Fuding

The rhythm of Fuding is set by its leaf market. At four in the morning farmers carry in the white-tea leaves they picked the day before and crowd into Diantou to bargain, weigh and load; by noon most of the fresh leaf is already in the factories beginning to wither. The prices quoted in this small town are the barometer for white tea across the whole country.

White tea has the fewest steps of the six great tea families: no pan-firing, no rolling — only withering and drying, with the outcome handed over to wind, sun and time. That is precisely why the place of origin matters so much. On Taimu Mountain a few old tea trees, said to be a thousand years old, are regarded as the ancestors of white tea. Down in the old warehouses, a five-year Bai Mudan is slowly transforming, a different flavour every year.

We show you how Silver Needle turns from fresh leaf into finished tea within 72 hours around the Qingming festival in March, and we pour an aged tea so you can feel what the old saying — one year a tea, three years a medicine, seven years a treasure — is actually talking about. After a day here you understand that white tea is precious not because of its price, but because it is willing to wait.

The best times to come are before Qingming in March, when the Silver Needle is made, and around White Dew in September, when the Shoumei comes in. The Diantou leaf market opens at four in the morning and empties before nine, so an early start is required to see it. Taimu Mountain scenic area and the tea hills are two different outings — plan them on separate days rather than cramming both into one.