Menghai "Lao Shu Bai Cha" White Tea Cake * Spring 2015

This is pressed from Spring 2015 harvested "Chang Ye Bai Hao" varietal white tea (a hybrid of Fuding Bai Mu Dan and Camellia Taliensis) plants growing in Gelanghe area of Menghai County in Xishuangbanna (Yunnan).

First flush of spring 2015 tea leaves picked from established plantation bushes was processed into something akin to Yue Guang Bai (moonlight white) or Shou Mei by a process of frying (kill green) at a temperature of 120-140c for a few minutes, then rolling in a hot wok at a temperature of about 70c, then allowed to wither for an hour or so and then finally dried in a lower temperature wok at about 50c.  Finally the tea is air-dried using fans to slowly "blow-dry" the tea.  During this final phase the tea withers again slightly bringing some slight "red tea" taste to the tea.

The brewed tea is sweet, with thick body and lubricating mouth-feel.  The sweetness is honey-like some slight floral notes.  It brews a deep golden tea soup and slides happily through the mouth and throat bringing a kind of soothing fullness with it.  It can be infused 7 or 8 times gong fu style (maybe more depending on your brewing style and leaf quantity).

This something that will age and develop with the coming years and can be stored like pu-erh alongside other raw cakes.

Spring 2015 harvested tea

Gelanghe Mountain, Menghai County of Xishuangbanna