2014 Fuding White

Here’s another tea I had gotten halfway through taking notes on until I visited this page only to see eastkyteaguy had yet another spot-on review for something I was drinking. Almost every aroma and flavor he noted I picked up on except the menthol. At one point, there was an addition of cinnamon to the aroma and at times toward the end, the dark honey notes seemed to mingle with some light molasses.

I approached this tea a little differently than him, using a 150 mL glass gaiwan (which was nice to use again and made me look forward to next spring’s green teas!) and started with
200F water with a rinse and steeps of 30 seconds. Once the ball opened up about halfway, I increased the water temperature to just off boiling to see how it would perform when pushed. The tea was steadfast in its presentation, budging not toward bitterness and maintaining its light astringency. After I got through 7 steeps at 30 seconds, I was too caffeinated to continue, so into a pint jar the leaves went and into the refrigerator. I’ll see how that turns out tomorrow.

I’m not fond of honey-flavored teas but for some reason, the honey notes in aged/aging
whites I find desirable. This tea was a good example of the style even in its dragon ball
format. It’s a forgiving tea that’s full of sweet, fruity, floral, nutty and slight savory aromas and flavors and it possesses an ease of brewing, making me think it would appeal to a range of drinkers.

A nice springtime treat. Has a balance of earthy, sweet, and floral notes that is just like digging around in the garden on a spring day! The tea seems to have aged nicely over the past 2-3 years, and brings some interesting notes you won’t find in fresh-picked whites.

The flavors evolved nicely from nice, deep honey notes, to hints of fruit blossom, to pleasant earthy nuttiness. Good complexity, and a nice tea to show off white tea’s potential for aging.
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Taste: SWEET: honeysuckle, dark honey, light caramel; EARTHY: light incense/sandalwood, milky black breakfast blend tea, fall leaves; FRUIT: later steeps reveal cherry and plum flavors, fruit blossom; NUT: final steeps have an earthy woodiness that transform pleasantly to almond and pecan notes.

I recently received a 5 gram dragon ball of this tea as a free sample with an order from Beautiful Taiwan Tea Company. Since I’m still sick, I’m trying to watch my caffeine intake. It had been way out of hand for a number of months, and not only had burnout fully set in, but I was becoming increasingly prone to infections. I’m trying to stick with a single session, either Western or gongfu, per day, though I do plan to take at least one day off each week. Anyway, getting back on track here, I found this to be a pleasant white tea with which to close out the day.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a 10 second rinse, I steeped the 5 gram dragon ball in 4 ounces of 205 F water for 10 seconds. This initial infusion was followed by 13 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 12 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea ball emitted mild aromas of honey, nuts, elderflower, and fruit. After the rinse, the aromas of honey, nuts, elderflower, and fruit intensified and a slightly yeasty, bready aroma began to emerge. The first infusion produced a bouquet primarily comprised of yeast roll, honey, almond, elderflower, and elderberry aromas. In the mouth, the tea liquor displayed a smooth, silky texture and mild notes of butter, elderflower, elderberry, honey, yellow plum, and yeast rolls. Subsequent infusions brought out impressions of sweet cherry, almond, white peach, and rose underscored by barely perceptible traces of hay and menthol. Later infusions maintained the tea’s smoothness in the mouth, while the nose and palate began to increasingly emphasize the almond, butter, and yeast roll impressions. Subtle impressions of honey, elderberry, cherry, and hay lingered in the background. A very fine minerality also showed itself.

This was an interesting tea. I don’t have a ton of experience with Shou Mei, but this struck me as being a very good, very sophisticated one. I got practically no astringency at all. In the end, I would have no problem recommending this tea to anyone looking for a quality white tea.