This sample is a surprise gift that came in the mail from White Antlers last week!
I was really surprised that I had to add this one to the site as I could have sworn I had seen it reviewed before.
The sample package says this is spring harvest white tea buds. The buds were fat and absolutely covered in downy white trichomes. The cha he looks like it is holding miniature fat and fuzzy pea pods!
Ashman joined me for this gong fu session and I asked him to describe the smell of the leaves after they had warmed in a preheated gaiwan. He said cedar. Actually he said, “What is hamster bedding?” And I said “cedar” and he said “that’s it.” Ha ha!
The steeped tea is quite different from the aroma of the buds. The description on the package says floral and fruity but I definitely felt it the other way around. My first impression was intense fruitiness, and the floral came after and was more subtle. Ashman said he liked the aroma of the wet leaves and steeped tea much better than the dry warmed leaves.
The first two steeps were very much alike, but the third must have oversteeped or something because you could smell the astringency before you sipped. It did have a lot of briskness but it forgave my negligence by rewarding us with a nice rising sweetness after the swallow.
White tea is Ashman’s favorite, so many thanks to White Antlers for the sample!
White Antlers has been on my mind a lot lately. I hope she is well!
derk: She had breakthrough Delta variant of Covid but is back home now! Doing better but still recovering.