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“This Silver Needle is really quite lovely. One of the finest I think I’ve yet to encounter. Delicate, yes, but also intensely flavored … surprisingly so. Notes of cucumber and hay, as well as a...” Read full tasting note
“Backlogging from yesterday since the site was buggered, good to see it’s back up and running well. It looks like any other Silver Needle tea, long fuzzy buds. These ones turn green the instant you...” Read full tasting note
“I am definitely getting a melon/cucumber flavor as well as a sweet grass taste. White teas are never my favorite and I usually group them in “drink when desperate” category. That being said it...” Read full tasting note
“A lovely tea, pale, flavorful, excellent. Has hints of what they call melon, but I’d call cucumber, slightly tangy, and an overall really excellent tea enjoyed by my whole family.” Read full tasting note
Silver Needle White Tea with a white downy appearance comes from the province of Fujian. The Silvery Needle, highest quality white tea, is picked during the spring before the buds open to preserve its tenderness. Exquisite and delicate, Silvery Needle has a fresh, sweet fragrance and produces a pale yellow brew. Brewing with a Yixing (ee-shing) teapot can best show the aroma of Silvery Needle. This tea has high concentrations of polyphenols (antioxidants that help fight against cancer-causing free-radicals and heart disease).
White Downy Silvery Needle gets its name because it consists of nothing but needle shaped buds that are covered with lots of tiny whitish hairs. This extremely rare tea from Jianyang county in the Fujian province is only harvested for two days every year and originally came from wild mountain trees. Not being satisfied with the most tender green tea leaves, the ancient tea connoisseurs looked for something even more delicate: the tea leaves before they had even burst from the bud. In early spring when the buds are fully grown and are just about to open, they are plucked from the end of branches along with a few attached leaves. Buds of about an inch long are picked out for the finest quality tea which is White Downy Silvery Needle. There is hardly any processing involved in producing white tea and the enzymes in the buds and leaves are denatured by steaming almost immediately after picking to prevent fermentation. White tea is said to be good for stimulating the digestive system.
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This Silver Needle is really quite lovely. One of the finest I think I’ve yet to encounter. Delicate, yes, but also intensely flavored … surprisingly so. Notes of cucumber and hay, as well as a very subtle young asparagus stalk that has been steamed and lightly buttered. As I continue to sip, a mineral-like taste seems to come into play. There are some delightful fruit notes to this tea as well, and I like the way they transition – starting out with a delicate apple-pear kind of flavor, and as I continue to sip, the flavor becomes more of a honeydew melon. It has a refreshing quality to it, and is one of the most complex silver needle teas I’ve yet to taste.
Backlogging from yesterday since the site was buggered, good to see it’s back up and running well.
It looks like any other Silver Needle tea, long fuzzy buds. These ones turn green the instant you pour hot water on them. Dry you get the slightly sweet hay smell, wet the buds have an additional cucumber note to them.
Taste is sweet hay with cucumber and juicy melon. The juicy melon is more of a texture than a taste and lasts into the aftertaste with a hint of mint feeling. I brewed it up gaiwan style first and the hay notes were very prominent. Then I brewed up more traditional style and I get a much better taste and blend of the notes. I find it so fascinating the difference in taste of the same tea depending on how it’s brewed.
I am definitely getting a melon/cucumber flavor as well as a sweet grass taste. White teas are never my favorite and I usually group them in “drink when desperate” category. That being said it isn’t terrible and it is nice and relaxing. So many white teas are infused or stuffed or packed full of other fruit flavors that you forget what pure white tea tastes like, which isn’t much. After drinking a whole cup it does remind me of a bath and body works lotion and sadly is just as appetizing, no fault of the tea or the company just my own bias against white teas.
So far, to me, this doesn’t have a lot of flavor. I’ll let it cool more and see if anything comes out. Right now it just tastes generic-white to me, nothing special or distinct.
As it cools it doesn’t get much more depth to it. Maybe a very, very, barely there hint of melon.
It’s not bad and I’ll finish the pot, but I’d not buy it.
For this tea different colors and flavors can be achieved with different steep times:
2:30 cause a smooth buttery taste that is green in color.
4:00 cause the tea to be more yellow with more of a hoppy taste.
Whilst 8 mins will cause it to have more of a burnt ashy taste that is yellow in color.
Flavors: Butter, Hops, Smooth
This one looks really delicious. There’s something about white teas-they just make my mouth water.
I agree!