Tea Information:
Leaf Type:
Where to Buy: Life in Teacup
Tea Description:
Production Year 2009
Production Season Spring
Production Region Fujian
Style Traditional
Also known as Sow Mee or Longevity Brew
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
2009 Shou Mei from Life in Teacup is a light, juicy, white tea that has a lovely buttered vegetal after taste and an almost earthy note in the sip.
In the aroma is this very subtle essence of jasmine but that does not translate into the flavor. It has a sweet and lightly creamy mouthfeel but leaves you feeling refreshed and your thirst quenched.
There is also a light and lovely toasted marshmallow flavor that just touches your taste buds gently on the initial sip but does not stick around long.
This is a very forgiving tea! My first steep I spaced out preparing to write this review and over steeped it by far too much. I was certain I was going to have to dump the cup, but alas it tasted lovely! My second steeping – with new leaves – also provided a delicious cup as well. I noticed very little difference in the two cups. This would be an excellent tea to put in your travel thermos for many infusions throughout the day without having to take the leaf out!
I love the look of the dry leaf! Its so wild and natural looking! It appears as if someone scooped up fallen leaves from the forest floor! I love the uninhibited appearance of this leaf, so care free, so low maintenance yet so beautiful. The colors are striking from deep tones of brown to variegated shades of green, even some lighter almost white tones in my leaf.
I would not say this is a “to-die-for” cup or anything, and I’m not really that into white teas as a rule, but they do have some wonderful health benefits and this one is quite pleasing.
I would purchase this again.
As per a note on Life in Teacup’s website
Our web store is temporarily closed and we aim at re-opening it in February 2013. Meantime, please feel free to send any inquires to admin@lifeinteacup.com. Thank you and have a great holiday season!
I do hope they open back up soon as I have been eyeballing many of their teas!
2009 Shou Mei from Life in Teacup
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Life in Teacup
Product Description:
Production Year – 2009
Production Season – Spring
Production Region – Fujian
Taster’s Review:
I have not tried many Shou Mei teas, because when it comes to white teas, Shou Mei just isn’t as popular as Bai Mu Dan or Silver Needle varieties. And while it tends to be considered a “lower grade” of white tea, I appreciate that it has a stronger flavor than those of a higher grade, while still maintaining many of the flavor characteristics that I enjoy about white tea.
Of those few that I’ve had the opportunity to try, this Shou Mei from Life in Teacup is one of the best. The leaves are large and fuzzy, and range in color from silvery (the color of the fuzz), to green to light brown.
The flavor of the liquor is very pleasing. It starts out sweet, maintaining that sweet profile throughout the sip, and it lingers long into the aftertaste. Notes of fruit and flower weave their way in and out throughout the sip. Fruit wise, I notice hints of apple and peach.
The mouthfeel is soft and smooth and thicker than one might expect from a white tea. It has a mild brothy kind of quality to it, but it’s a sweet rather than savory brothy. There is very little astringency to this cup. The finish is sweet and dry. More than any other white tea, I would liken a good Shou Mei to a fine dry white wine.
I like to sip on white teas later in the day, because even though the evidence is inconclusive on whether or not white tea is lower in caffeine than other types of Camellia Sinensis, they seem lighter to me and seem to soothe me and help me relax more than a green or black tea can. And this tea is certainly calming my spirits this evening!
Cheers!
