Shou Mei White Tea from Simple Loose Leaf

shoumeiTea Information:

Leaf Type:  White

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Tea Description:

White tea, considered by many tea experts to be the finest tea on earth, comes primarily from the Fujian Province in China. It is very lightly processed with sunlight and low temperatures. A standard grade Chinese Tea, Shou Mei White with its downy silver tipped leaves has a sweet, floral aroma and a mild, smooth, lightly sweet, pale yellow liquor.

Ingredients:  Shou Mei White Tea

Learn more about this tea here.

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Taster’s Review:

I’ve been drinking quite a few flavored Shou Mei white teas lately, but it’s been a little while since I’ve had a pure Shou Mei.  So I was happy to be able to reacquaint myself with an unadulterated Shou Mei!

I’m very pleased with the quality of these leaves.  The leaves are soft and are covered in fluffy fuzz, and the leaves vary in color from pale green, silver, and light brown.  This is not the “typical” Shou Mei that sometimes looks and feels like dried, brown leaves.  This appears to be a higher quality tea leaf to me.

And the difference is not only evident in the appearance of the leaves but the flavor of the tea.  I steeped these leaves at 170°F for 3 minutes.  The liquid is a pale amber color and has a delicate, hay-like aroma.

The flavor is sweet, fresh and light.  It has a crispness to it, evoking thoughts of a cool spring morning.  It makes me think of the dewdrops on fresh new leaves in spring.  There is also a distinct “hay-like” flavor, like the air after a cutting of hay.  I spent my adolescent years in an area that grew a lot of hay and alfalfa and you could always tell when the local farms cut their hay as the hay cut imparted a distinct essence to the air that was not only experienced by the nose but also the taste buds.  That’s what I’m tasting (and smelling!) with this tea now.

It’s quite a pleasant cup of Shou Mei!  And this tea offers multiple infusions.  I’m currently on my third infusion, and the flavor just will not quit!  (A good thing, because I’m really enjoying it and I’m not ready to stop drinking it!)  A great choice for this month’s box from Simple Loose Leaf!

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