Shou Mei

Shou Mei is a white tea similar to Bai Mu Dan. With good weather conditions, the leaves are withered outside in the sun until they're dry.
A big difference between Shou Mei and Bai Mu Dan would be harvesting and tip content. Not only is Bai Mu Dan often harvested in the spring, higher quality versions of the tea are harvested earlier in the season.
The tip content in a Bai Mu Dan is higher, too.

Shou Mei is harvest later in the season. With warmer weather and more time to grow, the leaves used to make shou mei are larger and the amount of tips is lower. This means your cup of tea will have more body from the larger leaves and less nuance with the lack of tips.

The Shou Mei we get started as an experiment by our Ruby 18 producers. Wanting to try turning their raw materials into something other than a black tea, they decided to try their hand at creating a white tea. I've been wanting to see what this cultivar would taste like processed differently, so I jumped at the chance to get some. I'm really happy I did, too.

Origin: Mingjian, Nantou County, Taiwan
Harvest: April, 2022
Varietal: Hong Yu
Classification: White tea
What we taste: Malt, Sugarcane, wintergreen