2020 'Polycrystal' White Tea
‘Polycrystal’ is a special commission production of high-end Yunnan white tea, in a yueguangbai (月光白 yuèguāng bái) or 'moonlight white' style. The tea was picked with a high proportion of buds and dried over a couple of days in the dark, leading to the characteristic camouflage-esque inclusion of silver needle buds with green-black older leaves.
The large amount of buds in this tea results in an intense fragrance as well as an extra caffeine kick as younger tea leaves have more caffeine than older ones. This tea is intensely floral and fragrant, with a thick mouthfeel owing to all of the trichomes (small hairs) on the buds.
Most teas of this style are from Fujian and are often called baimudan (白牡丹 bái mǔdān) meaning 'silver needle' - the Yunnan material here lends itself to a much stronger flavour, more potency, and greater endurance when brewing. You can re-steep this tea many times; when brewed lightly, the tea is soft, delicate, and very refreshing. When brewed stronger, you can expect more potent honey and herbaceous flavours.
Overall, 'Polycrystal' is a strong contender if you're a fan of white tea and interested in exploring a unique style of processing and type of tea material.
Wrapper artwork by Sage Jenson.
Pictures by Pingle Pictures.
2020 tea material produced in Yunnan, China.
200g per compressed cake, with 5 cakes per traditionally wrapped bamboo tong. 25g samples are cut or broken from the cakes and sealed into bags.
All orders are shipped from our HQ in Melbourne within 1-2 business days, using Australia Post.
Australia: $9.95 AUD flat-rate standard shipping, free above $75 AUD. $14.95 AUD flat-rate express shipping, free above $100 AUD.
New Zealand: $20 AUD flat-rate, free above $90 AUD.
Asia: $25 AUD flat-rate, free above $150 AUD.
Europe: $35 AUD flat-rate, free above $150 AUD.
Canada: $30 CAD flat-rate, free above $130 CAD.
United States of America: Tiered pricing based on order weight, with a choice of either Standard, or Express with Signature. Tariffs are calculated automatically and collected at checkout.
Use boiling water (100C).
We recommend using approx 1g of tea per 15ml of water for gongfu-style brewing in a teapot or gaiwan. Rinse the leaves once and then brew as usual. You can re-steep the leaves several times until there's no flavour left.
For Western-style brewing in a larger teapot, use approx 5g tea per 100ml of water. You can re-brew the leaves a few times.
To brew direct in a mug, use 1-2g of tea in the bottom of the cup, fill to top with boiling water, and drink once cool. Re-fill the cup with more water when you've drunk 1/3rd of the tea. Repeat until there's no more flavour left.
All of our teas are suitable for long-term storage and ageing.
Keep your tea away from sunlight and strong smells, and somewhere with stable climate conditions.
You can keep it sealed inside the re-usable bag the tea comes in, or another non-porous container.