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“I decided to add more leaf to the pot this time – about 50% more than I usually do – and really liked the outcome! It was much more buttery, and had something approaching a starchy flavor which...” Read full tasting note
“This weeks Canton Tea Clubs tea is Silver Needle (Yin Zhen). It’s strange but I have been craving a lot of white tea the moment so it’s very fitting. The leaves whilst raw smell slightly sweet and...” Read full tasting note
“Silver Needles are beginning to bore me… It’s almost like the new Earl Grey – everyone seems to have one, ya know!? BUT… Canton has a LOVELY Silver Needle! Very crisp and clean and YUMMY! Makes...” Read full tasting note
“After a long run of flavored teas, I thought it would be a nice change of pace to get back to basics a bit. Ahhh… yes, this is good. I love to poor white tea out into a little glass bowl and marvel...” Read full tasting note
This high grade Fuding Silver Needle is entirely made up of soft, plump young ‘needles’ or immature leaf buds that are densely covered in tiny silvery hairs. Very high in antioxidants, the buds are hand- picked at dawn and scattered in the sun to dry. The liquor is the colour of champagne and has a light creamy, delicate taste with sweet notes of melon. Try nibbling on a bud of this top Silver Needle after infusion: it will be sweet and delicious, unlike lower quality Silver Needle which can be bitter and woody.
Our Buyer’s notes
“This very good quality tea comes from Fuding, Fujian province. The farmer won the gold medal for Yin Zhen at this year’s international tea competition in Las Vegas.”
Canton Tea Co is a London-based tea company trading in high grade, whole leaf Chinese tea. We have exclusive access to some of the best jasmine, white, green, oolong, black and authentic puerh teas available. In our first year, we scooped Six Golds at the 2009 Guild of Fine Food Great Taste Awards. Our Jasmine Pearls won the top three star gold award, endorsing it as the best available in the UK.
I decided to add more leaf to the pot this time – about 50% more than I usually do – and really liked the outcome! It was much more buttery, and had something approaching a starchy flavor which was very satisfying. This was sitting on top of the sweet grassy notes I’d gotten in previous tastings, which made for a very nice combination. I’ll bump it up a few points based on that.
This weeks Canton Tea Clubs tea is Silver Needle (Yin Zhen). It’s strange but I have been craving a lot of white tea the moment so it’s very fitting.
The leaves whilst raw smell slightly sweet and floral. They are silvery green in colour and form thin, sharp leaves that are so fresh they have a natural fuzz.
Brewed in a small teapot using 4g with three infusions starting with 1 minute and increasing each infusion by an extra minute.
Once wet the leaves smell sweet and somewhat fruity, almost like melon or sweet pea.
Infusion 1 – Very pale yellow in colour with a sweet and vegetal fragrance. The tea itself is crisp, fresh, light and floral. A wonderful example of fresh Silver Needle.
Infusion 2 – Same colour and smell. The flavour is a little stronger and crisper. The sweetness is now also more fruity but still subtle and fresh.
Infusion 3 – The same colour and smell. The flavour has weakened muchly and is now more floral than fruity but extremely subtly.
Three steeps were recommended and they turned out nicely. With the club giving me 25g this week and a teapot only uses 4g I have plenty left to enjoy :) Thank you Canton Tea Club.
i’m usualy steeping my white for 3 – 4 and 5min with 3g :)
I think it’s mainly down to preference. This time I followed the instructions given to try and review it efficiently but teapot steeping is new to me, I usually just use my gaiwan which takes a lot more loose tea.
i still need to purchase a gaiwan, got some that i want to buy from butiki. but well costly months and bills… going to buy one soon :)
My only advice would be to get a basic one, something you can learn with. When I started using them I kept dropping it when pouring. You get used to it very quickly though. :)
u mean u destroyed a few gaiwans and spilled loads off tea? :) lol
Lol Not broken one yet but very lucky not to have, it’s just difficult for me as I have small feminine hands. Holding the bottom saucer with gaiwan full of boiling water and trying to hold the lid at a slant in place to pour the tea with one hand was difficult.
just remember the chinese all got even smaller hands ;)
I just got this one today and am looking forward to trying it.
After a long run of flavored teas, I thought it would be a nice change of pace to get back to basics a bit. Ahhh… yes, this is good. I love to poor white tea out into a little glass bowl and marvel at the whiskery leaves (hairy little bastards). I’ve been examining my tea a lot this way recently in the interest of science (or in lieu of a hobby). My new hobby could be the overuse/ misuse of brackets (hmmmm).
This Silver needle by Canton is very whiskery! The flavor is refreshing, creamy, and I can taste melon in the finish. This is a very delicate but still flavorful white tea.
Edit: The melon flavor really developes as this tea cools!
This is a fantastic silver needle. Beautiful sweetness. Very serene.
It has a sweet fruity undertone, and a lovely creaminess that becomes the highlight of the cup when I use extra leaf like I did this evening. This is one of the best silver needles out there! Very nice.
I haven’t been a fan of white teas in the past because they’re simply too delicate. From past notes, you can gather that I’m big on bold flavors.
However, this white tea had a lot going for it. First, the leaves were an incredibly uniform pale green with the typical silver needle white hairs. It was as if they had been hand picked and matched for size, shape and color. White teas don’t typically present a lot of fragrance, but this was hearty with notes of cereal, malt and alfalfa.
Once prepared, the tea was a pale gold and the rich fragrance remained. The taste is of malt and honey and there’s a very slight floral essence.
This tea kept my attention and it will stay on my shelf until gone-which won’t be long.
Light, delicate, creamy – but not as buttery as others I’ve had. Nice silver needle, but not my favorite. However, in general, I’ve not found a Canton Tea Co tea that’s not a good tea. I’m consistently impressed with their production and quality, and this tea follows suit. I know I sound like a shill, and I don’t mean to – I’m not affiliated with them. I just like their tea!!!
Picked a random pack from my Canton sampler :)
Is a little sleepy, so my review will be short and lacking in details.
Leafs are nice, green and hairy. Erhm… and somehow they defy gravity and stays at the top of the cup. Maybe it’s because I was to lazy to preheat the cup before steeping. Or maybe it has issues. “I am too good for this cup. Now get me your finest porcelain.”-ish issues.
How to describe the aroma?
First thing that comes to mind is ASSAM, but no way in hell this is assam. I must be craving or something. Anyway… First sip screams: ASSAM, but no. It can’t be. This is a white silver needle soooo far from assam as it’s possible.
The only thing you can trust me for is that this tea really is green/white, hairy and that the liquid is very bright. Sweet tasting.
The rest – look away from it. I’ll write another tasting note for this when I have dealt with my ASSAM! craving.
Funny thing is… I really don’t like assam that much.
I drank this yesterday but am only writing it up today. It was one of the teas from my Canton Tea Club membership. I don’t seem to be keeping up with these very well at the moment and have a backlog to try. Still, that gives me plenty to look forward to.
The leaves are silvery and needley! Really? Yes! They are very whiskery and look great. The tea itself has a thick mouth feel and is quite grassy at first, but the melon flavour develops later. I found this tea really refreshing and it resteeped well too.
First of all I would like to thank Canton tea for this free sample.
I have steeped this one in my gaiwan 3mins 175F.
I have done 6 infusion atm.
The color is a pale yellow in all the infusions I have done.
The fragrance is really floral, especially in later steepings.
The taste is creamy at the beginning with notes of raw sugar and vanilla, and ends with floral essence.
The aftertaste is really persistent; but I didn’t like it very much.
I don’t think it is so light and delicate as some are saying.
In conclusion I think it is a nice tea, but there are a lot more I prefer; especially for the aftertaste.
