{"product_id":"china-yunnan-moonlight-white-yueguang-bai","title":"China: Yunnan Moonlight White (Yueguang Bai) — Wild Old-Tree Bud and Leaf","description":"\u003cp\u003eYunnan moonlight white · Jingmai Mountain, Yunnan · early spring · one bud, one leaf · unrolled and shade-dried\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMoonlight White is the strangest process in Chinese tea. Leaf is picked before\nnine in the morning while the dew is still on it, one bud and one leaf. Then\nalmost nothing that normally happens to tea happens to it: no kill-green to stop\noxidation, no rolling to shape it, no sun to dry it. The fresh leaf is spread on\nbamboo trays inside an earth-walled room and left to wither in cool moving air,\nout of direct light, for far longer than a green tea would ever be left. It dries\nthere, slowly, at low temperature. Nothing was done to the leaf, so the leaf keeps\nits own shape: long, flat, unrolled, still recognisable as a shoot.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe name is not mysticism. No tea is fermented by moonlight. The picking and\nthe withering happen at the cool, dark end of the day, and the finished leaf is\ntwo colours at once — silvery-white downy buds on one side, near-black leaf\nbacks on the other — which is where the picture comes from. What the slow,\ndark, low-temperature wither actually does is keep the leaf alive and oxidising\ngently for a long time instead of stopping it with heat, so the cup ends up\nsomewhere between a green tea and an aged white: softer than the first, less dark\nthan the second.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn Yunnan this is sold as sheng pu-erh moonlight white, and the material is the\nsame large-leaf varietal that pu-erh is made from. By process it is a white tea,\nand that is how we classify it here. The difference is not a marketing one: a\nsheng pu-erh is kill-greened in a hot wok and rolled; this leaf is neither.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhat you can expect, typical of the style rather than measured on this lot:\nhoney and white flowers on the nose, a soft and rather thick body, very little\nbitterness even when pushed, and a long sweet finish that keeps returning for\nseveral infusions. The liquor is pale gold and clear, not the yellow-green of a\ngreen tea and not the amber of an aged raw pu-erh.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTwo honest limits. First, “wild old-tree” is the producer's description of the\nmaterial; this page does not claim a tree age, a garden plot or a yield, because\nnone of those was given to us. Second, the room, the trays and the timing above\nare the producer's account of how this leaf was made. We repeat it as given\nrather than as something we watched.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch6\u003eOrigin\u003c\/h6\u003e\u003cp\u003eJingmai Mountain, Yunnan, China (producer's stated origin)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003ePicking\u003c\/h6\u003e\u003cp\u003eEarly spring, before 9 a.m., one bud and one leaf\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003eProcess\u003c\/h6\u003e\u003cp\u003eNo kill-green, no rolling · withered indoors on bamboo trays,\n     shade-dried, never in direct sun\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003eType\u003c\/h6\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhite tea made from Yunnan large-leaf material\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003eDry leaf\u003c\/h6\u003e\u003cp\u003eLong unrolled strips; silvery-white downy buds against\n     dark brown-black leaf backs\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003eLiquor\u003c\/h6\u003e\u003cp\u003ePale gold, clear\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003eAroma\u003c\/h6\u003e\u003cp\u003eHoney, white flowers (typical of the style)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003eFlavor Profile\u003c\/h6\u003e\u003cp\u003eTypical of the style: soft thick body, low bitterness,\n     long sweet finish over several infusions. Not an analysis of this lot.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003eBrewing (hot)\u003c\/h6\u003e\u003cp\u003e5 g \/ 300 ml \/ 90 °C \/ 3 min; four infusions, adding\n     about 30 s each time\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003eBrewing (cold)\u003c\/h6\u003e\u003cp\u003e4 g \/ 500 ml \/ 4 °C \/ 6 h, strain and drink within 24 h.\n     A general white-tea guide, not measured on this lot.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003eNet weight\u003c\/h6\u003e\u003cp\u003e250 g \/ 500 g · loose leaf, sold by weight\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003eStorage\u003c\/h6\u003e\u003cp\u003eSealed, cool and dry, away from damp and strong odours\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MINGXU","offers":[{"title":"250 g","offer_id":54485155545382,"sku":"MX-YGB-250","price":69.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"500 g","offer_id":54485155578150,"sku":"MX-YGB-500","price":95.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1050\/3477\/6870\/files\/ygb_dry.png?v=1794581998","url":"https:\/\/mingxutea.com\/products\/china-yunnan-moonlight-white-yueguang-bai","provider":"MINGXUTEA","version":"1.0","type":"link"}