"White Moonlight" Yue Guang Bai White Tea

High up in the cloudy mountains of Yunnan, the Wise Tea Master Lao Cha was drinking tea with his disciples.

Taking a sip, Lao Cha spoke:

— Look at this tea, take a sip, feel its Qi. Farmers crafted it from the mighty tea trees that have been native to Yunnan for centuries upon centuries. Even in such a raw state, you cannot mistake its presence.

The leaves, reminiscent of fallen tree leaves in autumn. The brew, a majestic gold color. A tea so full of spirit and character that you can mold it any way you wish — and you'll still have a quality Yue Guang Bai.

Yue Guang Bai White Tea is a very peculiar tea. Harvested early on in April, the tea undergoes minimal processing — typical of a white tea. A legend goes that the beautiful girls of Yunnan come out at night, under a full moon, to pick the tea leaves. Hence the tea has two names, "Yue Guang Bai" Yue Guang Bai "(月光白 – white moon) or "Mei Ren" (美人 – beauty).

In reality, farmers pick the leaves in daylight, like any other tea. However, it's withered indoors once picked and then further dried overnight. There is no oven-roasting or rolling involved. This craft tea gets very little - if any - contact with direct sunlight. In turn, this helps the leaves accumulate more amino acids than usual. Yue Guang Bai Cha is among the teas with the highest amino acid content - between 6 and 9%. Some samples reach a whooping 11,4% - twice that of an ordinary green tea!

Our White Moonlight White Tea is an authentic high mountain tea growing 1300 meters above sea level in the mountains surrounding Pu'er City, Yunnan, China. The taste is very pure and straightforward, with sweet notes of apricots and honey and at the same time akin to malty Chinese black tea.

Historically, to produce Yue Guang Bai, farmers were using leaves of Camelia Taliensis (大理茶) containing both theanine and caffeine and have characteristics very similar to var. Assamica. But nowadays, Camelia Taliensis has become an endangered species due to the over picking leaves for the tea market.

So, the framers that we work with ensure to pick one bud with one leaf of the Camellia Sinensis var. Assamica tea tree variety. We refer to it as Da Ye Zhong (大叶种), meaning "big leaf" in Chinese. Indeed, this Camellia Sinensis variety is known for its larger tea leaves. Furthermore, the tea trees grow big and tall when allowed to grow wildly, with solid and wide tree trunks.
This tea variety is known to have a slightly higher caffeine content than Camellia Sinensis var. Sinensis (the tea bush most often used for Chinese tea production outside of Yunnan). Thus, Yue Guang Bai is an excellent tea that helps you focus, providing soothing, calm energy.

One striking thing about this Yunnan tea is that some tea enthusiasts compare it to a Raw Pu-erh. Farmers make this tea from the same tea bushes that they make pu-erh and after they initially process the tea leaves, they either leave them in loose leaf tea form or compress them into tea cakes and let them age.

Our White Moonlight tea can easily withhold ten Gong Fu Cha brews without losing its characteristic flavor. We recommend the tea drinker not to be shy and experiment with this refreshing tea. Try out various brewing vessels, water temperatures, and steep times. Furthermore, it's highly delicious and refreshing as a cold brew tea. Perhaps you wish to age it? Go ahead! The taste will transform into something new and inspiring, never losing its edge.