This tea is as natural as it gets, harvested from semi-arboral tea bushes that grow wild in the mountains near Zhenghe. Zhenghe white tea is known for its clean, pure flavor, and this tea is a great example. The biodiversity of their natural environment adds to the richness of these teas, and the pure, natural growing conditions of the trees from which they come produce a wonderfully pure brew.
Shou Mei is produced from the more mature, outer leaves of the tea bushes, as opposed to silver needle, which is composed entirely of the young bud leaves.
After these teas have been brewed to apparent exhaustion, boil the leaves in the water for an extended duration for a sweet, warming brew. To do this, in Chinese, is to "zhu" the tea (pronounced "jew"), so once you're done brewing it the normal way, I highly suggest that you zhu it up.
2nd Grade: This tea has a spicy, buttery aroma and a broad, full-bodied, tantalizing, subtle flavor, slightly reminiscent of limes. Its flavor is direct, soothing, and comforting. It feels relaxed and yet invigorating.
1st Grade: This tea has an aroma that begins earthy and transitions to sweet, with elements of what I often describe as a "farmhouse" flavor, somewhat reminiscent of hay. (Many white teas have this flavor, which makes them feel like the Belgian ales of the tea world.) Compared to the 2nd Grade, this tea is composed of greener, less mature leaves, and, though it is not a White Peony, some fuzzy bud leaves can still be found. If you zhu it, as described above, this tea is rich, deep, and sweet. These two grades of Shou Mei are different in flavor and both enjoyable in their own right, but, the 1st Grade boasts a more potent qi, brightening the eyes and clarifying the mind.
Price is per 50 grams/1.76 ounces