Handpicked across the years — a Fuding journey with Chen Hui Yi
In the early spring of 2025, Chen Hui Yi made her annual pilgrimage to the mist-shrouded hills of Fuding. As the Senior Tea Expert for white, green, and yellow tea varieties, she has spent over a decade building relationships with small family workshops in Panxi and Taimushan. This flight was born from a desire to give Western drinkers a clear window into the aging arc of Fuding white tea. She hand-selected four lots, each representing a distinct stage: the 2025 Yínzhēn — plucked before Qingming, pure bud sets processed with extended indoor withering; the 2025 Bái Mǔ Dān — a first-flush one-bud-two-leaf pluck, sun-dried in spring’s soft light; the 2022 Shòu Méi — a later, more mature leaf grade, already showing early honey tones after three years of dry Guangdong storage; and the 2018 Lǎo Bái Chá — a genuine aged white, stored in a traditional ceramic jar, with the deep, medicinal sweetness that only time can refine. Each 25–30g sample is packed in light-proof, airtight foil with a numbered tasting card. Chen’s aim was not only to showcase Fuding’s white tea pedigree but to educate the palate: from the ethereal freshness of the new year’s buds to the profound, almost pu-erh-like transformation of a six-year-old white. It’s a tasting journey that bridges season and storage.