Tangerine Peel White Tea

This round-packed tea is wrapped with white cotton paper, which releases a familiar sweet orange aroma when unwrapped, reminding you of the orange-flavored candy you used to munch on as a child. The peel of the tangerine has been cut by a circular incision to form the “lid” and “body”, where the body acts as a container for the dried white tea leaves stored inside. It is common knowledge that tea leaves are highly absorbent and will pull in and store aromas from things in their surroundings, so storing the leaves inside the orange peel creates an authentic, uniquely-flavored tea that is both sweet and taste and retains the characteristic undertones of the orange.

	Cup Method		Chinese Gongfu Method
	Teacup: 12oz / 355ml		Gaiwan: 3.80oz / 110ml
	203℉ / 95℃		203℉ / 95℃
	3g Tea leaves with 2g Tangerine peel		3g Tea leaves with 2g Tangerine peel
	Brewing time: 5 - 8 mins		7 steeps: rinse, 20s, 25s, 35s, 45s, 60s, 90s, 140s
			Rinse time is around 3 seconds

Mr. Lin was born in Fuding, Fujian, and has been living in a tea-filled environment all his life. His father, grandfather, and great-grandfather are all tea farmers; when in elementary school, Mr. Lin helped pick the tea when there were not enough workers. This led to his dream of becoming further engaged in the tea business.

He said: “My original idea was to establish a good life for my family by running a tea business. But when I got to that point in 1993, I changed my mind: Fuding is one of the best places for growing tea. So I wanted to create a long-term organic tea business.”

Mr. Lin is now one of the first founders of Chinese white tea, owning almost 2800 acres of high-quality Fuding tea gardens, including the only organic tea garden in Fujian that has passed all the European, American, and Japanese certifications. This organic garden has also become the national agricultural standard.

In 2008, his Silver Needle white tea won the gold medal at the annual Chinese White Tea festival in Beijing.

This white tea is produced in Fuding, a famous tea production area located in the northeast of Fujian Province. Fuding is of the subtropical monsoon climate, characteristic to coastal areas; it experiences an average annual rainfall of about 1661mm, and the average annual temperature is right around 18.5C.

This white tea is made from the leaves of the Fuding Dabaihao plant, which propagates asexually and takes the form of a small tree. In 1985 it was certified as a national tea plant variety, and can grow up to 2.8m high with a thick trunk. The spring tea of this plant contains 1.8% amino acids ands 28.2% tea polyphenols, and is used to make high-quality white teas.

While tea was originally grown in the area around the city of Fuding, it later spread to the areas around the cities of Shuiji, and then Zhenghe. The first type of white tea produced was Silver Needle, in the area around Taimu Mountain.

Originally, Silver Needle tea was made from the buds of the Xiaobai variety of tea bush, a smaller and slower-growing variety; because of this, the tea was more expensive and harder to find. However, around 1857, farmers near Shuiji began using Dabaihao tea bush varieties, with larger buds and the capability to produce higher-quality tea, with more fuzz on the leaves and a stronger fragrance and taste. From that point on, Silver Needle, White Peony, and other types of white tea have been made using Dabaihao tea plant.