Aged Shou Mei
Shou Mei, the lowest and coarsest white-tea grade, kept for years. It ages better than the finer grades because the mature leaf carries more of the compounds that ageing acts on — one of the few cases in tea where the cheapest grade genuinely rewards keeping most.
Character
Thick and medicinally sweet, with none of the thin hay character of the fresh tea. The transformation is more dramatic than in any other white grade.
- Flavour
- Sweet, Fruity, Woody
- Aroma
- Caramelised, Honeyed
- Mouthfeel
- Full bodied, Smooth, Rich
- Complexity
- Layered
- Notes
- dried date, honey, camphor, old wood
- Aftertaste
- Thick, sweet and medicinal.
Moderate intensity: noticeable weight or grip, but neither dominates the cup.
Provenance and production
- Origin
- China
- Region
- Fuding
- Cultivar
- Cai Cha
- Oxidation
- Minimally oxidised
- Post-fermentation
- Natural ageing
- Harvest
- Autumn
- Processing
- Withering → Drying → Ageing and storage
Authenticity: Age claims on white tea are common and unverifiable. Colour deepens with age but can also be produced by warm storage in months rather than years.
History
The market for aged white tea developed in the 2000s, largely in Guangdong and among South-East Asian buyers, and it made the cheapest grade the most interesting one to keep. That inversion is about twenty years old.
Brewing
Western brewing (teapot or mug)
1.5–2.5 g/100 ml · 90–100 °C · 1 authored infusion
Gongfu brewing (gaiwan)
4–6 g/100 ml · 90–100 °C · 5 authored infusions
No caffeine estimate is authored for this tea. TeaHQ does not infer one from its category, because category predicts caffeine poorly — matcha and gyokuro carry more than many black teas.
If you like this
Grouped by why they were suggested, strongest reason first. Nothing here is a blended score — a suggestion appears under the best reason that exists for it, and never under a weaker one as well.
Editorially linked
Someone wrote down why these two belong together. The note below is theirs.
- Aged Gong Mei
Two aged white teas from different stock. Gong Mei’s seed-grown material makes it more variable batch to batch, which is a feature and a risk.
- Pressed white tea cake
A young pressed cake, then aged loose leaf. Tasting them together is the clearest way to understand what compression does to ageing.
- Aged white tea cake
Aged white tea loose and pressed. The destination is similar; pressing makes the journey slower and more even.
Similar sensory profile
Shares controlled flavour, aroma and mouthfeel descriptors. A looser match — two teas can share descriptors and still taste nothing alike.
- Hong Shui oolong
Shares 8 descriptors with Aged Shou Mei: fruity, sweet, woody, full bodied, smooth, rich, honeyed and caramelised.
- Chen Xiang Tie Guan Yin
Shares 7 descriptors with Aged Shou Mei: sweet, woody, fruity, full bodied, rich, smooth and caramelised.
- Hong Shui Dong Ding
Shares 7 descriptors with Aged Shou Mei: sweet, fruity, full bodied, smooth, rich, caramelised and honeyed.
- Moonlight White
Shares 7 descriptors with Aged Shou Mei: fruity, sweet, woody, full bodied, rich, smooth and honeyed.
- Aged Baozhong
Shares 6 descriptors with Aged Shou Mei: fruity, sweet, woody, full bodied, smooth and caramelised.
Written comparisons
Where TeaHQ has set this tea against another in full, rather than deriving the comparison.
- Aged oolong vs aged white tea — Two categories that reward keeping, by different mechanisms and with very different maintenance requirements. One needs periodic attention and the other needs to be left alone, which decides which suits you.
- Young vs aged white tea — The same leaf a decade apart, and the transformation is more dramatic than in any other category. The transformation is more dramatic here than in any other category, and it favours the cheapest grade.
Journeys featuring this tea
- Exploring white tea — Someone who found white tea thin and suspects they are missing something.