The infamous Jade Star ship has arrived into port with our 9th edition. Aged for 18 years, this exclusive blend combines deep fruity and fermented notes of an antique White with cream, nuts and pastry from the exuberance of buddy pickings. Tea drunken joy.
The 9th in our most popular series has taken a couple of years to source as I tasted countless aged Whites to find Jade Star perfection.
I am always looking for a couple of teas from around the same age which just sing together with contrast and complement. It's kinda like finding the perfect relationship through a multitude of swipes on an app (just swap swipes for sips) - it seems like there is a lot of choice, but when you actually dive into the detail there is mostly disappointing connections.
I am searching for a Shou Mei with substance. One that was always rich in character but, with age, has matured with fruity, sweet, vibrant, fermented depth.
This has to then combine with a Bai Mu Dan that, even after many years, has retained a fresh, creamy and light quality whilst also transforming into fermented dough, pastry and marzipan.
Jade Star IX is the epitome of this blended intention.
Sniffing the cake through the wrapper already gives you a promise of the joys to come and when you drop those leaves into a hot pot or gaiwan you will be swooning.
That combination of sweet pastry and syrupy fruits is heady. Apricot danish pastries, pain aux raisin, preserved peaches, rhubarb compote. It is the perfect weekend breakfast spread of sweet baked goodies.
But this breakfast is for adults and the indulgence are nuanced with a twangy acidity of kombucha and the syrupy ambrosia of dessert wines.
Wet the leaves and the emblematic Jade Star aromatics continue to shine.
Apricot jam, macerated strawberries, wine gums and peach nectar gratify the nose with luscious fruits. Coconut buns, marzipan and proving dough add to the creamy warmth.
But now we are in a hot, autumn forest, and the woods are baked from a long summer. The resins are condensed to such a point that they smell like wood preserver has been painted on the trees.
Brew up Jade Star IX and your mouth is met with a thick, round, smooth and soft liquor which is readily absorbed into your tongue and cheeks leaving a sublimating fog of vanilla rum, barrels and butterscotch.
The taste is not overly showy - the Bai Mu Dan has elegance and poise and teaches the Shou Mei some teasing discretion. The flavours emerge in layers, all dressed in the levity of fine threads.
Fancy fruit viennoiserie like danishes and swirls loaded with apricots, redcurrants and strawberries yet tempered with vanilla cream pastry whose wetness has left some dough soft and sticky with yeasty alcoholics.
Summer woodlands have a sugared fragrance as if the tree nuts had become marzipan and plant nectars condensed to syrup.
A scent of mashed banana and aged demerara rum add a tropical island air as if wafting over from over the oceans.
The finish has an urban quench of hot pavements and a sprinkling of resinous almost tarry phenolics before lifting to a sweet vanilla syrup and rum raisin juiciness.
The whole Jade Star IX expereince is immersive because it has such indulgent and comforring complexity combined with a lightness and airiness.
After severn or eight infusions, many of you will feel that trademark Jade Star body sensation soaking in.
It is warm and reassuring with a lightly-narcotic wooziness that brings drunken smiles and quiet solace.
Happy sailing to all those that board the Jade Star ship, see you on the horizon.
