Yue Guang Bai “Silver Moonlight” Organic

A fascinating White tea made from old tea trees in Jinggu,Yunnan province. The tea trees are around 100 years old and are probably Camellia Taliensis which makes it a very unique tea since 99.9% of teas these days are made from Camellia Sinensis varieties.

There are many stories about this tea and its name “Yue Guang Bai”, which translates to “White Moonlight”. Most likely due to its appearance of dried leaves, which are silver-white and black in colour. Some say that the tea is picked at night and that the leaves never see the sunlight, other say that the tea is picked during the day but dried indoors and in low light conditions.

This batch of Yue Guang Bai White Moonlight white tea was plucked in mid spring 2020. The leaves have been carefully hand processed, resulting in a beautiful mixture of silver buds and larger black coloured leaves – the result of the oxidation process while being sun dried.

When compared to other Yunnan Silver Needle teas, White Moonlight is a much bolder tasting tea. This is the direct result of using not only the buds but the one or two adjoining leaves next to the bud. The flavours in this tea are well balanced and lean towards sweet and woody notes. There are fruity and floral aspects to the flavour that remind us of cherry blossom.