Qiu’s aged tea always hits differently. As the man who parted the veil on the ‘new production methods’ of white tea for us, he showed us how a lot of white tea is made to look aged these days. See our blog post “The Browning of Green Shoumei” for more details. Qiu fears that this new style of making brown shoumei creates a simulacrum of age that in truth does not age. It’s the tradeoff of wanting aged tea now, without the wait.
As a result, Qiu is committed to pushing the pendulum the other way and creating beautifully green white tea that ages slowly but preserves the higher fragrances of white tea. The methodology is rather simple, instead of allowing heat and moisture to brown the tea, he keeps the withering temperature cool and does a more complete withering and drying phase. As this creates a tea with less moisture content than others, his teas tend to stay greener for longer.
As a result, this 2016 Baimudan looks incredibly fresh when compared to other “10-year-old” white teas. The tradeoff is a higher peak on the fragrances and a much cleaner flavor on the tongue. We sampled a lot of material before pressing this cake and decided on it because it represents a different and less often seen side of the aged white tea market, slow and deliberate transformations over intense visual transformation. While we find merit in both camps, this cake represents an interesting insight into what a dry and clean white tea will become after 10 years of air-tight, low moisture aging conditions.
The leaves exude potent floral fragrances when added to a warmed gaiwan with spicy vegetal notes of vanilla and cream. When infused, the aged fragrances of butter and dried flowers become more pronounced. The brew itself is a rich gold that is pleasantly thick on the tongue and coats the mouth. There is a pleasant sweetness which was once vegetal in the tea’s youth but now has transformed to a soft creamy floral sweetness like spring violets and honeysuckle.
As the brews progress, the dried flower notes peak on the leaves around the third or fourth infusion, while the brew itself thickens up into a huigan-inducing brew before tapering back off into sweet flower water.
This tea brews well at boiling temperatures, but also changes in texture and flavors as the kettle water cools.
We recommend brewing this tea in a gaiwan or porcelain teapot. Our brewing ratio is typically 6 grams of tea to 100-120ml of water in flash-fast infusions. We enjoy using boiling water when brewing our whites, but experimenting with cooler temperatures can create a more textured cup of tea.
