Swap tea with ashmanra. Thank you :) Keeping my white tea theme rolling now that it’s in the mid-80s here.
The packet was 5g and since I wanted to see how this tea made out gongfu and western, I split it in half: 2.5g for a 60mL gaiwan and 2.5g for a 6oz cup. The dry leaf struck me as strange; it smelled mostly of a jasmine-scented tea, not a typical light floral aroma. I wonder if there was either some product mislabelling or some cross-contam prior to packaging because the packet was sealed tightly. There were also notes of some other flower, hay and a mustiness which is common to Chinese silver needle white teas. The aroma of the rinsed leaf was musty with wet hay and florals and a pungent note much like tea tree oil. I drank the rinse. The tea is difficult to describe. Cantaloupe-ish, lemon sweet-tart, musty, dusty, retronasal florals. Aftertaste was pleasant though short-lived. It took a while to come to me, but I figured it reminded me of a buttery croissant and lychee.
Some other notes that appeared in the gongfu session were nectar, another pungent herbal quality reminiscent of sage, semi-sweet sake, minerals. The liquor aroma became very pronounced with musty jasmine. Tongue-numbing in a way I found unpleasant. The body was thin and watery. Aftertaste moved to oats and cream. By the fourth steep, the liquor lost flavor and grew very drying despite using water near the recommended temp (of note: I believe it was ~165F on my packet vs the 176F in the current product description).
One steep western of 5 minutes was less impressive. Watery-brothy, musty and tart with a strong jasmine finish.
I found this to be more of a musty, savory and herbal silver needle white than the sweeter and fruitier ones that I prefer. As it is, I’d put this tea’s rating somewhere in the 40s to 50s due to several elements that turned me off and possible mislabelling or pre-packaging cross-contam with a jasmine silver needle. However, I don’t know the age of the leaf so I’m leaving it unrated.Flavors: Butter, Cantaloupe, Cream, Drying, Dust, Floral, Hay, Herbs, Jasmine, Lemon, Lychee, Mineral, Musty, Nectar, Oats, Pastries, Sage, Sake, Tart
