Watermelon Xylophone

Seems I’m running through all my samples from alphakitty today.

This is such a pretty tea.
I of course didn’t read the recommendations for this as, I always brew my tea how I want. Yea I’m a little stubborn, and I could probably learn a few things if only I listened. Alas I did not.

This was so light & refreshing… hot. So yummy I couldn’t even let it cool. I definitely get a melon taste but almost more of a cantaloupe taste. I can see the little ‘hairs’ in my tea hehe

Either way this is delicious. Very beautiful. I’m sure this would be fantastic iced as well.

Thank you kittylovestea for this sample! So glad I ordered an ounce of this before even tryin it. This one tastes quite like the cantaloupe and cream at the finishing notes, but the first flavor I get is watermelon. Once I get my shipment I think I am going to try mixing both together. Going to try this iced next :-)

Sipdown! It was another warmish day, so I made this when I got home from work, wanting something refreshing, yet not iced.

As always, this one is good, but I don’t love it as much as Cantaloupe and Cream.

Polished off the last of my sample from T.C. today. Thanks!

I enjoyed the first steep hot. There’s a really nice sweetness from the watermelon. I also detected some honeydew flavors which was an unexpected but welcome surprise. All in all a truly fantastic tea.

I combined the second and third steeps with a bit of honey and stuck it in the fridge to enjoy as iced tea later. After about an hour, I got impatient and starting drinking it. It was so good! The watermelon flavor was even more prominent than before. I added a few ice cubes from the office fridge to speed up the cooling process, but that ended up being a terrible idea.

Luckily for me, there is a box from Butiki sitting in my mailbox waiting for me! I can’t wait to try more of their teas.

The dry scent reminds me of honeydew melon initially. My boyfriend immediately identified watermelon so people who love both will enjoy this. I taste the fruity flavoring, then the tea alternately and those are balanced in the first steep. Second steep allows the tea to shine and the melon is the undernote. I was surprised at the suggested steep time of 4.5 min since that’s twice as long as usual time for white teas. I am reminded of a previous discussion that silver needle can handle hotter and longer due to having a thicker “body” in it being the apex leaf bud. I want to try a boiling temp rinse of 30 sec, then brew at the usual 170-185 for 2 min first steep, increasing steep time for as long as it can go. That adventure needs to wait another day though.

Tea #5 of the day. I’m on a roll. Lol!
Wow. Fluffy leaves of awesomeness with fuzzy balls of something and pretty flowers. Lol. I’m always amazed at the quality of the leaves in Stacy’s teas. So much fluff in this one. I’m very glad I just got a new set of measuring spoons with long square ‘bowls’ since it made measuring this tea out alot easier than trying to estimate if I got enough in the round bowl. Lol.
Dried this smells like watermelon which astounded me when it first arrived. When brewed the tea had the same smell along with a very light colored liquid. I almost thought the tea hadn’t brewed at all it was so light, but then, I’m used to the darker colors of oolongs & blacks.
It tastes the same as it smells, especially after a bit of sweetening. Just a bit though since I didn’t want to overwhelm the delicateness. It’s kinda flowery which I guess is from the white base, though I’m not at all familiar with white teas, so I could be wrong.
It’s like drinking the juice that’s left over after you’ve finished a big slice of watermelon, mixed with a light floral back taste that’s almost more aroma than actual taste. Astounding and something I never would have expected in a tea.
Very nice and light. Something to enjoy when I want something different.

I just realized, as I drink the last of my stock, that I never logged this tea. Surprising, really, as it is one of my all-time favorites (along with the Cantaloupe & Cream).

Here in Israel, watermelon is a very popular fruit and it is so abundant in the summer that it’s almost a national food. For me, this tea, even just the aroma wafting up from my mug, always brings up memories of summer days at an the beach, hot sun on my face, warm Mediterranean water at my feet and a big bowl of cold watermelon. Heaven.

The flavoring is gentle, sweet watermelon on an exquisite white base. A perfect pairing. It’s sweet without any additives.

I am very well suited to the Middle Eastern weather. I love the blue skies and the heat. However, these last few days have been chilly, I pulled this tea out today to give me that sense of summer that I’m craving.

Sadly, I’m all out of it now, and I do believe I will break my tea-buying hiatus and order some more. I also only have one cup’s worth of the Cantaloupe&Cream and also of the beloved Tamarind Pop, and well, there are some teas I just can’t be without, hiatus or no hiatus :)

Alrighty, time to try another flavored white. :) This time it’s with a Silver Needle base instead of Bai Mu Dan like the others I’ve tried.

Though the leaves are entirely different, dry leaf this smells exactly like Cantaloupe&Cream. Now that’s not a terrible thing, as I absolutely love Cantaloupe&Cream, but I was wanting something different.

Steeped, it has a lighter liquor than the aforementioned, though it still smells the same. Taking a sip, I could notice right away that the base tea was different. Didn’t have that creaminess of Bai Mu Dan, but I found the flavoring still tasted almost exactly like Cantaloupe&Cream. Following the recommendation, I added a tiny bit of golden sugar. I’ve actually been making a point of avoiding sugar in teas, but as it was recommended, thought I might as well give it a go!

With the sugar, the tea has transformed and the watermelon flavor has POPPED. It’s sweet, juicy and refreshing. It tastes like summer in a cup. The instinct is to want to guzzle it, but I’m trying to slow down and make myself sip instead of gulp.

This is a very nice flavored Silver Needle, but since I don’t drink whites extremely often — about once a week — I don’t feel the need to have several varieties at a time. Glad I tried this, but between this, Cantaloupe&Cream and Pineapple Cilantro Cream, the cantaloupe is my favorite. :) I also like that the cantaloupe uses less leaf per cup; makes it more budget worthy to keep on hand. :)

Thanks to Stephanie for sending me a sample! First off, I love the name; it’s what had me interested in the tea initially. The dry leaf is very pretty: the amaranth, while gorgeous by itself, creates a wonderful color contrast with the silver needles, which also look lovely. The aroma smells of watermelon bubblegum. That was a bit nostalgic – I haven’t had that flavor since I was a kid! The liquor, a pale golden yellow, is light-bodied. I thought the watermelon flavor would overpower the silver needles, but to my surprise I could taste both. I can’t say anything about the quality of the silver needles since my experience with white tea has yet to come into being, but the watermelon compliments them very nicely and stays in the mouth long after my swallowing despite that it’s not too strong.

What a wonderful tea, all around! I’m glad I got to try it.

Figured today was a good day to work though a bunch of samples I’ve received.
This beauty came from Stephanie and caught my eye due to the coloring of the flower petals in it.

Took one sip first (for comparison) then did as Butiki and other reviewers recommend and added a small amount of sugar. It’s very good. I’m becoming a big fan of whites on their own recently and I love the watermelon smell. After the addition of the sugar the watermelon pops much more. This is a good tea that I’ll be placing on my “to order” list.