Last Lots & Aged Finds

This is a small shelf of closing lots: parcels we bought well, aged well, or simply ended up holding more of than the main range needs. Each one is a real quantity rather than a permanent product line, so when a lot runs out it is gone, and what appears here changes with whatever else has come to the end of its run. Nothing on this page is made for the page.

Why these lots are here

Tea, unlike most goods, does not go bad. It changes, and a closing lot is usually one of three things: a recent harvest we bought in bulk and can price closer to wholesale; an aged parcel that has reached the flavour stage we want to share at an entry price; or a limited batch that simply did not fit the main catalogue. In every case you are getting the same leaf that sits in our full-price range, just without the markup that normally covers slow inventory.

That is the honest version. The salesy version would promise the world and tell you to hurry. We will say only this: when a competition-awarded tea shows up here, it is because we have enough of it to sell below its usual value and still stay honest about what it is.

What is on the shelf right now

Seven lots are on the shelf at the moment, and each is here for its own reason rather than because a calendar told us to discount something. Four of them are aged parcels we are simply holding too much of, one is a high-altitude tea priced down for a duller reason, one carries an award, and one has never been aged at all.

Aged lots we hold too much of. The 2012 Jade Dew Fragrance White Tea was picked after the Bailu solar term and has been resting ever since; more than a decade on, it has settled into dried-fruit sweetness with the soft warmth that only late-season picking gives. The 2012 Vintage Winter Harvest White Tea comes from a former state-owned factory and is the stricter, more structured of the two, still carrying something of the bite of leaf picked after real cold. If you would rather have your aged tea mellow and forgiving than bright, the 2013 Gong Mei White Tea Cake is the one we would hand you: Gong Mei's larger leaf and stem give a rounder, richer brew that takes simmering without complaint. The 2015 Sun-Dried White Peony White Tea closes the group — a decade of age on a classic sun-withered one-bud-two-leaf, floral at the front and honeyed at the back.

One high-altitude lot priced down for a boring reason. The 2020 Golden Peak Mountain White Peony Supreme was never a cheap tea and is not a cheap tea now. It comes from the Guanyang gardens on Golden Peak Mountain, where the forest cover and the altitude show up in the cup as a clean mineral edge under the florals. We came into more of it than the main catalogue needs, and that is the entire reason it is sitting at a lower price.

An award tea at an everyday price. The 2023 Quality Award Spring Shoumei White Tea took a Quality Award at the 6th Fuding White Tea Competition, hosted in China's White Tea Town (Diantou) and judged by a panel of regional tea associations. That award matters more than a Gold or Silver from a marketing contest, because it was given specifically for everyday drinkability: clean sweet leaf, proper withering, no tricks. In the cup it is smooth, sweet and forgiving, the kind of Shoumei that disappears fast from your tin because you keep reaching for it.

The one that has never been aged. The 2025 Small Fish Leaf White Tea is the odd lot out by design. Small fish leaves are the scarce, awkward-to-pick young leaves most producers skip entirely, and they give a brighter, more vegetal cup than the standard grades. Buy this one to drink now; it is not the lot to put in the back of a cupboard.

What happens when a lot runs out

Every lot here has a listed end date on its product page, and when that date arrives the price returns to its regular level on its own. There is no countdown clock on this page, and no deadline that resets itself to keep you moving; the dates come from how long we expect a parcel to last, not from a marketing plan.

What we cannot promise is availability, because a lot is a specific parcel rather than a permanent product line. Once one sells through it is gone and we do not restock it at the same price. That is also why this page changes more often than anywhere else on the site, and why the aged lots tend to go first.

How to buy well from a closing lot

A few habits keep a bargain from becoming a mistake. Decide your price ceiling before you look, and stick to varieties you already know you like, because a steep discount does not change what a leaf tastes like. Check the vintage: younger tea should taste bright and fresh, while an aged lot should show a mellow, dried-fruit sweetness, so let the listed year set your expectation. And buy for how you actually drink, not how you imagine drinking. If you brew a mug most mornings, you want an easy, clean white tea; if you simmer tea on weekends, an aged lot rewards you more.

Two things are worth checking before you commit to an aged lot. Read what the leaf actually is rather than what its year suggests — our guide to identifying genuinely high-year aged white tea covers the gap between real age and a convincing story. And if the lot is a cake or a brick rather than loose leaf, make sure you have somewhere to keep it, because a sealed, dry, light-free container matters more when you are reopening the same parcel every few weeks.

Brewing and storing what you buy

Brew Shoumei from this shelf at around 90–95°C, about 4–5 g per 150 ml, and give the first steep a quick ten seconds before lengthening each round. It takes six or more steeps without complaint. If you are buying to age instead of to drink, store it sealed, dry and away from light and strong smells, and it will keep mellowing for years.

If you are not sure where to begin, the award Shoumei is the easiest entry and the Gong Mei cake is the best value for anyone who simmers their tea; between them they cover most drinkers. And if nothing here suits you, the same leaf is on the shelf in the Fuding white tea range, in larger quantities and with a wider choice of vintages.