2023 N̶O̶ SHADE | white

N̶O̶ SHADE is a shade-dried white tea produced from the same trees in the same garden as NOT FROM CONCENTRATE, but finished with shade-drying instead of sun-drying. This is a yue guang bai (“moonlight white”) white tea from Gedeng shan (shan = mountain), Xishuangbanna, Yunnan province, China, pressed in summer 2023 from material harvested in spring 2023. The only substantial difference from NFC is the finished leaf was dried indoors with the use of fans, rather than sun-dried on mats outdoors. 

Gedeng mountain is one of the 6 "old" famous tea mountains east of the Lancang river in Xishuangbanna. Teas from Gedeng share the distinctive sweetness of Yiwu-area teas, but with a heartier backbone and high fragrance unique to its terroir. More importantly, our producer, Xiaohui Quan, only uses leaf harvested from very old tea forests on Gedeng, which contribute to this moonlight white’s silky body, persistent huigan ("lingering sweetness"), and punchy cha qi ("tea energy"; an unscientific measurement of a tea's chemical makeup and its body effect). As this tea is minimally processed in white tea fashion, you can get a glimpse of the material as it was on the trees—huge leaf and a spectrum of colors amongst the fully intact plucks.

This tea is meant as a foil to our NOT FROM CONCENTRATE (a sun-dried yue guang bai from the same garden). Shade-dried white teas typically present with easier-drinking fruits and a less drying finish than sun-dried whites which can be generally considered punchier and dryer. These two lots hailing from the same garden offer a rare glimpse into the many ways a micro-terroir can present itself but share a common underlying character; sample both and their shared heritage will be obvious.

VINTAGE —SPRING '23 (PRESSED IN SUMMER '23)

STYLE —SHADE-DRIED YUE GUANG BAI ("MOONLIGHT WHITE")

CULTIVAR —HEIRLOOM DA YE ("BIG LEAF")

REGION —XISHUANGBANNA, YUNNAN, CHINA

LOCALE —GEDENG SHAN

ELEVATION —1430 METERS

PRODUCER —XIAOHUI QUAN

STEEPING PARAMETERS