2020 Yunnan White Jasmine

Sourced By Wang Yanxin

Wang Yanxin is a fierce advocate for small family farming, working with her farmer friends to develop entirely new kinds of tea and help them establish cooperatives

Tasting Profile

VERY FLORAL – honey, jasmine
VERY FRUITY – candied strawberry
SAVORY – sweet cream
SPICY – mint, cedar

DATE OF PICKINGSpring 2020

Lincang RegionYunnan Province

ELEVATION2000 METERS

Yunnan Da BaiTea Varietal

This year's 2019 Spring harvest pre-Qing Ming tea is traditionally scented and made with Da Bai varietal white tea. Unlike most jasmine on the market, this white tea is not sprayed with artificial oils or aromas. Instead, it is dried together with fresh jasmine blossoms scattered among the buds, allowing the natural aroma of the jasmine to absorb over several days into the tea itself. The process of adding fresh wild Yunnan jasmine blossoms is repeated six times over six days to get a full rich and creamy infusion that holds its intense sweetness and natural potency over many steepings. The creamy dessert-like Yunnan silver needle white tea is the perfect delicate pairing with Lincang's local luscious jasmine, a true labor of love.

This stunning Jasmine is uniquely made with full downy white tea buds instead of green tea. So much jasmine is just an attempt to cover up the smokey flavor of low quality green tea that it is exciting to come across a cooperative that takes jasmine seriously. The Yunnan Da Bai varieties is picked in early spring while it is still super downy, while wild Yunnan jasmine flowers are picked at night and spread out in heaps with the tea buds as they wither and dry. The flavor of the jasmine naturally absorbs into the white tea until the jasmine blossoms are picked out of the final tea, all by hand. This infusion process is repeated five to seven times with fresh jasmine blossoms. This labor-intensive process is almost a lost art in China with most jasmine being scented by oils which burn off after a single infusion and don’t hold a true jasmine flavor the way real blossoms do.

Steeping Instructions

Western

5 g.6-8
oz.use 205° watersteep 25 secondsresteep many times
add 10 sec. each infusion

Gongfu

6 g.6 oz.use 205° watersteep 6 seconds
add 3 sec. per steepingenjoy many steepings

Iced/Cold

4 g.12
oz.use room temp. waterrefrigerate overnight
(8 to 12 hours)add ice & enjoy