hawaiianlungs,
You are strong to handle so much tasting. Hawaiianguts may be a better name.
Sounds like you did your work & got it to pay off.
Now you have the work of storing/aging. Please do not leave TeaChat. Really am curious how the white holds up, evolves, etc.
Cheers.
Apr 15th, '15, 10:08
Vendor Member
Posts: 1301
Joined: May 27th, '12, 12:47
Location: Boston, MA
Re: Aged White Teas
Baimudan and shoumei white tea tend to age better in cakes than as loose leaves.
There is a saying about shoumei which goes:
After three years it can be imbibed,
After five it tastes full and delicious,
After seven years it becomes a medicine.
Baimudan doesn't age as well as shoumei, but it can be good too.
Loose leaves never age as well as caked tea, but if stored well, will also taste fine.
In china, a typical retail price for seven year old shoumei would be about $40-70, baimudan would be more expensive because the leaves are of a higher quality. New shoumei cakes typically cost about $5-15usd, while bmd can cost up to $40 a cake.
There is a saying about shoumei which goes:
After three years it can be imbibed,
After five it tastes full and delicious,
After seven years it becomes a medicine.
Baimudan doesn't age as well as shoumei, but it can be good too.
Loose leaves never age as well as caked tea, but if stored well, will also taste fine.
In china, a typical retail price for seven year old shoumei would be about $40-70, baimudan would be more expensive because the leaves are of a higher quality. New shoumei cakes typically cost about $5-15usd, while bmd can cost up to $40 a cake.
Nov 10th, '15, 07:48
Posts: 81
Joined: Jul 17th, '14, 02:31
Location: the Philippines
Contact:
Se7en8ight
Re: Aged White Teas
Hello Teachat-ers!
So I came back from a trip to Hong Kong, poorer but happier, toting bags of teas... standards like Tie Guan Yin and Chrysanthemum and teas I never even tasted before like Osmanthus Flower (crazy good!) -- and yes, I got sold some aged white tea. The Aged White Tea came as a tightly packed brick much like a small chocolate bar and stamped on it was "Lau Bai Cha" (Old White Tea).
So, I mean it must be real... I am drinking it after all.
I think it's not "white" tea in terms of "fresh" but it used to be a white tea that someone thought would be a good idea to let age! I guess they could have called it White Pu'erh? hahaha I don't know, just thinking out loud.
It's very woody with hints of roses. Reminds me very much of English Breakfast. The liquor is a gorgeous amber yellow. I tried looking it up on the Internet and I couldn't really find good sources on how to brew it. Brewed it with water fresh off the boil and was able to do like 10 infusions before it started to lose it's taste and aroma. And like what was previously mentioned on here, the best steepings were probably the 4th-8th steepings.
I really enjoyed it. Hopefully more info will turn up on it
78
So I came back from a trip to Hong Kong, poorer but happier, toting bags of teas... standards like Tie Guan Yin and Chrysanthemum and teas I never even tasted before like Osmanthus Flower (crazy good!) -- and yes, I got sold some aged white tea. The Aged White Tea came as a tightly packed brick much like a small chocolate bar and stamped on it was "Lau Bai Cha" (Old White Tea).
So, I mean it must be real... I am drinking it after all.
I think it's not "white" tea in terms of "fresh" but it used to be a white tea that someone thought would be a good idea to let age! I guess they could have called it White Pu'erh? hahaha I don't know, just thinking out loud. It's very woody with hints of roses. Reminds me very much of English Breakfast. The liquor is a gorgeous amber yellow. I tried looking it up on the Internet and I couldn't really find good sources on how to brew it. Brewed it with water fresh off the boil and was able to do like 10 infusions before it started to lose it's taste and aroma. And like what was previously mentioned on here, the best steepings were probably the 4th-8th steepings.
I really enjoyed it. Hopefully more info will turn up on it
78
Nov 10th, '15, 07:52
Posts: 541
Joined: Aug 19th, '15, 07:03
Location: on the road
Re: Aged White Teas
Interesting. Could you maybe post an image of the package/brick?Se7en8ight wrote:Hello Teachat-ers!
So I came back from a trip to Hong Kong, poorer but happier, toting bags of teas... standards like Tie Guan Yin and Chrysanthemum and teas I never even tasted before like Osmanthus Flower (crazy good!) -- and yes, I got sold some aged white tea. The Aged White Tea came as a tightly packed brick much like a small chocolate bar and stamped on it was "Lau Bai Cha" (Old White Tea).
So, I mean it must be real... I am drinking it after all.
It's very woody with hints of roses. Reminds me very much of English Breakfast. The liquor is a gorgeous amber yellow. I tried looking it up on the Internet and I couldn't really find good sources on how to brew it. Brewed it with water fresh off the boil and was able to do like 10 infusions before it started to lose it's taste and aroma. And like what was previously mentioned on here, the best steepings were probably the 4th-8th steepings.
I really enjoyed it. Hopefully more info will turn up on it
78
Nov 10th, '15, 08:28
Posts: 81
Joined: Jul 17th, '14, 02:31
Location: the Philippines
Contact:
Se7en8ight
Re: Aged White Teas
That's the packaging. the look of the brick is like what was posted here of the Bai Mu Dan.
That's the color of the liquor excuse the reindeer.
That's the color of the liquor
excuse the reindeer. - Attachments
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- 1.jpg (65.78 KiB) Viewed 4143 times
Nov 10th, '15, 09:35
Posts: 541
Joined: Aug 19th, '15, 07:03
Location: on the road
Re: Aged White Teas
Thanks a lot, 78. Enjoy your 老砖 
De nada; I have dragons all over the man caveSe7en8ight wrote:
... excuse the reindeer.
Jun 23rd, '17, 13:53
Posts: 41
Joined: Nov 26th, '09, 12:28
Location: Ukraine, Kyiv
Contact:
zemlemer
Re: Aged White Teas
Its very interesting topics:) I bought 4 or 5 years ago bai mu dan from chinachadao shop. It was very sweet tea Since years of storing on the shelves the tea taste transformed in more deeper sweet with touch of acidic. I love this tea very much. I tried aged baimudan from yunnansourcing. Its good too.
Some days ago I went to ebay to find some aged white tea. I've found some tea on "Li Da Tea House" and "GOARTEA Tea Store".
What do you think about white cakes costs $20-35 per cake and aged for 2-3 years? Is it good tea or not?
Also I try to find some trusted online vendor for this type of tea.
PS DHT also sells aged white tea. But I'm not trust this vendor.
Some days ago I went to ebay to find some aged white tea. I've found some tea on "Li Da Tea House" and "GOARTEA Tea Store".
What do you think about white cakes costs $20-35 per cake and aged for 2-3 years? Is it good tea or not?
Also I try to find some trusted online vendor for this type of tea.
PS DHT also sells aged white tea. But I'm not trust this vendor.
Re: Aged White Teas
I just bought a few compressed white teas of different ages and did a comparison review of them. One of the interesting aspects, which I didn't get close to sorting out, is how aging had already affected them, or will affect them in the future. I'll mention a comparison review post at the end (4-way; tons of work, that) but say a little here about what they are.
shou mei, two cakes, one 5 years old, one 9: One is a standard commercial type, just apparently a more limited edition release version than some others they make, and I'm not sure what the older version is, kind of just shou mei to me. It would only help so much pouring effort into research to hear a bit about a typical description for that produce version, probably translated, since I can just taste the tea and it is what it is. Both were a bit subtle, the younger with a bit more sweetness and hint of fruit and the older version more complex and starting out a bit odd, earthier. I'm not sure if aging did that, shifted the taste, but it showed the most transition across infusions, and in a sense had the most depth.
gong mei: a Tenfu (commercial) maker tea, two years old, the youngest of all of them. It was probably my favorite, although three of them were all interesting in different ways, and even my least favorite was novel in a different sense. One nice trace of aspect was a bit towards wintergreen, nothing like that one Taiwanese tea tasting like mint or eucalyptus (red jade / ruby / #18), just a hint, sort of like teaberry.
candy-bar shaped pressed white, 5 years old: a bit different, this tasted a bit like coffee or cocoa. This and the older shou mei were from one Bangkok Chinatown shop (Sen Xing Fa) and the two others from a Bangkok factory pu'er shop, Teeta Talk, with how to look those up in links in the review. I bought a fake pu'er from the Chinatown shop, on purpose, to see how that would work out, and it was ok (tasted like tobacco). I'm not sure how that factors in related to these white versions; this one wasn't labeled at all, so there was nothing to be in error. I wouldn't expect the other to be labeled incorrectly--what's written on it probably isn't much of a commercial advantage--but I guess that's possible.
That post, with lots of links and review, and some on background issues, most of that a bit basic for the average Tea Chat participant, about brewing and such:
http://teaintheancientworld.blogspot.co ... -shou.html
shou mei, two cakes, one 5 years old, one 9: One is a standard commercial type, just apparently a more limited edition release version than some others they make, and I'm not sure what the older version is, kind of just shou mei to me. It would only help so much pouring effort into research to hear a bit about a typical description for that produce version, probably translated, since I can just taste the tea and it is what it is. Both were a bit subtle, the younger with a bit more sweetness and hint of fruit and the older version more complex and starting out a bit odd, earthier. I'm not sure if aging did that, shifted the taste, but it showed the most transition across infusions, and in a sense had the most depth.
gong mei: a Tenfu (commercial) maker tea, two years old, the youngest of all of them. It was probably my favorite, although three of them were all interesting in different ways, and even my least favorite was novel in a different sense. One nice trace of aspect was a bit towards wintergreen, nothing like that one Taiwanese tea tasting like mint or eucalyptus (red jade / ruby / #18), just a hint, sort of like teaberry.
candy-bar shaped pressed white, 5 years old: a bit different, this tasted a bit like coffee or cocoa. This and the older shou mei were from one Bangkok Chinatown shop (Sen Xing Fa) and the two others from a Bangkok factory pu'er shop, Teeta Talk, with how to look those up in links in the review. I bought a fake pu'er from the Chinatown shop, on purpose, to see how that would work out, and it was ok (tasted like tobacco). I'm not sure how that factors in related to these white versions; this one wasn't labeled at all, so there was nothing to be in error. I wouldn't expect the other to be labeled incorrectly--what's written on it probably isn't much of a commercial advantage--but I guess that's possible.
That post, with lots of links and review, and some on background issues, most of that a bit basic for the average Tea Chat participant, about brewing and such:
http://teaintheancientworld.blogspot.co ... -shou.html