• 2009 Fuding, Fujian Spring White Tea

• 48 grams Shade Dried (not heated)

• Flavor Profile:

Citrus and Pine are the underlying flavors.

Indicative of the pastel orange clay earth nearly 800 meters above sea level; transluscent crystals protrude from the path. This white tea has a sparking sensation in the mouth, like tearing a orange open. At the largest tea expositions in the world we have not encountered another tea as bright and full.

General Description:

White tea is just dessicated buds whose flavor melts in your mouth. The infused water looks whiter than white, and for some its bright sensation is too subtle. This is anything but a heavy tea. And for those accustomed to the citrus notes and beguiling mouthfeel, this 2009 is haunting. Drunk before bed or anytime, it raises the mood with its ambient lightness. Neither piled, rolled, nor heated, white tea should have none of green tea's buttery or red tea's oxidized taste. On an overcast day white tea must be heated which creates an oxidized, "red" taste, or what white tea makers call, "hong hao yin zhen". For example, due to cold spring weather in 2010 no authentic white tea was produced. This is perhaps the tea most dependent on the weather. Picked before the first leaves open, when the sap from the roots first rises in April, a white tea can be made from any tea tree, but there is also a tree varietal which carries its namesake. This is made from that tree. The taste of traditional white tea deepens and increases in value with time.