Fuding Shou Mei White Tea Cake 2013

Thank you, Angel, for providing me a sample!

Brewed Western-style.

Never thought that a white tea could be pressed into a cake. I studied the chunk of cake included in my packet. An aesthetic pleasure. Varying shapes and sizes of the leaves, short twigs, earth tones mixed with silver – an instant of the big picture vs the small picture, how both are beautiful individually and as a whole. I bet the cake is something else to behold.

The dry aroma is one of those you can’t stop smelling. Rich, yet gentle. First, honey, then grapes, and, lastly, a pile of autumn leaves. Hay and cucumber dominate the wet aroma.

The liquor is the color of raw honey. Clear. Thick- and full-bodied. I taste notes of cinnamon, apples, maple syrup, honey, and influential challah bread (’tis the season for New Year). Juicy – the sweetness sticks to the roof of my mouth. Refreshing feel. This tea implores you to “stop in your tracks” and to really sense it.

I wouldn’t have thought to buy this tea on my own, thinking that it’s not “my cup of tea”. I am sure glad of these kinds of surprises. Truly enjoyable! It’s the first of its kind for me, so no rating. It’d be in the low 90s.

The first infusion tastes light and creamy with hints of vanilla and raisin, and the second is similar but with a subtle tanginess to accompany, a bit like ginseng. The predominant flavor is of dried fruit, particularly raisin or dried apple. The third infusion I may have overbrewed a bit; it had a lot of that tanginess. By the fourth, the flavor is more mild again with some hints of vanilla and raisin, much like the first but more full and round. As the infusions go on, they continue to be full and rich and slightly tangy… a little more earthy as you go with some notes of hops popping up late in the session. I was able to push more than 10 very flavorful infusions out of this tea. If you are adventurous enough to make it that far, the 10th steeping or so tastes like onion rings from Sonic Drive-In… slightly sweet, fried, and every so slightly oniony. I’m not joking. I love it. 12+ infusions it has taken on a chamomile fragrance. Very interesting progression with this tea.

This was a free sample from Teavivre. Thank you.

I opened the sample packet and tipped out a pile of autumn leaves. Honestly, I have never seen tea that looked so natural and unprocessed, well, apart from the obvious compression on bits of it. The leaves were brown, dry and very light in my hands. The only difference from the stuff in my garden is that these smell of honey and possibly apricots. Something fruity like that. I looked at the brewing guidelines and paused. White tea at 100C? That can’t be right. And brew it for 6-10 minutes? Surely some mistake. I checked the website. No, it was right. I had better try it at that temperature and steeping time in the first instance. I opted for a mid-range 8 minutes and watched with concern as the liquor got darker and darker. When the timer went off, the tea was a dark amber colour, more like a black tea than a white one. The honey aroma was still there though along with the fruitiness. I really need to sort out a reference collection for fruit and veg so that I can compare the teas with the collection. I’ll add it to the to-do list, right alongside getting a round to-it. I’m rambling now. Back to the tea.

I sipped with trepidation. My concerns were quickly allayed and I thought to myself “Crikey, that’s really jolly good.” It is sweet and honeyed with a touch of cinnamon and a side order of grapes. Unlike some white teas I have had, it is not cloying or too thick. Instead it is clean and smooth with a creamy consistency. The aftertaste is sweet and tingling and I can feel a slight cha qi present that is slightly relaxing. All these good things continue through the next couple of steeps too. I’ll struggle to work today between the relaxing nature of this tea and the loudly purring kitten next to me just begging to be petted.

Top job, Teavivre. Yet another good tea that I have enjoyed.

This is the first time I ever tried a tea like this, so I’m not sure if I made it correctly. It smells both like leaves and earth, and light and herby. The flavour is smooth, and mild, but seems like it could have been richer if I brewed it a little longer.

Overall, good. Thanks to Teavivre for letting me try this.

I must also thank Angel and Teavivre for this sample!

It’s been a while since I’ve tried a white tea. I’m usually focused on the bold black and Pu-erh teas which help me return to the land of the living each morning.

When I opened the sample package, the flat and clumped “cake” pieces were dark brown and reminded me of raked fall leaves that meld together in the pile after a few days of rain. The emitted odor was earthy like a Keemun black tea.

The taste contained a sweet and medium-powered bounty of honey, hay, and green wood. This fusion was further complemented by grass with light and fresh tea components. The sum of the parts was a delightfully smooth and satisfying cup from start to finish. The aftertaste danced and rolled on my palate with no astringency in its vocabulary.

Teavivre has produced a splendid new white tea with this offering. All of the flavors blend perfectly at the right volume and seem made for each other. I could easily enjoy this selection at morning, noon, or night. Once again Teavivre has made me emerge from my black tea cocoon and be glad that I did!

This tea has a pleasant smell of rotten leaves when dry. You should brew it with hot water 96°C to 100°C and wait for at least 6 minutes first 3 brewings and add another 2 minutes each next time. The brewing should be quite dark for the white tea. The taste is refreshing and tonic with mild aftertaste. I liked it but in small amounts. Like the another pu-erh tea I’ve got Fengqing Ancient Tree Spring Chun Jian Raw Pu-erh it affects blood pressure and you could feel some negative effect if you have drunk too much of this tea.

Every review I have read on this one has been positive. This is another one. The leaf smells of fall leaves to me. It looks like bark flakes rather than white tea. The brew is dark honey almost ale. The taste is like sweet hay with grassy notes. Crisp and clean with a mineral fresh spring water taste under the hay. Fruity late in the sip. The taste is definite white tea though everything else about it keeps you guessing. Where silver needle and white peony to some extent are subtle and lean towards cucumber/melon, this one is bigger flavored and leans toward leaf and fruit. A nice peaceful treat on this hectic day.

This is delicious! It’s also very interesting, kind of a cross roads of flavors & sensations.
I used 5 G for 6 minutes in a standard mug…10 oz-ish
The resulting cup reminds me of a cross between a sheng & a few of the other Heicha I’ve tried. It’s a lovely rich taste, much different from any of the other white teas I’ve had, much fuller in flavor, with a silky quality & an instant chaqi buzz, along with a potent tongue tingle, & my lips feel full & sexy, LOL. Honey, sugar cane, malt, its really very tasty & sweet, fruity even. I’m actually contemplating a cake of this…

I’m taking a break from the latest session of multitasking: a few more loads of laundry done, a few students, cleaned up the kitchen, gave my yixing their bath, & the hardest decision I have to make is which tea do I want to season with?

I’ll let you know later!

Tea provided by Teavivre for review

First quick steep had a light body, and a nice mix of cinnamon, spice, fresh fruit, honey and crisp finish that I expected. It still tastes very much like typical fresh loose leaf white tea.

Gradually from the second on through my sixth steep, leaves of the tea cake unraveled and the liquor color darkened. It tasted less crisp and refreshing, but became sweeter and more mellow. Consistent flavour from each steep until my final sixth cup.

Trying a white tea cake for the first time was a wonderful drinking experience. I’ve only had fresh white tea before, and I didn’t expect this to taste any different. It was surprising to taste a white tea with a much heavier body and darker character. I think it’s a good tea to try if you already enjoy drinking dark teas like black and ripe puerh. It brings a nice balance between fruit and spice with a dark liquor and mellow body while still retaining fresh white tea’s charm.

Yay, it is Thursday, my favorite day of the week…why, you might be asking, because it is Ben’s day off. Usually we gallivant, game, and go to gaming night at Tabletop. Part of our rambling around today took us out for Indian food (I ate way too much and still feel stuffed) and to the thrift store. At said store I found a new tea set, a pretty Kyusu and matching cups, I had to have it of course.

Today we are having a nice little visit with Fuding Shou Mei White Tea Cake 2013 from Teavivire. This tea is pretty fancy, made from Shou Mei White Tea plucked in 2011, it is then compressed and aged making it a cousin of Pu erh and giving it an extra smoothness. This will be my second aged white tea cake and I am excited, I love teas that are out of the ‘norm’ or my usual zone of sipping. The aroma is sweet, like a rich blend of muscatel and honey, in fact it reminds me a bit of honey wine (specifically the Grecian Honeyed Wine I used to make when I could imbibe in my younger days) with a nice finish of hay.

The now steeped leaves is still very sweet, a nice honey sweet and muscatel aroma wafting from the soggy leaves. It reminds me of late summer harvest of grapes and hay, it has a heavy warmth to it that I can safely say is reminiscent of Provence. The liquid is more honey less wine, there is still a muscatel quality to it, but the sweetness of honey takes the forefront.

The taste, oh man, it is so sweet! I feel like I am drinking tea that tastes like mown hay, freshly broken stems, and a touch of grapes, but with a massive splash of honey wine mixed it. It is mild and heady, like wine without the burning and tipsy quality, but it still has the warmth and sweetness.

For the second steeping the aroma is much the same as the first, but much more intense. It has an added edge of richness that it did not have previously. This time around the taste is more balanced. It is still very sweet, but the notes of hay, grapes, and fresh vegetation are not overwhelmed by honey wine. The mouthfeel has a touch of creaminess about it as well.

On the third steeping the aroma has taken on a touch of earthiness, I have noticed that Shou Mei almost always has an earthy quality making it unique among its white tea friends. The taste has also acquired a mellow earthiness and leaf loam taste, this of course is accompanied by muscatel and broken stems. It is not as sweet this time as the previous steeps, but it still has an intense honey taste. I really liked this tea, the beginning sweetness was a bit intense (though not in a bad way) and it fades to a nice mellowness at the finish.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/08/teavivre-fuding-shou-mei-white-tea-cake.html