Aged Shou Mei 2014

Aged Shou Mei 2014 — Naturally Aged White Tea

Also known as: Aged Shou Mei, Aged White Tea, Lao Bai Cha, Old White Tea

This is where white tea gets really interesting.

Our Aged Shou Mei was made back in 2014 and left to age naturally ever since — slowly turning from a fresh, everyday white tea into something deeper, warmer and altogether more soulful. It's one of our best-loved white teas, and once you've tried a good aged one, it's easy to see why.

Store New, Drink Old

White tea is the one Chinese tea famous for getting better with age. There's an old saying — "one year a tea, three years a medicine, seven years a treasure" — that captures just how prized a well-aged white tea is. (A traditional saying about culture, not a health claim.)

The reason is in the leaf. White tea is barely processed — just withered and dried — so it stays "alive", quietly changing in the bag year after year. Fresh, it's bright and light. Given time, it deepens, softens and grows richer, trading its youthful freshness for warmth and body.

Shou Mei is the best white tea to age of all. Its mature leaf simply has the most to give over the years — which is why aged Shou Mei is where most white tea lovers end up.

What Aged Shou Mei Tastes Like

A decade of ageing transforms it completely.

The fresh, hay-like brightness of young Shou Mei has mellowed into something rich and rounded — a smooth, thick liquor with a warm dried-plum aroma, gentle honeyed sweetness and a long, comforting finish. Some call the older notes "medicinal" or "herbal" in the nicest sense: deep, woody, soothing.

It's darker, deeper and cosier than any fresh white tea. This is the tea for a quiet, cold evening — the one you reach for when you want to slow down.

Fresh vs Aged White Tea

The easiest way to understand ageing is to taste both.

• Fresh Shou Mei — light, bright, hay and honey, refreshing.
• Aged Shou Mei (this one) — deep, smooth, dried-plum and warmth, comforting.

Same tea, ten years apart. Our fresh Shou Mei is the perfect "before" if you'd like to try them side by side.

The Four Types of White Tea

White tea is graded by how much bud and leaf goes into the pick. Aged Shou Mei starts life at the fuller, leafier end — which is exactly what makes it age so well:

Silver Needle is buds only; White Peony adds a leaf or two; Gong Mei and Shou Mei use more mature leaf. That mature leaf is rich in the sugars and compounds that slowly transform with age — the reason Shou Mei, not the delicate bud grades, is the classic white tea to lay down.

Best Simmered

Aged white tea has a special trick the fresh grades don't: it's wonderful simmered.

After a few steeps, tip the leaf into a pot and let it simmer gently — the liquor turns thick, sweet and deeply warming, filling the room with a cosy, aged aroma. In cooler months, it's one of the loveliest ways to drink tea.

Explore more in the white tea collection, including aged white tea cakes.

Brew this Aged Shou Mei the right way

— check out our professional Brewing Guide, Storage Care and The Origins below 👇