This white tea comes from 100-year-old tea trees in Bangwei village in Lancang County in Yunnan as you can see in the photo. The seller insisted that the trees were not old (some sellers would tell you 100 years old tree is an ancient tree). According to the seller, 300 years old tree would qualify as an ancient tree. Actually, the seller also mentioned that they would not use gushu material for white teas. I am not sure if this is a common thing but reflecting on this, I do not think I have ever come across gushu white tea. I have to say I like their attitude, but more importantly, I like their tea(s). Earlier, I reviewed their single tree gushu sheng pu-erh. You can read it here.
I’ve met these farmers in Shenzhen tea expo, and I enjoyed them down to earth tea steeping. They answered all my questions (I can be a handful) and kept a shy smiling look. I ended up buying a 2020 white tea cake set (7 cakes) from them. I want to age that set without opening them (let’s see how long they will survive), but instead, I can review this dragon ball is made out of similar material. What I like about this tea is that it reminded me of an aged shou mei from Fuding. While this tea was made from camellia sinensis var. assamica (big leaf variety of the modern tea plant), it is from Spring this year. Therefore, a mature taste impressed me, and I could not help but think about what would happen if I age this tea. Also, I like moonlight white and silver buds from Yunnan, which are more typical. This tea is almost like Fuding style white tea, but it comes from Yunnan. I was drawn into it, but I understand it may not be everybody’s cup of tea.
It had a floral and fruity aroma. Its taste was not sweet or astringent, but it also had a malt flavour that reminded me of black teas. I think the unexpected malt flavour may be due to the pu-erh material. Overall, an interesting white tea and for me it is special. I’m looking forward to tasting this tea again in the years to come.
Tea Profile:
Type: White
Origin: Bangwei village, Lancang County, Yunnan
Harvest time: Spring 2020
Leaf colour: Tones of dark green and brown with visible grey fuzz
Liquor colour: Dark amber
Tea Aroma: Floral and fruity
Tea taste: Smooth with malt and fruity flavours
Steeping/brewing:
Place 6 g of this tea in a tea pot and add about 100 ml water at around 100°C.
Rinse after 5 sec.
Steep for 10 seconds for the second time and increase the consecutive steeping time by 5. You can re-steep this tea about ten times.
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