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Brewed leaves have a super-bright & fresh lemongrass smell with sweet pine notes. The tea is a bit more subdued version of that, but also earthy with creamy tree bark. After the assault of potent aromas from leaf to brew to liquor, the taste is unexpectedly smooth and the lemongrass mildly well balanced. The citrus/lemongrass flavor does seem to fade with temperature as the tea cools.

Not surprisingly, a slice of lemon goes really well with this tea. In an odd way, a slice of lemon actually brightens it to the point where it no longer needs any kind of sweetener like honey or stevia and it exhibits a “false sweet” I can’t describe. This vanishes once iced, so if you plan to ice it you’ll probably want to be adding stevia, honey, or some other sweetener.

Crisp, refreshing, different.

Sounded awesome, opened the tin expecting a blast of citrus aromas aaaaand……. nope. Their Thes des Lords EG has more citrus smell than this blend. Once brewed, the leaves oooze all sorts of bright citrus aromas, like a truck carrying lemons and grapefruits crashed into a lemon-zest factory, but the tea.. well.. not so much. Not much at all, really.

Funny thing, along with my order I got a few sample tea bags and one of the bags was this very tea. Opened it, and it had a bit stronger scent than the loose leaf in the tin did, but the brewed liquor was pretty much the same.

The saving grace of this tea, and main reason it doesn’t get 21-40 range score, is that YES there is a bit of citrus in there, but the russian blend of blacks is actually quite nice and smooth, and makes an excellent pairing with other teas in blends, especially where a touch of citrus won’t hurt.

Completely misses one target but scores enough points on a completely different one accidentally. Enough so that I might consider ordering a refill pouch eventually if I don’t find better partners for a few blends I’m trying to perfect.

At the upper-end of my “Good cuppa” category, it’s easy to find and reasonably priced if you live near a teavana store. Are there better jasmine pearls out there? Sure. But it’s hit-or-miss if you can’t smell it and get a closer look at it before buying. Then there’s shipping, the hassle of having to buy more samples or larger qty to make it worthwhile, etc.

This does the trick for my jasmine green tea supply. It reliably holds up through 3 infusions without breaking a sweat, usually 4 w/o any bitter or astringent notes although sometimes they’ll make an appearance on round 4. By then the jasmine is mostly gone anyway and I have good senchas if all I want is a straight green. The first infusion, the jasmine is pretty strong and might be overpowering for some. I like infusions 2 & 3 the best, but find that if I just combine 4 infusions (2min/30-60sec/1-2min/3min all at 170-180F) into one batch it all evens out nicely at a good level. Have made some fun blends with other floral and citrus teas.

Ugh, this one actually went in the trash after several attempts to brew it with various techniques, none of them resulting in a cuppa I could finish, let alone take more than 3 sips of. Tasted of chemical cherries and bitter green tea that’s been put in a pot of water and boiled for 30-45 minutes. At first I tried my usual 175F/1min/2tsp-cup “let’s meet” brew and got an industrial-chemical-bitter liquor that looked like green tea. OK, maybe its a bit delicate so change to fresh leaves, bring the water down to 160, a quick rinse to recover the leaves and then a 30-sec infusion. Now I had watery/diluted industrial-chemical-bitter liquor that almost looked like green tea. Definitely not a gyokuro so no need to try 120F@10sec, so I switched gears and followed the recommended steeping instructions on the label — 200 F for 3-5 mins??! Ummmmmm OK, what have I got to lose.. I hit the “200” button on the kettle and stop myself from reflexively reaching for a tin of black tea, say a little prayer to the tea gods they don’t strike me with lighting for this blasphemy, and prepare to soak this sencha for 3 minutes. Now I had concentrate of industrial-chemical-bitter liquor that looked like massively over-brewed green tea, the bitter receptors on my tongue cried out in horror as a sip washed over them. I knew it was coming but no amount of preparation could have steeled my taste buds for that sludge.

I hate wasting tea, but what I threw in the trash wasn’t tea so no sweat.

Pretty sure I got an old batch, next time I go into a teavana I’ll try to exchange it per their policy. This was my first silver needle ever, so at first I just followed their instructions.

What I got was a cup of barnyard hay and wet straw, kind of like walking through the farm animal exhibits at a county fair, not really much else. For the price of 2oz I could have bought an entire bale of straw from a local farmer and made 50-gallon drums of this stuff. Perplexed, I thought “hmm, maybe there’s some trick to this” and scoured the internet for more info. At first, I thought I was being a dufus and overbrewing it, but trying much shorter infusions, different temperatures from 100-190F (even went nozomi gyokuro style and tried room temp water once for 15 mins), nothing but hay and straw. So I figured, “hmmm.. guess I just don’t like white tea..”

Then I had some good fresh whites from a few other sources and voila! I love whites!

So long story short, based on all the other positive reviews I’m reading here and now that I know what to look for, I’m pretty sure I got an old batch and need to go back to switch out what I have. Until I do though, this is getting an appropriate rating.

My usual morning cuppa, doesn’t require sweeteners but opens up better with a little raw honey or stevia leaves. I tend to like the rounded milky/creamy flavor of this EG as it softens the tea without having to add any milk/cream but doesn’t overpower the bergamot either.

If I want more bergamot I’ll switch to something like The Des Lords (Palais des thes) or Earl Grey Imperial (Mariage Freres), if I want something a little sweeter and more vanilla then the Tea Merchant’s French Earl Grey hits the spot. But for an easily purchased (local Teavana shop) and relatively inexpensive EG this is my daily drinker. I have also found it blends well with some fruity teas and anything you want to add a bit of creaminess to, for example a blueberry rooibos or what I call “Earl Cocotang”, a blend of this with a coconut puerh and passionfruit herbal.

Picked up 100g of this at the TWG salon in Manila while on a trip and restocking my 1837. O..M..G… Absolutely, wholeheartedly, definitely my top #1 white tea of any kind, one of my top 5 teas of all kind, period. I had been a fan of whites and good/fresh silver needles before, but this just completely blew me away. The problem now is that I’m spoiled when it comes to silver needle white tea, and while I keep searching for that more affordable replacement I also don’t have to travel halfway around the world for, and some have revealed “hints” of this tea in the background, the closest I have gotten is maybe 60%.

The first time I brewed this I was a bit scared.. at over a dollar a gram, I wanted to brew it a bit more conservatively, but I followed the shop’s recommendations and went right to 190F / 4tsp-300ml / 8 minutes. Was not let down at all. The brewed leaves smell like a cross between a creamy custard and hazelnut coffee creamer. The liquor smells like sweetened and toasted almonds and egg shells, tastes wonderfully complex, sweet and smooth for a perfect evening drink-a-thon. There is not even a hint of grass unlike some other not-so-fresh silver needles, and I have put this through 5 infusions (8, 10, 15, 15, 20 mins) without much muddling of flavors or appearance of straw/hay notes or astringency. I have experimented with some other brewing methods including cooler temps and longer/shorter infusions but I keep coming back to what the twg folks recommended.

What really sets this apart has been only what I could describe as this very unique eggy-custardy-flan-caramel-vanilla-ish profile I solely associate with whites and silver needles now, and am very excited when trying a new white when I think I sense a faint note of that…. just because I hate the fact I have to travel really far and/or spend huge bucks to get this.

Really unique and prized in my collection.

Starts off smoky-sweet and quite smooth. Mineral notes like deep limestone spring water are strongest, next come the toasted woody acidity. Leafy greens like kale add some slightly bitter notes one would expect.

As you progress through infusions, sweet floral notes begin to appear and become more pronounced, sometimes a dash of cinnamon and honey, bitter notes fade into the distant background. Comes a bit earlier if you start with a rinse, which makes a more well rounded start, but I kinda enjoyed the more distinct phases/evolution.

A fun journey with a few unexpected twists and turns, and was a fun brew to show my Mom (who I am introducing to quality teas slowly) how flavor profiles can change dramatically as you resteep.