Fuding Gong Mei White Tea Cake 2016

Originally harvested in 2016, this white tea has remained in storage for an extended period of time, though it is actually still in its transitional period: the original green color of the leaves has faded to yellowish-brown, while the tea itself and its aroma and taste are slowly developing.

Different from the aroma of newly-harvested tea, this one has an aroma of natural jujube and some light medicinal notes. The liquid comes out bright and clear with a sweet taste that spreads over the mouth, thick and smooth. It is perfect for leisure time, a busy workday, and anything in between.

	Cup Method		Chinese Gongfu Method
	Teacup: 12oz / 355ml		Gaiwan: 3.8oz / 110ml
	203℉ / 95℃		203℉ / 95℃
	5g Tea		5g Tea
	Brewing time: 5 - 8 mins		7 steeps: rinse, 30s, 45s, 60s, 80s, 100s, 120s, 150s
			Rinse time is around 5 seconds

Chaitou Shan Tea Garden is located in Fuding, which is known as the hometown of white tea. The plantation is almost always blanketed with fog, providing the perfect conditions for the tea bushes to accumulate a wide variety of microminerals and nutrients. The soil here is rich red and yellow in color, signifying an abundance of important organic material. The tea species mainly grown here is the Fuding Dabaihao variety.

This Shou Mei cake was produced in Fuding, a famous center of tea production located in northeastern Fujian Province. This area is of the subtropical monsoon climate characteristic of coastal areas, with an average annual temperature of 18.5C and rainfall of around 1661mm.

This cake is made of the leaves of the Fuding Dabaihao plant, called Dahao for short. It is a small tree that propagates asexually.

In 1985, Dahao was certified as a national variety of tea plant. It grows up to 2.8m tall with a thick trunk. The tea from the spring leaves of the bush contains 1.8% amino acids and 28.2% tea polyphenols, which marks it as a high-quality base for making white tea in particular.

Tea has been grown in Fujian for centuries as an ever-important staple of commerce and trade throughout ancient China. Originally, the process of drying the leaves was followed by a variation of hot-air drying and sun-drying, a meticulous step intended to remove excess water from the leaves to ease the preservation process and preserve the tea for sale. The leaves of tea dried in this way were often compared to the eyebrows of Shouxing, the longest-living man in mythology. It is from this myth that Shou Mei earned its name, from the Chinese for “long curved eyebrow”, 眉毛, or ‘meimao’.