Sanxia White Tea

2023 harvest. Sitting down with a plan to session this and its aged counterpart afterward.

Minty floral and fruit on the dry leaf; I neglected to warm my pot, so no notes there.

I found baby powder and… the… is that… cat pee(?) from the drydown on the lid of my pot. Like a wet baby diaper, kinda, actually. Not offensive, just there. Wet leaf is super floral and herbaceous… gardenia/mint/fennel/vegetal. I’d drink that cocktail. Linalool, creaminess, cooling, herbs, hay, citrus rind (grapefruit?), malt, and tannins on and in the liquor. Not a flavor profile I’d crave, but fun as a tasting and exploration experience. And, I’d say — a nice example of a classic white tea. I don’t often think about teas in terms of what’s missing, but a touch of melon sweetness would really elevate this.

I wish I had bought a larger package of this winter 2020 harvest Taiwanese white tea so I could have more to play around with. It takes boiling water with no issue whatsoever. The liquor is a bit drying and the flavor a little lacking early, with watery notes of hay, oats, orange, ginger, beeswax, canned lychee syrup. Longer, hotter steeps develop more juiciness and creamy-smooth heft, while a deep orange character comes to the fore. Is this similar to what white tea stuffed mandarins taste like? Check out the wet leaves: they’re pretty small, rounded and many with blunted tips.

I want to boil this tea so bad. And grandpa it. And brew a big pot of it.