£12.50
White Peony – harvested on 12th April 2020
This is the second grade of White Peony from the Old-Growth-Wild tea garden.
As the weather is getting warm in the early April, the new shoots are quickly growing to leaves. But for processing a good quality of White Peony, a good mixture of downy silver buds and whole green leaves – usually a bud and two leaves are selected. The aroma of dry leaves smells like mountain stones mixed with dried moss after the sunbath. The tea liquor is slight darker than previous two grades, and the aroma of wet leaves after the first brew brims with dried forest characters – I imagine it is kind of like what a deer in the forest smells as it is nuzzling its way in the undergrowth looking for acorns. The taste is phenomenally delicious with ice sugar sweetness coating the mouth and throat, notes of almond, tropical fruit, very long-lasting aftertaste.
Like our other white teas, these three white teas are also produced by Master Ye Fang Yang, one of China’s foremost experts in white tea production. Master Ye has always believed in organic farming method, and he believes that white tea should reflect the local terroir and ecosystem on which it is grown but also the purities of tea. Apart from managing his existing organic tea gardens, in the past decade, Master Ye has also been interested in searching deserted tea gardens and wild tea trees in the local mountain regions. The mountain of Bai Ma Gang was his latest finding in 2014, a large, deserted tea garden with many wild-grown tea bushes located in the centre of the Bai Ma Gang area. Since then, Master Ye has been taken over of the area and cleared out the weeds and bushes, but without interfering the wild tea bushes.
When Juyan was first introduced the teas from this tea garden, she loved each grade. They are all phenomenally delicious with various notes of hay, stone fruit, forest characters and wild roots. Instead of only choosing one tea, Juyan bought the top three grades to show how a white tea could develop such individual character with the different harvesting time - check out the Old-Growth-Wild Silver Needleand Old-Growth-Wild White Peony (1st Grade). They are wonderful teas for brewing in a big cup or gong fu brewing and enjoy them anytime in the day.
Bai Ma Gang, Fuding County, Fujian Province, China.
Water temperate: 95°C
Leaf to water ratio: 1g per 100ml.
Brewing time: About 3 minutes.
Tips: Adjust the leaf to water ratio if you prefer to shorten the infusion time or for lighter and stronger taste.
Recommended Water: Try to use natural mineral water.
Water Temperate: 95°C
Leaf to water ratio: 5g per 100ml
Brewing time: About 10 seconds for the 1st to 3rd infusion. Increase the infusion time for each subsequent brew.
Tips: For Gong Fu Brewing use a Gaiwan to brew and keep the lid open while the tea is brewing.
Recommended Water: Try to use natural mineral water.