Trifecta: Four Tea Cakes, Three Age Groups, Two Production Styles
In Fuding, there is a saying about aging white tea:
一年茶，三年药，七年宝
One Year Tea
Three Year Medicine
Seven Year Treasure
This refers to the incredible way white teas can age with time.
We have long been fascinated by this progression, and are always very eager to find good examples of teas at different states in their transformation. One rather fascinating, or complicating, factor to this is the fact that in the past decade there have evolved two camps in white tea production, particularly for shoumei: one brown, one green.
The green shoumei, where each dried and processed leaf of tea is as green as it was when still on the bush, has long been the ideal to strive for when making white tea. This ideal has been further actualized by modern technology, equipment, and a more scientific understanding of the withering and drying process.
Brown shoumei, on the other hand, looks like a pile of autumn leaves at worst, and at best looks like it has already seen a decade of age even when it is freshly made. The leaves are brown, though the buds tend to remain silver white, this is done by heavily piling the leaves during the wilting process, not allowing the moisture to dissipate fast enough and allowing too much heat to build up in the still living leaves. While this has long been viewed as poor processing, it began to catch on because it can in some ways mimic the look, fragrance, and taste of an aged shoumei.
Fast forward several years, we are at a point in time where we can assess the pros and cons of making a green or a brown shoumei with one key question in mind: will it age well, or does the browning of shoumei create an inferior tea that does not hold up when examined through the lens of long storage.
In this treasure box, we have four teas for you to drink, treasure, and compare, two brown shoumei teas, and two green shoumei teas. They also mark different developmental paradigms with regards to white tea age: In Fuding, there is a saying about aging white tea: the first year its tea, by the third year it’s medicine, by the seventh year it's a treasure.
The Teas: 4 Shoumei Tea Cakes, 600 grams of tea
First Year’s Tea:
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2024 Green Shoumei - 100g Green Shoumei from Guanyang Village in Fuding, Autumn
Three Year’s Medicine:
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2021 Smuggler’s Cove - 200g Green Shoumei from Diantou Village in Fuding, Spring
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2021 Brown Shoumei - 100g Brown Shoumei from Guanyang Village in Fuding, Autumn
Seven Year’s Treasure:
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2018 Dark Horse - 200g Brown Shoumei from Panxi Village in Fuding, Autumn
We hope that through the exploration of this treasure box, you can decide which style of shoumei teas you like and desire to age for the long haul.
Germany