2014 Shou Mei white tea, 1995 Shui Xian oolong

 

iTeaworld 2025 New Year Tea Gift Set (Year of the Snake Edition) - The Collection of 10 Aged Teas

1995 Shui Xian Oolong Tea

1998 Tie Guan Yin Oolong Tea

1995 Aged Phoenix Dan Cong

2003 Sheng Pu-erh Tea

2003 Shou Pu-erh Tea

2008 Double-Steamed Liu Bao Tea

2014 Shou Mei White Tea

2014 Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong Black Tea

1998 Jasmine Green Tea

1980s Fu Brick Tea

Listing for $75.90 for 100 grams, it's hard to determine relative value, given that this range is a bit rare.  It also depends on quality level; older teas aren't always pleasant, and didn't always hold up well to storage inputs.  These did; I'm including the product information after doing the review notes.  76 cents a gram is probably fine for good quality teas in this rare a type range.

Let's get right to the review then.

a slightly better look at the dry leaves

Review:

2014 Shou Mei:  this is nice.  It's not as intense as it will be for rounds after this, even though I brewed it for nearly 30 seconds, but it's started nicely.  A warm spice aspect stands out, and richness of feel, and depth.  Honey-like sweetness is pronounced.  Other warm tones might include pastry, like a danish tastes.  So far no dried fruit is standing out, but this includes most of the rest of the range aged white teas typically might.

1996 Shui Xian:  that's interesting.  On the one hand there's a much stronger age-related flavor than is typical in just about any tea version, aged books or furniture or whatever.  I've been drinking a lot of aged tea lately so that's familiar, in different forms.  Then other warm range is more like leather, or even towards coffee.  Only the long-faded remains of a probably initially high level of roast remains.  A dark caramel flavor aspect is promising; that might pick up.  Strong and dark mineral tones ground the rest.

It doesn't integrate as well as it might, but then this is only an early round, and some aspects tend to "burn off" within a round or two.  It's not very musty.  One part of that aged furniture or books range includes a little funkiness, but it's moderate for this being a 30 year old tea, and this being the first round.  It's not sour either; that could easily creep in, depending on storage conditions (included dampness).  This was stored fairly well.  It will be interesting to see how it evolves.  Of course it's a bit "stronger" than the white tea, in terms of intensity, but the other version has greater depth.  All that could still shift though.

Shou Mei #2:  richer and deeper in flavor and feel.  Still, this conveys what is positive and limiting about aged white tea, even though it's a pretty good version of one, type-typical and pleasant.  Flavors are nice, and feel is rich.  It balances well.  Sweetness is good, and it's clean in effect.  Then it's also a bit limited in intensity, in a couple of senses.  There is no astringency edge to offset the rest, only a rich feel.  Flavor is positive but the range it spans is limited.  To me this would be a nice tea to drink a few times, maybe even a half dozen times, but I wouldn't want to have it once a week for months.  For me basic black teas and my favorite young sheng range I would appreciate over and over.

I drink aged white tea when I fast; along with shou pu'er it's gentle enough to be fine even if you haven't eaten for a few days.  In that context it's nice experiencing any flavor, and any eating related process, even just drinking a tea, or tisane.  

Related to changes maybe the bread range has expanded a little in this, tasting like a sourdough sticky bun.  That's good, but the rest of the range is still limited.

Shui Xian:  this picks up depth too, and "cleans up" a bit.  The aged effect is still present, but the mustier side of that--which was already limited--drops back.  A spice note stands out more, one that's hard to place.  It reminds me of different parts of a favorite Chinese bean and dried fruit desert, served with ice, mixed together, like Chinese date and candied lotus root.  

I just saw this in a local Japanese grocery store, the day I posted this

This is interesting, and pleasant.  It didn't seem to fade over those years, but I'm getting the sense that this won't last, that it's already hinting towards fading from being brewed, under one minute of infusion time in.  

This range of tea isn't really familiar to me.  I've tried aged Wuyi Yancha, but never over a decade old, as far as I remember.  This is holding up for intensity better than I would have expected, and the flavor range is clean and pleasant, complex in a novel way.  Caramel or toffee sweetness does hang in there, along with earthier range that's hard to place, warm mineral tones, and dried fruit depth.

Shou Mei #3:  about the same.  I brewed that a little longer, maybe 45 seconds instead of just under 30, since there are no concerns about too much intensity or harshness related to both.  Brewing it strong will drop the infusion count, but I'll probably stop taking notes here anyway.  It's not transitioning, not changing.  

In terms of interpretation of flavors if you think about dried fruit when you drink it, one more flavor that tends to emerge in aged white teas, it does taste a little like dried raisin or date.  Not much, and part of that is probably a bias in "looking for it," but it's a little like that.

Shui Xian:  this did transition; an interesting bark spice aspect picked up.  Cinnamon is the one bark spice we are familiar with, but there are others.  For nearly 20 years I was into tisanes, before exploring "real tea," and I tried a lot within that range over that time.  It's odd that I don't bring it up more here, but that was a long ago, and it didn't work to commit a lot of the flavors and experiences to memory.  When I moved to Thailand 17 years ago I tried out some herb teas here, but explore more coffee, and then tea.  

I could struggle more placing a flavor list for this tea at this stage, or describe it fading some over a few more rounds, but I'm not going to.  For pushing these teas, using such long infusion times, the infusion count will be low, maybe at only a half dozen, and they'll be a lot more faded than normal by the 5th and 6th round.  I'd have a chance to list a new flavor aspect for one or both, but the main story has been told already.

I will also mention that on the next round a brandy-like flavor aspect seemed to pick up, something that had been present before then, but that was clearer at that point, easier to put a label on.  Again the white tea changed less.

Conclusions:

Both of these are good.  I would've expected more storage issues, and limitations, but these didn't express those much.  These two styles are limited, in relation to each tea style having a different character, and only covering so much scope.  Young sheng pu'er expresses crazy intensity, and fully aged sheng pu'er trades that out for other flavor range and complexity.  These are interesting, and novel, and not similar to either of those ranges.  Neither is in a range I'd want to drink a lot of the time, but they're both very positive experiences.  The "daily drinker" theme is always separate from other exploration range anyway.

I can't really say that the Shui Xian is completely type-typical, related to not being that familiar with such aged Wuyi Yancha.  It's more intense than I expected, and complexity is good, with novel flavor range expressed, which I did expect.  I might've expected more flaws; it's nice to be wrong about that.

In one sense I think aged white tea can be over-rated, but then preferences do vary, so that only works in relation to my own preference.  The same applies to well-aged rolled oolong; it's interesting, and some people love it, but I don't really, since it usually just picks up warmer tones and tastes a little like plum.  

Until someone tries a type-typical version they wouldn't know what they like or don't like, which is the whole point of this kind of sample set.  In these two cases it achieved its intended outcome; these were interesting and pleasant versions of these types.