For us, choosing a white tea is not really about the vintage label itself. What matters is whether the tea can actually stand the test of time. White tea is easy to dress up with stories, but what really matters is the material, the processing, and whether the tea still shows its value after years of storage.

Our family’s connection with the Lin family goes back more than fifteen years. Over the years, we have seen that they make white tea in a steady way. They pay attention to how the tea plants grow, and they are willing to spend time on manual garden work. We have visited their gardens in Panxi, Fuding ourselves and seen how they manage the soil and the condition of the plants. These details may not appear on the label, but you can taste them in the tea. It is clean, free of off notes, holds up well over many infusions, and has a good base for aging.

Bear’s Bait (2015 Shou Mei) is a good example. Its age is something you can taste, not just something printed on the label. The jujube notes, the honeyed sweetness, the rice soup-like texture, and the very clean liquor all come from clean material, careful processing, and years of proper storage.