Da Bai Hao (大白毫) in Chinese can be plainly translated as “big white hair’, think about the big hairy silver needle in white tea. To make this tea, Master Chen’s team thoughtfully selected spring tea leaves with one bud and 2 leaves that grow on high mountains in Fu Ding. The bud and leaves provide a perfect balance of freshness and rounded flavor.

Processed tea leaves can pick up the surrounding scents easily, so tea farmers during the Song Dynasty started scenting tea with flowers. In Chinese, the traditional processing technique is called ”窨制“. How does it work? During the day, farmers will pick all the jasmine flowers when they start to bloom but have not fully opened yet. Once the night arrives, when the jasmine flowers start to bloom and release the fragrance, tea farmers start to process the tea. A planned portion of jasmine flowers is mixed with green tea. Meanwhile, tea producers need to pay close attention to time, temperature, moisture, dispersion of the flowers, and leaves shapes (careful not to break the tea leaves). This whole process needs to be completed before the jasmine flowers become withered, usually within 30 - 60 mins. After that, withered jasmine flowers are filtered out. That counts as one round of scenting, or ”窨制“.

For this Jasmine Green Da Bai Hao, it takes 7 rounds of ”窨制“ to achieve the perfect balance of jasmine fragrance and tea flavor. After making jasmine green tea for so many years, “Da Bai Hao” is Master Chen’s go-to tea. He once said “if you understand Da Bai Hao, then you slowly understand flower tea”

Our Jasmine Green Da Bai Hao is clean, buttery, and floral. The green tea flavor is subtle compared to that of the jasmine flowers. We love the combination of the bright green tea taste and the rounded jasmine aroma.

Suggested brewing:

1. For brewing in a gaiwan: ratio 1:30, boiling water (185°F/85°C), steep for 10 seconds, then pour it out. Add more time to steeping as you go further. It can be brewed for 6 - 8 times.

2. Cold-brew: use mineral water, ratio 1:100. Add tea leaves to the cup, then let it sit in the fridge for 1 hour or so.