We are really spoiling you with this one! A six-year-old Fuding Shou Mei at a stellar price. Pears, prunes and lychee meld with summer forests and mountain herbs.
Simple Dreams is our very popular White tea series, and we are so excited to launch this third addition to the collection.
The concept behind Simple Dreams is to source a top-tier Fuding Shou Mei with just a couple of years of ageing under its belt so that we can offer it to our teahead family at a lower cost for you to enjoy now and age further yourself.
However, we broke our own rules with this tea because Simple Dreams 3 was made over 6 years ago, which puts it squarely in the aged White tea category.
But we are keeping the low price because we actually purchased this tea a couple of years ago so we managed to get the savings of a fresher tea, which we can pass on to you.
This tea tastes aged - all of that fruity, jammy and slightly alcoholic indulgence that is the hallmark of great aged Shou Mei is here.
The texture is thick, soft and buttery and the aromatics rising from the leaves and liquor are pure comfort - warm bread rolls, butter, plum jam, marzipan and grenadine
This is all backed up by a woodsy structure of summer forests and pencil shavings before being topped off by a thyme and pink peppercorn herbal spice.
Simple Dreams 3 also has an effervescent quality in the mouth reminiscent of seltzer water, white wine spritzers and sherbet powder.
The finish is cooling and herbal yet honeyed like an amber lozenge.
Finally, the empty cup brings the sweet warmth of candied yams and Thai milk tea.
Honestly this could and should be a part of our more expensive 'Light' series of Whites (Sunfire Ripple, Midsummer Lghtshow et al) because it has that rich indulgence of an aged Shou Mei.
So here you have a relative bargain which will only increase in aged goodness and value over the years, so I recommend a Tong if you can allow yourself!
