Crushed Baihao Yinzhen

I’ve been watching Attack on Titan anime and stuffing my face with fried tofu which has peaked my tea thirst. As I’m at my parents house for the long weekend I’ve brought with me a lot of samples that need using up, this crushed Baihao Yinzhen is one of them. It’s a shame that this company closed down, I found their Dragon Well rather pleasant considering it was cheap.

The leaves are very fluffy and silver with some brown/green leaves and stem pieces mixed in. They are mostly small in size but some of the silver tips are whole. The fluff is a light cream colour and there is so much of it on the side of the packaging. They have a dry mixed floral scent that has little sweetness. Stronger actually than I was expecting.

Steeping this in my Kyusu (as that is all I have with me).
Leaf – 7g
Water – 75C
Steeps – 30 seconds, 45 seconds and 120 seconds (which are stated on the packet)

First steep – 30 seconds
As expected very mild colour, just a slight yellow tinge to the water. It has little flavour but is similar to Bai Mu Dan, it’s sweet and floral but also a little dry. A little stronger than your average silver tips however.

Second Steep – 45 seconds
Much more flavour, it’s even on the verge of being a little astringent at this point. Similar to that of a green tea. It’s very floral at this point yet tastes of no specific flower (at least none that come to my mind) and the dryness has increased. Also on top of the sweet flowers is a light wooden element.

Third Steep – 120 seconds
Tea liquid at this stage is light orange brown. Still very high floral but that touch of astringency has remained, though it is no worse than the previous steep. The dryness however is a little stronger and my mouth is starting to feel like cotton. Still it carried the flavour on well and it has a lot of life left for a white tea.

The dryness I’m going to put down to this being crushed Baihao Yinzhen which is a cheaper form, though it wasn’t terrible I did have to circulate my mouth by the third steep to stop my tongue from drying up. It was stronger than I expected and this resembled a cross between the floralness of a white tea yet with the thickness and astringency of a light green tea. According to Wikipedia Baihao Yinzhen is the most expensive white tea on the market from China. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baihao_Yinzhen

This was a nice white tea and I would certainly try it again in the future, albeit by a different company. Though I do have a Supreme Baihao Yinzhen sample to try from infussion, will try that one in a bit so my comparison is recent.