Organic Silver Needle White Tea

Finally, the furnace repairman made it to my house. It only took a week. He said he is absolutely swamped. A burned out relay replacement later and I now have full heat again. So Yeah heat! Celebrating with Silver Needle and going to get a piece of pumpkin pie. They probably don’t go together but I don’t care ’cause I have heat.

This tea is a over a year old and it is still so light and fresh tasting.

Nature’s Tea Leaf sent this free for review. It is hard to call it a sample – their portions are so generous!

GMathis is right. Touch these leaves and you will wish you had a pillow made of them. Soft, fluffy, fuzzy, downy. Also, not really easy to scoop in a teaspoon so I just reached in and grabbed a couple of pinches and put them in my eight ounce gong fu pot.

I knew this was likely too much leaf for such a small pot, but not by much, so I cut my steep time a bit. Quite a bit. I ended up with a soft and cozy cup.

There was a really sharp tang to the smell of the wet leaves, but it is no where present in the taste of the liquor.

Last time I drank this I got all oat and soft grain flavors. This time I can smell and taste a tiny, demure peek of fruitiness with the grain. I have had three steeps and plan to keep going with this one because steep three has the most fruity taste so far. I began with a one minute steep and have been increasing it about thirty seconds since. This is contrary to recommended steeping but as I said, I knew I put in more leaf than necessary and I am getting great results from it.

Two years ago, white tea was just hot water to me. I am thankful for the companies that let us try new things and expand our horizons and help us learn to appreciate all that is in tea.

Thank you, Nature’s Tea Leaf!

I need to clear my head of too much work, too much sugar, too many hormones, too many looming holidays…etc. Thought something light might start the clearing process, so I broke into my sample pack.

The leaves are so lush and phloofy, you want to lay your weary head in a pillow of them. Love the 5 minute steep time, and the fact that there’s some flavor at the end of the wait. Sweet hay and wheat straw. (You know me, I don’t care for teas that make you fish for the taste.)

I don’t think I’ll ever be a white tea addict, but this one makes me a white tea appreciator.

Thank you out to NaturesTeaLeaf for a sample of this for review! Very generous amount too, so I made a pot’s worth for this tasting!

Silver Needle white tea, hmmm. I don’t drink too many unflavored white teas, but I have a couple in my tea stash. Ones I do have I find kinda flat with not much flavor. Let’s see how this tea does.

DRY LEAF: Fresh earthy smell. Very light weight tea. The leaves were kinda fuzzy /petpet

STEEPED: Smells slightly sweet and fruity with a hint of earthyness. Nice pale yellow gold tea.

TASTE: Sweet and rich! The sweetness flavoring reminds me of golden raisins almost as it has a warm, fruity, gold sweetness to it. This tea is full of flavor but light. Very refreshing and pure tasting.

COMMENTS: Very good, I enjoyed how much flavor is in this tea – I didn’t know white tea packed this much taste on its own! I should really explore into the unflavored white teas some more.

Thanks to Nature’s Tea Leaf for a sample of this tea.

I don’t drink white tea all that often because it’s so expensive. However, when I got this tea as a sample I was excited to try it because as common as silver needle is – I barely ever have it.

I made sure to use plenty of leaf when infusing. The first time that I steeped this, it was supposed to be for 4-5 minutes but I got distracted and it was probably closer to 7. I was worried the tea would be bitter, but thankfully it wasn’t. It was smooth as ever. I guess white tea is more forgiving than green tea.

This tea is soft and creamy, but definitely not too light, like some other white teas might be. I’m getting a nice buttery taste as well. There’s lots of flavor in this, as long as your are sure to use enough leaf.

Thanks Nature’s Tea Leaf for such a generous sample!

I steeped this a bit hotter than the recommended time (since that’s what my zojirushi was set to for today). I used to not be such a fan of silver needle — I remember the first time I tried it I felt kind of guilty that I didn’t see what the fuss was all about, but lately I’ve done a 180 on that. I love how it can be vegetal and sweet, full-bodied and light, and stand up to my mildly abusive work-steeping habits.

Fresh and flavorful :)

Backlog:

A remarkably fresh Silver Needle, I loved how fluffy and soft the needles were. Sweet, delicate, vegetative … notes of hay. Crisp and really pleasant to sip. A very impressive Silver Needle.

Here is my full-length review of this one: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/04/04/organic-silver-needle-white-tea-from-natures-tea-leaf/

Eek! I got this free from Nature’s Tea Leaf for reviewing like a month ago, and just realized that I hadn’t posted a tasting note. Sorry!

The dry leaves are slim and tender with a cool green-gray color and are covered in a downy white fur. This is the second silver needle I’ve tried, and it seems to be much fresher than the first.

The tea brews a nice daisy yellow-gray, and the wet leaves gain a soft, grey, leathery appearance that reminds me of baby lizards.

The taste is sweet and smooth with notes of fresh linen, green peppercorn, and melon. The tea is very slightly floral and reminds me of freshly trimmed gardenia bushes.

This tea was wonderfully soothing and brought me back to center after a long, stressful day.

Loose
Appearance: green white large leaf, fuzzy,
Aroma when Dry: fruity, creamy, notes of citrus
After water is first poured: creamy pear notes
At end of first steep: slightly sweet (eastern) honey, creaminess
Tea liquor:
At end of steep: faint meadowy yellow
Staple? No, would buy again
Preferred time of day: any
Taste:
At first: light, velvety, citrus notes, slight creamy closing notes, melon notes show
As it cools ? citrus notes fade, tea gets creamier in texture, lingers longer.
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No
Lingers? Yes, velvety floral notes with citrus

Second steep (5min): still has velvety texture, not much flavor left

After a crazy morning getting my reviewer sample information to our packaging folks I thought I’d make myself a nice big cup of Organic Silver Needle. I don’t have this one often but when I do I am never disappointed. The smooth mellow flavor that has just a hint of fruity sweetness makes me go back for sip after sip. As an NTL employee I will refrain from rating.