Silver Needle

I really was looking forward to this tea. My first experience with Silver Needle was with Grace Tea Company. I absolutely loved their tea, so I wanted to try this one. This wasn’t anything like it! It’s just okay. It’s didn’t have the oomph that I had from the other Silver Needle. It also loses points for needing to add a lot of tea leaves to produce a flavorful cup. It resteeps 3 times.

I wouldn’t recommend this tea, it was a let down for me. I think I’ll just go back to Grace Tea Company, their Silver Needle will be hard to beat!

Shhh!, this tea is so delicate you can spook it. I must admit, I am a big fan of Adagio Teas and I am used to Silver Needle but in loose leaf form. I recently purchased their new “teabags” and must say are pretty nice; they are made of nylon and my preliminary feeling is that they restrict the flavor a little bit compared to a silk sachet. I do need to try another tea say a white peony with a little more flavor profile to test it against such a delicate tea as the Silver Needle. Now, on to my review.

The Aroma: This tea has the soft aroma of melon, peach and candied pears but in a very soft subdued manner, barely there.

The Taste: The taste is very delicate and mild yet still noticeable. It has the flavor profile of the fruits mentioned above with a sublime sweetness. There really isn’t that much more to this flavor.

The Aftertaste: There is a slight crispness as an aftertaste, reminiscent of apples. There really isn’t one; it does not linger like other teas. To me, it seems to cleanse the palate.

If you like big bold flavor teas, then this type is not for you. Silver Needle is a very delicate, soft, sublime tea.

I do highly recommend this tea and this brand even though most tea connoisseurs are familiar with the brand. A must buy!

Update: Even though I stick to my guns about reviewing only the first infusion, I do have to admit that I had a cuppa this evening and the profile still stands, however, it was a little more intense due to the amount of water. I believe I used a smaller cup than with this initial review; on this website it only offers us steep time and water temperature…I guess we have to fill in the rest like amount of water used. This is a nice and tasty tea, can’t wait to try the White Peony in the same type of cup. Adagio Teas offers some fine teas!

I must say, I love silver needle tea, but adagio’s silver needle was somewhat of a disappointment. First it was almost old looking (the leaves), the color was ok in the tea the taste was very bland, your artichoke notes, toasted grain. there was not very much after steeping once. One steeping was all I got. score 85

Love this tea!!!! I was wondering if this was the best place to buy it? I just got a sample today.

Sweet and gentle. A nice cup.

This is indeed a delicate white…I would prefer a bit more flavor. Based on the observations of others, I’m sure there’s more in there somewhere so I’ll see if I can find it. I ignored it for a while after brewing, so I can’t claim this was an ideal-scenario tasting. Also, this has been in my possession for quite a while. In any event, it is very smooth and clean tasting. Aside from additional steepings of this batch, I should have another couple pots from my little sample and may adjust my rating.

The dry leaves had little to no aroma, which, for this style, I find unfortunate. Lifting the gaiwan to my nose after the first steep, a distinct rush of jasmine and cooked spinach come on strong. The jasmine is detectable to the point that, if I didn’t know better, I would say that this tea either had jasmine added to it, or was stored in very close proximity to jasmine tea. Unfortunately, I really, really dislike jasmine-scented anything. In the end, I feel two ways about the jasmine character: (a) if it is not an added character (highly unlikely), it has to be the strongest non-flavored character I’ve ever experienced in any tea, (b) the jasmine character is fleetingly light enough that if one were looking for a jasmine experience, they would likely be disappointed.

Pressing through the hazy cloud of jasmine occlusion, the green spinach character is noticeable again in steeps two and three. Hay-like grassiness picks up, but stays rather minimal. The sweetness is moderate to low and I find the overall complexity rather minimal. By the fourth and fifth steeps, the wet leaves smell of dry clay, a sign that they are exhausted, the soup singing a similar note of thinned out tiredness. Sadly, this may be the the least enjoyable silver needle experience I’ve ever had.

Full blog post: http://tea.theskua.com/?p=134

Silver Needle maybe the ultimate beverage… or at least the ultimate cup of tea!

Tea brews to a beautiful golden color, will brown slightly if steeped longer.
Flavor is delicate, slightly leafy (barely detectable), with mildly sweet aftertaste. This tea is known to be high in antioxidants and relatively low in caffeine (confirmed by a caffeine-strip test).

Leafs are 100% unbroken, so this tea will never turn bitter, even if over-steeped. You can create a stronger, grassier, sweeter cup by steeping double amount of tea for 6-8 minutes in 180F degree water.

Appropriate adjectives: smooth, mild, balmy, soothing, gentle, tranquil, relaxing.

This tea is what I was thinking of when I was a child and making imaginary magic potions that could heal your lifeforce or imbue you with magic. The tea itself is a feel good item and can lift spirits. It allows you to shrug off discomfort, like it was some kind of winter coat and just feel good.

It has a cool blonde liquor and a mild smell like tanned leather or some sort of soft herb like tarragon. The taste has notes of butter and hay, like some impossible grain beverage. There are no truly bitter flavors present.

Iced!