On teas: The true “Moon Cake”

I first encountered the Moonlight White at a teahouse in Beijing almost two years ago. I remember feeling absolutely amazed by the size of the leaves, and the shiny, soft fuzz that covered the buds almost like velvet. They all came in one leaf one bud form, the leaf sometimes as long as a pinkie finger and as black as a starless night sky, and the silver bud, slightly bent to resemble a crescent moon against a dark sky. Even more interesting was learning that this tea actually came from old puerh tea trees, virtually the same trees that give us the ripe, dark, musky aged puerh teas we drink for dim sum!

The Moonlight White, on the contrary, is the colour of a Riesling white wine, a crystal clear yellow liquor. The nose is sweet, with light woodsy, honey and floral notes, while the tea runs smooth and mellow in your mouth like syrup. Our Moonlight White teas come from the Jinggu area in Yunnan, a puerh production region with an elevation of 1000m. The teas must be picked from tea trees over 100 years old, giving it extra depth and complexity.

With this poetic story in mind I’ve decided to create this year’s Mid-Autumn festival gift sets around this beautiful tea, because what better time to drink Moonlight White than when the moon is at its fullest? And in what better form than pressed as a “cake”?