Jasmine Silver Needle White Tea (Mo Li Yin Zhen)

This is super backdated, as I’ve since placed and received an order for this incredibly soothing tea. The Jasmine is strong, but also light at the same time. I was originally afraid it might be a bit cloying, but that wasn’t the case at all. I’m a huge fan of Teavivre’s Silver Needle, so anything using it as a base is almost a guaranteed home run in my books.

I figured I’d attempt to unwind from the holiday craziness with some aromathera-tea and I have to say it’s working very well.

I blind purchased Teavivres Jasmine Pearls as a Christmas gift for my mother. I’m looking forward to sharing a cup with her and seeing how they compare to this lovely tea (superb as usual for Teavivre, I’m sure).

Thank you Teavivre for this generous sample!

Glorious Jasmine Silver Needle White Tea. There is nothing else like it!

I have been waiting for this sample…anxious to taste what I was imagining would be fine, high quality flavor as all my Teavivre samples have been.

I set aside a time before dinner to enjoy my tasting. Chose Alex Bugnon and Peter White for some Smooth Jazz, and was ready to go.

The fragrance drew me hard into the cup. How could I have resisted.
I was stepping into a Harem, a forbidden place…all incense and silk scarves. A gentle spray of Jasmine flowers was flowing from a crystal pitcher. The taste was heady and luminous. Rivers of flavor so wet with juiciness rolling on and on.
There was something of the forest at the end of that initial taste. It reminded me of pine needles that are blue-green and icy. My cup was never bitter but I felt as though I had gone down deep into a dark blue pool of glacial water. It was the juice that took me to that new place and the flavor I found was in the tea trees. Dark green pine needles, tea needles somewhere high in the clefted hills.

Some tea’s are different by nature. The dance of preparation for this type of tea…spreading of flowers on the tea leaves…taking the flowers off…laying on fresh flowers. It has to be done just right. Everything must be perfect to become this cup. My cup was just so. Just the way I want it to be.

This is the way I love my Silver Needle. The Jasmine so light and fragrant…and the Forest..the tea needles…wild and dark, clothed in mystery.

I drank this straight. Later I tried it sweet and it is delightful for those who like sweet tea.

http://youtu.be/UdRc1bgqKqw Peter White…. Glow

A big thank you to Angel and Teavivre for a sample of this beautiful tea.

This is the tea that takes you away from it all, soothes, and calms you after a tough day.
This jasmine tea has just the right amount of jasmine and if you are afraid of a jasmine tea tasting perfumeish don’t be with this one. Teavivre are masters at what they do, and you won’t ever feel like you are drinking your grandmother’s perfume!

Now I will admit jasmine tea is not my all time favorite nor would I reach for this every day but there are just some days I really need transported and this is my comfort tea!
This particular Jasmine from Teavivre seems a little more mellow, more subtle, and it is so relaxing.

Thank you Angel and Teavivre for allowing me to try this one and share my feelings on it!

It has been many months since my last review, and I hope to start writing (and posting) reviews for teas again, although probably not as often as I had previously.

Preliminary review

The leaf is stated as being harvested on March 25, 2012. I received 15 grams of this tea as one of many tea samples provided by Teavivre during the summer (thank you Angel and Teavivre!) and as the wife is out for the evening, I decided to brewed it up for the first time (she likes jasmine even less than I do, and she’s very particular about not wanting to drink a ‘type’ or ‘flavor’ of tea she previously disliked).

This tea looks like any standard silver needle tea I have seen (having had a few), and on the first inhale it smells strongly of jasmine, but not in a overpowering way. After taking a little more time to really take in all that the dry leaf aroma has to offer I could smell what I believe was the fresh white tea underneath the Jasmine scent.

I brewed about 2 full teaspoons of this tea using my standard parameters for my white teas by starting at 170F (I was actually shooting for ~165F) for 2 minutes in my new 14 OZ Glass Victorian Trading Company teapot (I absolutely love this little teapot), adding a bit of Stevia. I did three steeping sessions.

The tea liquor was a light straw color—possibly a little more yellow than what I am used to seeing in the liquor of a silver needle style white tea, with a mild jasmine scent.

It tasted light and refreshing, as any quality, fresh white tea seems to me to taste, such that the jasmine was not overpowering (as it seems to be in just about any other jasmine scented tea I have had).

The tea buds stood straight up and down—as silver needles are suppose to—while brewing; the buds smell about the same wet as dry, with a jasmine scent; interestingly enough, the buds are greener-looking than any other white tea I have seen. There are a few brownish looking buds and bud-ends, and a few stems, but otherwise the wet tea was comprised of nice-looking greenish-colored buds.

For the record, I want to emphasize that I am not a fan of jasmine flavored teas. I’ve only had a few (one or two green and one black) and I didn’t even remotely like them. So, I was leery about even agreeing to try this one (it is my first jasmine silver needle white tea). Still, after doing three steepings with it, although it’s not a tea I would choose to buy and drink, I will admit it has its appeal: it’s light and fresh, reminding me of the simple pleasure of spending a quiet sunny Sunday afternoon in a spacious garden or some high-ceiling-ed glass-walled atrium where floral scents abound. It held up well through three steepings (when I brew up the remainder of the sample at a later date I hope to push for 4, possibly 5). I am starting to think this may actually be the tea to change the way I view jasmine scented tea. Teavivre claims this tea is “the absolute highest quality scented white tea available,” and having tried many teas from them to date, and from what I have experienced here, I wouldn’t be surprised if this is indeed true.

As it’s my first type of this tea (and a preliminary review), I am leaving off the numerical rating.

I am a jasmine fiend. Rose is my favorite floral note, but jasmine is a very, very close second. Especially with white tea—I think jasmine and white tea are meant to be together. It’s a match made in heaven! And this is, without a doubt, my favorite white & jasmine that I’ve tried (so far, but I’m guessing I’m not going to find one that tops it… though I do have a Verdant sample tucked away somewhere I haven’t tried yet).

First off, it’s just so pretty! Fluffy little leaves like lambs. I want to pet them, which is kind of weird. You probably shouldn’t stand around stroking your tea. Which I totally didn’t do. No way!

I associate jasmine with calm, soothing teas. Which this definitely is—it’s relaxing, calming, light and airy. But it’s also crisp and refreshing, bright and sparking from the silver needle base. It’s an odd, interesting combination that I was not expecting. There’s notes of honeysuckle and grass and morning dew. It’s a perfect cup of tea for the end of summer, and it feels like the first days of fall to me. Summer is slipping away, but it is still in the air—you can feel that lingering warmth and the soothing feeling of days spent doing nothing but relaxing. And on the horizon are days of crunching leaves and cool breezes and sweater weather! Okay, maybe the lovely weather has me reading a bit too much into this tea. But I am in tea-love! Thanks so much to Angel for this super generous sample.

Thank you Angel and Teavivre for a very generous sample of this. I was excited to try this because I love, love silver needle. The aroma of the dry leaf is amazing and filled with jasmine. Oh this is heavenly. The sweetness of the silver needle mix perfectly with the sweet floral notes of the jasmine. For some reason the two together almost remind me of grapes. Like a really light, natural grape flavor. This is such a beautiful tea. Thank you again Angel!

Tea of the afternoon… (SRP #30)

Hmmm. The needles on this one are definitely longer than my previous cup. It also is incredibly fresh and you can see the difference in the steeped leaves compared to my last cup. The brew is so pale, it does not look all that much different from water. I had to double check the water temp, because I have not really seen a white tea brew up this pale. I used the same setting on my electric kettle as the last and steeped for 2 minutes. It could also be that I should have twice as much tea than the 5 gram packet I added to my 24 oz teapot (I am really thinking this is where my problem lies). This is quite different from my previous cup. But, this would be the prime choice for the person who likes subtlety in their floral teas. For me, I pretty much prefer a sweet form of jasmine in overdrive as long as it doesn’t go to perfumy. I do get the high quality white tea flavor profile. Also, the price of this one brings it in line more with an every day tea

I am off to try a resteep of the first half along with the rest of my sample for three minutes to see if it helps. Stay tuned.

Edit to add: Yes, much better on the resteep. Light jasmine, high quality white tea. Liquor is still on the pale side, but what I woud expect from a white tea.
In summary: Lovely tea. Unbeatable price. All form a company with great service and attention to detail in presenting themselves in a way appreciated by tea drinkers.

Oh, jasmine. I’m not sure there’s a more intoxicating smell on this earth. It envelops you, comforts you and lets you know you’re in for a treat…it’s truly something special.

This one tastes very pure and natural. The jasmine does not smell or taste perfumey or over-the-top at all. As I sat and contemplated the imagery this tea was presenting to me, I noticed some of the same things that Bonnie identified. Pine forests and blue glacial water like in the Canadian wilderness. Then to a moonlit forest late at night, seeing the precious jasmine flower bloom before me. Wonderful. I absolutely love the imagery that tea can give me.

This is a very smooth and very sweet tea, probably the sweetest jasmine tea I’ve had. Absolutely marvelous, thank you for the sample Teavivre.

I wasn’t very keen on this one with my first sample sachet, a few months ago. I’m loving it as much as my Yunnan White Jasmine today, however. My list of variables include: season change, longer steep time, older age of the batch, and potential mug and steeper contamination from yesterday’s Butiki’s “With Open Eyes”.

The flavour is sweet and saturated, like a banana, with some gentle melon notes. The jasmine isn’t overpowering to taste, although the aroma gives my nose a good kick as per usual. It’s floral and smooth, complimenting the cheese scone I just ate, in a surprisingly flattering way.

When I removed the steep basket from the mug I got some fizzy little bubbles for a few seconds. Hm, maybe I should clean my mug more thoroughly, or give the rest of the unused leaves in the sample a quick rinse before first steep next time!

Edit: bubbles were only on first steep, so quick rinse it is! I think I may like the second steep better, anyways. There’s a little citrus lemon to it.

I picked this one up from teavivre to broaden my tea experiences and continue in my quest to branch out with teas and figure out what types of teas I most enjoy. I much prefer strong blacks so i knew there wasn’t a lot of hope that I’d fall in love with this white tea. The dry scent is not my favourite. The Jasmine is a bit too floral for me.
This tea brews up into a pale golden liquor but the aroma isn’t overly floral. At first sip, I am pleasantly surprised. This is a really nice cup of tea. As i drink this, the floral builds up and it becomes a bit much for me. That being said, this is a wonderful cup of tea for anyone who enjoys jasmine. It’s smooth and delicious.