Tasting through the last 9 days of white tea harvests with Mr. Lin, whose family is the top producer and leader of the white tea industry in Fuding. He’s not happy today- the rainfall has made the wilting indoors really difficult and his staff were not paying enough attention.
We tasted through samples of each day, along with the senior tea buyer of Anxi Empereur Tea, who is responsible for purchasing for a mere 600 stores. It was nice to taste with other professionals much more senior to myself, and finding exact concurrence. Day 7’s harvest of the White Peony and Day 9 were the best. Day 7 was sweeter and smoother, day 9 was most flavorful. Though I agreed completely- Days 3 through 6 were too light yet – I chose Day 7. It represented bright clear Spring.
One year, I sat in that same room tasting white teas with some Russian buyers who knew little of what they were tasting. It was a far cry from tasting with real black belts and finding that after all, my choices matched theirs exactly. That means while tea tasting is subjective, judging is less so. If we ever get to 600 stores, I guess I would still be the teabuyer!
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