Tea: Milk White Bundle
Type: Wild Fu'an Dabai White Tea (荒野福安大白茶)
Harvest: April 2022
Region: Fujian, Zhenghe County
Producer: Shenghuan Factory
Tasting Notes: Milk, Vanilla, Basil Flowers, Cinnamon, Jujubes
This tea is made of the same material as the smaller bundles, Milk White Tea Dumplings, except aged for three years. The bundles are better for larger brewing amounts, cold brewing, or long workday / road trip thermos brews where a simple single tea is needed to see the day through, one that wont oversteep and always brew up nicely.
The dry bundles exude a fragrance of cream and vanilla, something that reminds us more of an aged silver needle, as they are passing the three year mark of age, there is a sweet medicinal twist to the fragrance when compared to the 2025 tea dumplings. When brewed, these fragrances transform into the more expected medicinal notes, but there is still an aura of milk that surrounds the leaves.
Since the leaves are larger, thicker, and the stems are more plentiful, this tea can take a little time waking up when brewed, but it is surprisingly long-lasting, offering up to ten excellent infusions. The tea soup is a clear, light gold, and the milky fragrances founding the dry leaves are also present in the tea soup itself.
The taste of this tea on the tongue is unmistakably milky, with notes of herbs and flowers, like blooming basil, slight cinnamon, and jujubes. The tea is pleasantly thick on the tongue, coating the mouth with an oily afterglow between infusions.
While the Milk White Tea Dumplings work better for solo brewing, gaiwan brewing, and standard methods, these bundles go further and break the mold. When we first saw someone brew a bundle like this, they simply took it in two hands and broke it in half! The second time, the lady had a special bottle for brewing these long beautiful leaves.
We prefer making sun tea or cold brew with this tea, simply adding it to a large bottle of luke-warm water and leaving it in the sun for a few hours, then refrigerating overnight. Alternatively, we have thrown a whole bundle into a thermos just large enough to fit the large leaves and proceeded to fill it up with boiling water throughtout the day to great effect. Still more, if the shock factor is desired to impress some friends, we also enjoy unfurling the bundles and brewing it in a gaiwan for show. The choice is yours, and be bold enought o break some rules with this tea.
Some 910 years ago, What is now Zhenghe County got its current name (政和 "Rule Peaceful") got its name thanks to the bud tea they sent to the Song Imperial Court that year - Year Zhenghe (1115) of Emperor Huizong. Whether or not that tribute bud tea is what we now know as 'Silver Needles" is a matter of debate, but the whire tea of this region today is undebatably underrated. Directly inland from Fuding, and at a higher elevation than Fuding, the tea of this region matures later in the season. When processed right, tea from this region can offer creamy and fruity flavors that go beyond what is prized in Fuding white tea.
