No. 45, The White Wolf

I didn’t think the white wolf would be such a soft tea. I was expecting the mint and anise to nip, but it’s so fluffy!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8EFVDq0crs

Mint, anise, and vanilla are all well-balanced here, forming a fresh and sweet beverage. There’s a hint of smoky spice creeping into the finish that I’m enjoying. It’s almost musky. The delicate white peony base is powdered over by those wispy ingredient notes but I get glimpses of gentle lemon and melon fruit profiles under the surface.

I feel like I’m wrapped up in a warm fuzzy blanket at my parents place, looking out of the solarium window after a snowfall. The back of that house overlooks a canyon/creek and all the tall pines! When the sun starts to set the lights from the house 100 meters across the ravine from us become visible. With snow, everything becomes so quiet and it seems even farther away.

Long story short- this tea makes me feel nostalgic, romantic, and cozy. I’m glad I have lots and lots of this tea, because this is totally my thing.

And to think I bought it solely for the association with wolves, and the suggestion of cedar, which there’s little to none of. I thought the lack of cedar would disappoint me but it doesn’t!

A few months ago my husband forwarded an email to me from his office. A lady in another division found out that I like tea (overlook the fact that I didn’t say “am obsessed with”) and was asking what companies I like. She sent a list of companies from whom she orders, and this was one of the few on the list I was unfamiliar with.

Their website is gorgeous. Their Facebook feed makes my newsfeed pretty every day. The owners of the company were stylists for Martha Stewart Living, and the husband of one owner was a stylist for Anthropologie, so you can guess how gorgeous everything is.

I ordered this one because I was curious about the unusual flavors they have combined here. I chose the two ounce bag to make it more affordable, though I think their tins are heavenly looking. (You can choose for it to come in a box instead of a bag for three dollars extra.)

The dry leaf is positively beautiful. Serving this at a tea party, I would definitely want to display the leaf in a pretty container prior to making the tea. The aroma is mostly spearmint.

The steeped tea is pale gold in color and now smells primarily of star anise, though as it cools the spearmint steps forward a bit again. At no time is it powerfully minty like a Moroccan Mint, but rather it is a nice refreshing breeze blowing through softly.

A guest joined me, and she said she really dislikes licorice and thought she would not enjoy this tea, but she ended up liking it.

My tea came in a pretty bag with brown paper tape with blue pattern. The instructions are handwritten on the label and it was tied up with a pretty ribbon. They also included a generous sample of White Nixon, another of their white tea line. Everything was packed in lots and LOTS of brilliant yellow/gold tissue paper.

Their tins are amazingly beautiful, but I am curious why adding a tin to your order adds a different price depending which tea you are ordering. If the tin is worth $18, why does the addition of the same tin add $17 to one tea order, but $22 to another?

As pretty as the tins are, I will save that splurge for when I am rich as Croesus and can have a whole row of them. For now the bags are pretty enough!

Thanks, Crowkettle, for this sample!

Backlog from Sunday. What a warm sweet tea! The mint and anise are sweet and the other elements add a warmth like a cordial or liqueur. It tingles and tantalizes me. it was a little odd at first to reconcile the coolness of mint and the warmth that I’m feeling, but once I let go of that expectation, it was a fantastical taste voyage.

I love the Witcher series. I like the books, I like the show, I like the narrator for the audiobooks. When I hear the name of this tea I think of the Witcher, Gerald, who was referred to as the white wolf. This tea doesn’t taste at all like an association of that character. It has cedar, which I can smell and is the reason I found this tea intriguing. The woman working the counter at Bellocq said they have two teas with cedar. I think the other was Parks something. I had a sample tasting of it in the store, but wasn’t taken by it. This is a white tea, it’s very light and ethereal. It has a mild sweetness to it. Maybe a touch of anise? It’s a nice mellow blend. I’m enjoying it, but I don’t think it’s bold enough for me to want to keep it in stock.

Thank you Cameron B. :D for today’s daily sipper choice.

At first, I was apprehensive trying this tea. I only like mint if it’s mild… This is subtle and it’s well balanced with the other ingredients. It’s creamy, slightly minty, with a spearmint taste more than peppermint, only because it has a less cooling effect and because of that, it melds really well with the other ingredients so one ingredient isn’t standing out. It’s not strong like Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum (thank goodness). I also feel and taste a little spice, like black pepper or something which really makes it interesting. It’s slightly sweet, I can’t really taste the vanilla. It was a nice surprise.

Sipdown! (40 | 170)

Another of my oldest teas done! So nice to finish these off, and this was my only remaining tea from 2016, so now everything is from 2017 or later (lol, as if that’s saying something…).

I don’t think this one has held up quite as well as National Parks Dept. The anise in particular is quite muted, more so than I think it was originally.

But this is still a very pleasant cuppa – light and fluffy as a cloud with a touch of creamy vanilla and gently refreshing spearmint and evergreen notes. The bai mudan base is perfect, equally soft and airy with a mellow hay and oats flavor.

Yummy. Another one that I would consider reordering from Bellocq in the future!

Oh, I’m so excited to try this! Thanks so much for the sample, CrowKettle!

I smell mostly vanilla from the dry sample. Once I add hot water, I smell the mint and star anise. This is… hmm. I think it’s spearmint. I initially thought it was peppermint, but it’s not really. Maybe a blend, or some other type of mint. My favourite is Corsican mint (look it up! It’s a really neat ground cover, and the scent is divine), but I’m not sure if my friend would react to it or not.

It also tastes mostly of mint and anise. It’s a really mild and somewhat earthy mint tea. But it has body because of the white tea.

Really interesting. Thanks so much for sharing, CrowKettle!

Edit: Yeah, I can’t tell what kind of mint it is. If it’s spearmint, it’s not triggering anything for me. And it’s not super cooling like what I expect from peppermint. So. “Mint.”