I drank an interesting white tea over the weekend I first tried last month that I never mentioned here, a "wild" tea from the North of Thailand (feral at best).
There are old Assamica plants up there from a tea tradition that goes way, way back, possibly even further than 1000 years (and of course claims about 1000 year old trees come up eventually). Per my understanding the Sukhothai empire in Thailand, established in 1200-something (although I should check that; my memory isn't what it was), was originated by immigrants from what is now Yunnan, so surely the tradition is that old.
I'll paste a link to a review and the short version of that review, so it wouldn't require actually clicking over to get the idea:
http://teaintheancientworld.blogspot.co ... white.html
There is a sweet fruit element, along the line of dried peach. And it's a bit creamy, actually tasting a little like cream. The fruitiness extends a little towards blueberry, or maybe raspberry instead. It's not distinct enough that it comes across as those separate elements, just in that range.
There is a mild earthiness and dryness too, underlying that, and a trace of an unusual flavor, hard to isolate. Forest floor is a more pronounced part of that, fall leaves, and a bit of mineral, and an unusual light earthy tone. It's like the wood scent of a stump, not decaying wood as in a peat or mulch scent, but with an aged effect.
It all does work but it's different. It helps that I've been on shou mei cakes for awhile. They're not the same but the general range is common.
