Zimbabwe White Tea (high polyphenol)

From KittyLovesTea´s european travelling box, and this is a really intriguing tea. Whole, but small, copper leaves, full of unfurled tiny leaves. (you bet it will be high on polyphenol and a bunch of other goodies).

I did not make it too strong, made it european style and I am glad I didso, this was just right for my taste – I have no idea how many grams I used because the leaves are whole and large and difficult to estimate and my scales just are not precise enough for this).

It is quite a strange tea to describe, though undoubtedly a lovely one. It is quite astringent (am glad I did not make it any stronger though will resteep a few times more). It has natural fruity notes, like raisins and, like another reviewer mentioned, ripe peaches. The wet leaves smell like berries with peaches. A really interesting tea.

PS – just to add, going by my reaction to it, I think it packs quite a caffeine punch.

Thank you Kittylovestea for this sample.

8g / 400ml glaspot
3m @ 80C

This tea does not look like a white. the tealeaves are dark. Almost like they dried in the sun for to long.

The tea itself is powerfully fruity. I think ripe peaches? Kind of pleasant, i think it would be good as an iced tea.

Interesting to try something as odd as this :)

Sipdown 157/397

I brewed this sample from the EU TTB Western style, as I do almost all of my teas, but I can’t help but wish now that I’m sipping on it that I’d tried it gongfu. It is a very complex and tasty tea, and very unique, too, but there was a really tasty, familiar note I got around 30 seconds into brewing that disappeared as time went on (I tend to taste my unflavoured teas at several points as they’re steeping). I didn’t manage to figure out what it was, and now it’s gone. Definitely going to try resteeping my leaves. The dry leaf was beautiful, big dark twists of leaf, and the liquor is very dark for a white tea, too. This is reflected in the slightly malty, raisin-sweetness of the tea, which I would have been less surprised to find in a black tea. It has notes of sweet buttery caramel, stone fruits (more plum and apricot to me than peach as others have mentioned) and a slight hint of warming spice in the background. It’s intoxicating, and invitingly complex. You just want to figure it out! It actually smells a little like the L’Occitane shampoo, the original one, but in a way than makes you want to drink it. The scent translates into the flavour. This tea actually reminds me a lot of Butiki’s White Rhino, though I never got to try that one on its own without flavouring. If I don’t buy this exact tea in the future (I’m assuming it’ll be pretty hard to find) I do think I’ll keep a spot in my cupboard for one of these unusual dark white teas.

I had no idea how to brew this, so I checked the other (two) reviews for pointers and went with 3 minutes at 80C. I barely ever read individual tasting notes right before trying a new tea, though, and I have Dag Wedin’s ‘powerfully fruity’ comment with me as I sip this. Heh. Let me just say it’s pretty obvious which one of us drinks flavoured Japanese fruit teas on a regular basis.

In the bag, this smells so sweet; there’s a special sweetness to it – a new, hay-like sweetness I haven’t encountered before. I don’t know if it’s even possible to get this to come through in the steeped tea, but I did not succeed. As has already been pointed out, this doesn’t look like the average white tea, and, in my opinion, nor does it taste like it. It’s light, but it has a bit more depth than I’ve come to expect from whites. Flavoured or unflavoured, they often come off very light and fluffy to me – much like drinking a cloud.

The contents of my cup went down smoothly, but there is not enough personality or character for me to be intrigued or excited. I won’t remember this tea. My rating reflects this, rather than the quality of the tea – I’m sure this leaf would be very pleasing to someone who enjoys a clean, fresh, uncomplicated white.

[Sample from the second round of the EU Travelling Box, spring 2014.]