Price range: $12.00 through $50.00
A naturally-aged autumn-harvested shou mei grown in the mountains of Guanyang, the more inland higher elevation region of Fuding.
A comforting aged white tea and treat for the senses, the dry leaf in the warmed gaiwan greets you with a symphony: dried plum, forest mushrooms, petrichor, slightly burnt cookie, tobacco.
The addition of hot water perspirates another layer of aroma and flavor out as the session finally begins: herbaceous notes, dried granny smith, dark cherry juice; the broth sweet with a woody porridge texture. Cassia, raisins, creamy oatmeal, and burnt sugar reveal from the 3rd steep on, and thicken up as the tea reliably yields this core essence as long as you'd like the session to sustain.
Enjoy this naturally-aged shou mei from the Chen family. A lineage nearing its 30th generation of tea farming, Ninghua proudly carries on his family heritage through this time of unprecedented growth and opportunity in his home region outside of Fuding. Surely bound for crowd favorite status, be sure to partake in some of this vintage while it's around. The family and gardens this tea is from is featured in the above video on Fuding towards the end.
The tea cake inkwork for this release was penned by our friend Green, a tea friend we met in 2019 during our travels in northern Yunnan
So happy to have a new delicious daily drinker approaching its treasured seventh year for my thermal flask that I carry with me every day when I venture out into traffic! The 2018 Fuding Olde Shou Mei has the dried stone fruit and chewing tobacco notes that calm me down in turbulent times. I reach for it at all times of the day for an immediate signal to breathe and relax. I just put a few grams in my travel vessel and top it off wherever I can find good hot water. No bitterness and very little caffeine make this a perfect tea for me. Gus at Rivers and Lakes started finding aged white Shou Mei teas for me in 2020 and this one is the best one so far. Two more cakes are on the way so I will have plenty for 2025.
Amazing white tea. This type of tea is not typically in my rotation, but I’m glad to have in stash. It’s great for when I need to disperse and align the energy in my body.
My favorite aged White I've ever had. It hits all the highlights of full leaf aged white: honeyed, a bit woodsy/spice, thick mouthfeel and perhaps a bit creamy??? in both taste and feel. I know Zhenghe whites are becoming more popular and as they can often be a bit hardier, they may be a tad more welcoming to those newer to white teas but, as for me, I'll always seek nuanced and delicate (but not fragile!) Fuding white teas and this one is a treasure. My biggest problem is that I drink this stuff too fast - it's summer now and I doubt I'll have any left by the fall when this would be an absolutely perfect late fall tea, especially with painfully cold hands after raking leaves or throwing the football with the kids way to late. If this tea was a piece of clothing, it's be your dad's old LLBean insulated flannel. One more thing: even though I live in Colorado, I'm no hippy-dippy, touchy-feely kinda of guy...that caveat out of the way...I sheepishly admit that there is a great body feel to this tea...some teas relax, this gives energizing pulses of good vibes. I really, really should have bought more to store & age.
I just started drinking my last cake of 2018 Fuding Olde Shou Mei which is perfect for this season. The cakes are so easy to split to weigh the beautiful leaves for my daily drinker. I hope R&L will get more tea similar to this one.
Lovely lightly sappy aged white goodness!
Flavors of vanilla macaron, melted white chocolate, almond croissant, and Apple Jacks cereal.