White tea · Fujian
Shou Mei
寿眉
The everyday white of Fujian — made from later, leaf-heavy plucking, deeper and fruitier than the bud whites. Honest and honeyed young, it ages beautifully into compote and dried-date sweetness.
- Region
- Fuding and Zhenghe, Fujian
- Harvest
- Later spring and autumn — leaf-heavy plucking
- Oxidation
- Lightly oxidised (withered and dried)
- Cultivar
- Da Bai and Da Hao white-tea bushes
In the cup
Honeyed and herbaceous when young; with age, stewed fruit, dried date and a deep, warm sweetness.
What it gives
A gentle, mellow cup — soft and low in astringency, traditionally drunk aged as a soothing, warming tea.
Shou Mei — longevity eyebrow — is the most generous and down-to-earth of the Fujian whites. Where Silver Needle takes only buds and White Peony bud-and-leaf, Shou Mei is made from a later, leaf-heavy plucking, which gives it more body, more colour and more fruit than its delicate cousins, at a fraction of the price.
White tea is the least processed of all: the leaf is simply withered and dried, with no rolling or firing to fix it. That openness is what lets Shou Mei age so well. Young, it is honeyed and herbaceous; pressed into cakes and stored for years, it deepens into stewed fruit, dried date and a warm, mellow sweetness.
In the cup
Young Shou Mei takes well to hot water and short steeps. Aged leaf is another tea entirely — many drinkers simmer an old cake in a pot until the liquor runs deep amber and sweet, a soothing winter cup. Either way it is forgiving, mellow and quietly satisfying.
How to brew
Shou Mei
Water
90–100 °C
Leaf
5 g per 100 ml
Steep
Short steeps, or simmer aged leaf
Vessel
Gaiwan; aged cakes reward boiling
