This week’s review is a pair of Shou Meis with a few years of age, both from Moychay. As I drink through all the Moychay teas, I notice their house taste leans to the woody, berry, acidic side. If their tastes stay true to their white teas, we are in for a treat.
Moychay’s 2019 Zhengshan Shoumei White Tea
2019 Zhengshan Shoumei is a 2017 material from Taimushan Mountains, Fujian Province, pressed in 2019 as a 290gram cake.
The leaves smell like autumn orchard floor – fruity, leafy, bit aged. I don’t see any buds, this is just straight big “ugly” leaves.
I used 1 gram of leaf per 20ml of vessel size, gongfu steeped in boiling water. Steeped up, the hot leaves smell like a decomposing forest floor.
First and Second Infusion: 2019 Zhengshan Shoumei tastes like damp, but previously crusty, autumn leaves smell. There are some stemmy wood notes, tree resin, with a hint of elderberry.
Third, Fourth, and Fifth Infusion: The tea colour shifts to an amber.
As this white tea opens up, it gains more depth with a balsamic tart berry note, on top of the starting to decompose leaf and sweet moss. The tart increases with each infusion.
Sixth and Seventh Infusion: An astringency appears in the last infusions, showing there’s still youth left in this white tea. 2019 Zhengshan Shoumei is woody, acidic berries, and mossy tasting. I did a final 15 minute infusion and 2019 Zhengshan Shoumei came out sweet sap and lightly woody and musty – sadly low in flavor and just a touch dry.
Moychay’s 2019 Shoumei Bai Cha White Tea
Pressed in 2019, this 280 gram Shoumei Bai Cha cake is of 2016 Xiao E (small leaf) material, harvested in Songxi County (Fujian Province).
The leaves smell of stale sour trees. There are a lot of sticks in this tea, which is more apparent when prying off pieces.
I used the same steeping method as the previous white tea. After an infusion, these leaves smell funky, mossy, and moldy decomposed forest floor.
First, Second, and Third Infusion: The flavor is surprisingly light, herby honey, and forest floor aged notes. 2019 Shoumei Bai Cha’s texture is balmy and slick to drink. Next steeping has a more wet wood note with a slightly acidic finish. Strangely, this tea reminds me of a fu zhuan with the honey wood elements.
Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Infusion: 2019 Shoumei Bai Cha developed a fun buttery wood, tart berries, chestnut shells, stale, but mostly strong is funky decomposing forest floor leaves.
Seventh Infusion: For the last infusion, I did another long steep to milk all the flavor out. 2019 Shoumei Bai Cha finishes off tasting of tart dried berries, mossy, stale wood, sweet resin, with a sour finish.
Comments
Both Moychay white teas have an aged flavor, despite only 4-ish years of age. I prefer the first tea, 2019 Zhengshan Shoumei, as the storage seems a bit better, and has a nice dark woody flavor, whereas the Shoumei Bai Cha is sweet and funky. Both teas are perfect if you want aged white tea daily drinkers on a budget and don’t mind sour, bordering funky, notes.
Both teas’ material quality is on the lower end with all those stems and big ugly leaves, but also I suspect some not great humid storage. However, both of these teas have an aged taste and inexpensive – you cannot beat $14 USD for an almost 300 gram white tea cake.
(teas provided for review)
