Shou Mei, this cake benefits from an unusually amount of downy buds and tender leaves more in the style of Bai Mudan for the best of all worlds- getting 4th depth and juiciness of Shou Mei leaf but etc creamy dessert flavor of Bai Mudan.
The Li Family is excited to offer 100g cakes of this special aged tea! In an historic first, Li Xiangxi and her family have begun to cultivate Da Bai varietal in the cool, rocky, and singular terroir of their old growth fields in the Wuyishan Ecological Preserve. Using traditional sun-drying and airing techniques, the Li's have crafted finished white tea and pressed it into beautiful 90g cakes for aging. At a glance, it looks like a classic Shou Mei, but a tasting reveals how much the Wuyi terroir impacts the flavor of Da Bai. This tea is packed with deep minerality, balanced complex texture, and cooling foresty notes that you would not find in classic Fuding white tea. The biodiversity, soil, and water of one of the most famous tea microclimates in the world makes this a fantastic new way to experience what white tea has to offer.
This is just the second year this tea has been made. The Gu Hua harvest is an early autumn picking possible only in the cool high elevation mountaintops of Qianjiazhai, favored by Master Zhou for its fruity, rich flavor. In years past, this has been used exclusively for sheng pu’er. This year, a small portion was set aside to sun-oxidize as a black tea. The results are stunning! It has all the juicy flavor of the sheng pu’er but with creamy nutty depth only possible in a black tea.
This is an incredible cake made entirely of leaf material normally reserved for fine golden buds Yunnan Black. The buds are slowly and cleanly fermented before being stone-pressed into loose cakes for further aging. The result is sweet and savory like fine Jin Jun Mei, but with the deep forest complexity of fine shu pu'er. Thick, commanding and singular, this is a cake to invest in and enjoy for many years.
This spring harvest pre-Qing Ming white tea is traditionally scented and made with Da Bai varietal white tea. This white tea is not sprayed with artificial oils or aromas. Instead, it is dried together with fresh jasmine blossoms scattered among the buds, allowing the natural aroma of the jasmine to absorb over several days into the tea itself. The process of adding fresh wild Yunnan jasmine blossoms is repeated six times over six days to get a full rich and creamy infusion that holds its intense sweetness and natural potency over many steepings. The creamy dessert-like Yunnan silver needle white tea is the perfect delicate pairing with Lincang's local luscious jasmine.
This spectacular high elevation yellow tea is made entirely from perfect buds, and scented with orchids for a deep, rich, well integrated flavor and aftertaste. Called Ta Xue Lan Fei Yellow Tea, or snowy orchid Yellow Tea, the tiny buds are allowed to wither with fresh Xuelan varietal orchids and slowly absorb their aroma over several days. The yellow tea process requires a 'smothering' or covering of the buds for more complex oxidation after sha qing. These unique steps lock in a fresh flavor somewhere between white tea and green tea with all the textural silkiness of Silver Needle White and the minerality and crisp aftertaste of Dragonwell Green.
The years-long search is over! With help from Wang Yanxin, we've finally found a blooming tea flower that tastes as beautiful as it looks. These pearls are made from traditionally-scented Fuding Silver Needle White tea buds, spread in bamboo baskets with fresh-picked spring jasmine to slowly absorb the rich aromatics. After scenting, the buds are carefully gathered with colorful aromatic flower blossoms and tied together in a way that allows them to unfold dramatically in a teapot like peonies blooming in early summer.