Fuding Names Its 2026 Old White Tea “Tea Kings”
A notarized panel named the two Fuding producers it judges best at aging white tea, in silver needle and white peony, at the second national old white tea competition.
Read the full accountWJ Houtman, CC BY-SA 3.0
Also on file
- 01 The purple leaf that was never rolled Article
- 02 In Two Studies, Heating Water Is a Top Carbon Stage for White Tea Article
- 03 Anji White Tea Is a Green Tea by China's Own Standard Article · Basics
- 04 Can Science Tell If an Aged White Tea Is Really That Old? Article
- 05 White Tea Protected Sperm Where Vitamin C Did Not Article · Health & Science
The four grades
From the single bud to the leaf.
China's national standard, GB/T 22291-2017, sorts white tea by what was plucked and from which plant. Choose a grade to see its pluck, its cultivar and its water.
Silver Needle 白毫银针 · Baihao Yinzhen
Single buds only, under dense white down. The dearest of the four.
- Pluck
- Single buds
- Cultivar
- Da Bai or Shui Xian
- Grade tiers
- Two
- Water
- 85 to 90 °C
- In a gaiwan
- 8 g, first pour about 30 s
White Peony 白牡丹 · Bai Mudan
The bud, with one or two leaves beside it.
- Pluck
- One bud, one or two leaves
- Cultivar
- Da Bai or Shui Xian
- Grade tiers
- Four
- Water
- 90 to 95 °C
- In a gaiwan
- 8 g, first pour about 20 s
Gong Mei 贡眉 · Gongmei
Tender shoots of caicha, the old seed-grown population. Since 2017, of caicha and nothing else.
- Pluck
- Tender shoots
- Cultivar
- Caicha only
- Grade tiers
- Four
- Water
- 95 to 100 °C
Shou Mei 寿眉 · Shoumei
The leafiest grade and the largest by volume, often the leaf left once the buds are taken.
- Pluck
- Tender shoots or leaves
- Cultivar
- Da Bai, Shui Xian or caicha
- Grade tiers
- Two
- Water
- 95 to 100 °C
Aging
What the years do to the leaf.
一年茶，三年药，七年宝A collector's saying
3 yrsAged white tea老白茶 · from about three years
New tea新茶 · the first years
- In the cup
- Fresh, grassy and faintly floral; brisk, sometimes astringent.
- In the leaf
- Catechins at full strength, EGCG the largest share.
Aged white tea老白茶 · from about three years
- In the cup
- Bitterness falls and the taste turns sweet and mellow; the liquor deepens from pale brown toward deep brown.
- In the leaf
- Polyphenols and amino acids decline.
Long keptmeasured to fifteen years
- In the cup
- Wood notes, and dried fruit or jujube.
- In the leaf
- EGCG 74 to 86 percent lower in the oldest samples; EPSFs, a marker of age, about six times higher.
Keep it at a steady room temperature, away from light and strong smells, in a container that breathes.
Origins