I love white tea. I love the deep quiet flavors of it. I really did not know what to expect from an assam silver needle but it is What-Cha and they know how to pick them. The moment I caught the first hints out of the bag I knew I would like this. It is sweet fresh grassy hay, like really fresh cut hay. Yet it is different as this smells nicely of malt. I mean it is assam so maybe I should expect it or at least hope for it, but honestly it surprised me. It looks like silver needle but not. It is more needle like and darker than Chinese silver needle. The tea brews to a light white grape color.
The taste is so good. I taste the hay and light touches of melon that I expect but I also get the malt. This nicely sweet with no rough edges or bitterness. It could stop right there and I would have been happy. But it doesn’t.
I prepared a single mug in my clear teapot. What I loved most, no, what I LOVED most about this was the surprise note of honeysuckle. I almost never taste what I’m willing to call honeysuckle because it grows everywhere here and is one of my favorite spring fragrances. Nothing duplicates it for me. Until now. It even has the wonderful taste of that single drop of ambrosia from inside the flower that we used to harvest as kids and place on our tongue. To get both the floral scent and honey like taste is unheard of for me.
My disclaimer – it is a white tea so it won’t give you the breakfast assam smack down of flavor. If you love a wonderfully gentle and deep flavored tea then I highly recommend trying this one.
