The package directions suggest 170-185 for 2 minutes. I did 185 for 2.
I don’t want to speak too soon, but I may be starting to understand white tea. I have had enough silver needles at this point to start to see similarities. If I’m able to get past the hot-water-tastes-like-nothing with a particular tea, which seems to be a water temperature thing (and is why I pick the high end of the temperature spectrum now), I am starting to recognize a distinct flavor.
I mentioned this in one of my more recent previous notes; I understand why people sometimes compare white tea to black tea. There’s a quality that is very tea-like, moreso than the vegetal or grassy flavors of green teas. But it’s not like a lighter version of black tea. It’s its own distinct flavor. I am at a loss to describe it. Maybe some of the following get close, but none really nail it: bark, trees, wood, leaves, plants.
To that, for this one, I would add: sweet. While not strong, there’s a sweetness to the finish that is more nectar than sugar, more melon than nectar. This is also present in the steeped tea’s aroma, which is quite subtle, as is the color — pale, clear yellow. The leaves smell arboreal in the packet, rather a concentrated version of the quality I tried to describe in the flavor with a pungency to them.
Maybe it’s the quality of the tea, but this one doesn’t make me go some variety of “huh?” or “WTF?” For that, it gets serious points.
Flavors: Bark, Melon, Plants, Wood
