Osmanthus Silver Needle

Tea type
White Tea
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Honeysuckle, Nectar, Sugar
Sold in
Not available
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Jason
Average preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 45 sec 8 oz / 236 ml

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From Our Community

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23 Tasting Notes View all

  • “Based on a true story: The life of the would-be author is as stymied in the modern era by a blank screen as those who went before found themselves daunted by the empty page. The subconscious...” Read full tasting note
    88
  • “I received my Samovar order yesterday when I got home from work…awesome surprise! I was SOOO excited to try this. Now, when dealing with Silver Needle tea I will usually put more tea leaves in than...” Read full tasting note
    97
  • “Can’t really smell much from the dry leaf, but about 10 seconds after the water hits them, there’s this lovely whoosh of scent. I can’t peg the smell though. Sweet, a little floral but there’s...” Read full tasting note
    89
  • “Okay, a little anecdote before I get to this tea. When I was little, I had a baby doll that you could feed fake food and then it would “go” in its little diaper. It also came with a tiny potty you...” Read full tasting note
    66

From Samovar

Origin: Southern Fujian, China

Flavor Profile: Sweet honeysuckle nectar with notes of apricot, pineapple, honey, and hay. Aromas of stone fruit and warm roasted hazelnut.

Tea Story: A classic Chinese combination, we blend our organic silver needle white tea with freshly dried, sweet osmanthus flowers. The tiny pineapple-flesh colored flowers give the infusion a dreamy, honey-like sweetness that coupled with the delicate, silky mouth-feel of the white tea is simply heavenly. The Osmanthus Silver Needle is like a nectar from the goddesses.

Samovarian Poetry: A precious flaxen brew with aromas of stone fruit, wild herbs, and warm roasted hazelnuts. Silken body with an engaging satiny sweetness. Honey-like, and mildly vegetal, but entirely unsweetened.

Food Pairing: Pair the ethereal Osmanthus Silver Needle with a steaming bowl of oatmeal or millet porridge sweetened with osmanthus jam and agave nectar. Or serve it along with tea cookies: rooibos infused short bread and lavender butter cookies. The flavor of this tea is so fragrant and delicate, you’ll want to pair it with dishes that won’t overshadow its beauty.

About Samovar View company

Samovar's is dedicated to preserving the simplicity and integrity of the tea traditions and inspiring people to practice peace through drinking tea.

23 Tasting Notes

92
176 tasting notes

The smell of this tea reminds me of a farm. Maybe that’s they hay that Samovar mentioned. It also smells lightly sweet.

Whoa, this is way sweeter than I thought it would be. It’s fruity and floral and I totally wasn’t expecting that. I can taste tangerine or some kind of citrus as well as just a hint of something floral. This is a great tea. It’s gentle and kind, but sweet at the same time. I can totally see myself ordering this again. This tea ranks very high on my list of favorites.

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87
15 tasting notes

A beautifully delicate white tea. A slightly sweet aroma is hidden at first, but when immersed in hot water the aromas come out full bodied and honey like. Very light and crisp, but naturally sweet. This tea is relaxing and reminds me of a forest after a late spring frost. I can only appreciate that comparison having grown up around the woods. Overall a very nice white tea. I will be adding more to my collection.

takgoti

This is currently holding court as my favorite white tea, though it’s difficult to decide between it and Downy Sprout on some days.

Katie Alberry

So true! That one is also fantastic. I need to get some more white tea. I just ran out! Any other favorites? I am a creature of habit and tend to gravitate towards my favorites, but I love to try something new.

takgoti

Hah, the white teas that I like mainly come from Samovar. I’ve been drinking a lot more of their Bai Mudan lately. I really liked Harney and Sons’ Winter White Earl Grey and I have faith in Rishi, though the one white tea I have of theirs [Plum Berry] was kinda weird. Other companies haven’t been able to run with the big dogs, I’m afraid. Either their flavoring drowns out the tea, or their base teas don’t have enough depth of flavor for me to recommend them.

Katie Alberry

Have you tried Teas Etc. Bai Ho Silver Needle? That one is pretty decent, but I agree with you on Samovar! My friend works there and when I was in last he brewed me a special mint tea with these amazing rose buds in it. That wasn’t the best transition from talking about white tea, rather on the topic of Samovar. Love that place to pieces.

takgoti

You know, I have it, but apparently I never logged it and it’s been quite some time since I drank it. Thanks for reminding me inadvertently! This is when having so much tea can become problematic. Not that I’m complaining, really! I mean, let’s be honest, I love my collection. Anyhow, I’ll need to drink it soon and give it a log.

I see that you’re in San Francisco, and I sooo envy you being able to go to their lounges. I walked down there nearly every morning when I was visiting my brother [he lives in the Haight]. But hopefully I’ll be living out there once I’m done with school, so I won’t need to be jealous anymore! I’m drooling over all their new teas, so I’ve got plans to push a ridiculous order through this week.

Whoa. This is a long comment. Anyhow, HEART SAMOVAR [and San Francisco] SO MUCH!

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431 tasting notes

Pretty good I can taste both the light white tea and the osmanthus flowers.

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94
10 tasting notes

This is currently my favorite white tea – it has a wonderful fruity flavor while dry, and smell even better after adding the water. The fruitiness comes through well in the taste, but it isn’t too overpowering or sweet.

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67
17 tasting notes

I like this Osmanthus Silver Needle better tha Rishi’s. It’s a better pairing of the two with a softer balance so one doesn’t overpower the other. The Silver Needle is nice, but doesn’t seem to be of the best quality. It may have been just my batch, but it seems very broken.

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83
2036 tasting notes

Sipdown no. 23 of 2017 (no. 304 total). A sample.

An old sample, one they no longer offer. Made worse by my having apparently prepared it for steeping and then not gotten around to it — leaving the tea in the Finum basket exposed to who knows what.

And yet, I didn’t have the heart to ditch it.

It smells like a combination of flowers and fresh water and it’s a nice, clear, golden color.

I am sure it would have knocked my socks off had I sipped it when it was young (though white tea supposedly ages pretty well) and hadn’t mistreated it. Even after said mistreating, it is a pleasant, dewy, sweet tasting blend with a really interesting sugary finish. Almost like a little pop of granulated sugar in a couple of places in the mouth — entirely unpredictable and infrequent. It happened twice during this cup.

I am almost through all of my aged Samovar samples. I think there’s only one left.

Flavors: Honeysuckle, Nectar, Sugar

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 4 min, 30 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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68
8 tasting notes

I’m fairly new to white tea so I was eager to try out this one from the sample set from Samovar. This tea is very fragrant, but there’s something about it that doesn’t jive with me. I liked the delicate flavor, which leads me to believe I’ll enjoy the other varieties they offer, but not sure I would buy this one again.

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