Chamomile Rose Silver Needle White Tea

Started my day at 4:00 AM. At 6:00, I found myself chugging Mtn Dew and zapping spammers. It kind of makes me happy.

I decided chamomile rose silver needle would be a good one to get me through the rest of the day. I often have silver needle in the morning as it seems to pack almost the caffeine buzz of the Mtn Dew, however it works much more evenly, with no face punch. Keep your assam, I’ll have silver needle. I figured between the theanine in the leaf and the chamomile, it would keep me relaxed and focused. The rose just smells pretty and looks beautiful in the mix.

Here is what I learned – the first cup I went light on the leaf. It was predominantly rose. It is quite lovely, and natural. I had to pay attention to pick up on the chamomile later in the sip. It is slightly sour and slightly sweet. I really wasn’t able to pick up on the white tea. There was an interesting spice flavor mixed in that reminded me of allspice. It was kind of cinnamon, kind of clove. This was not exactly background but not the driving flavor either. I had my wife taste it. She thought it tasted minty. Interesting how differently we perceived it yet both noticed something else was going on in the cup.

For cup two, I doubled the leaf. Now the predominant flavor is apple. It is almost apple sauce. I don’t make out the spice flavor from before but it must be contributing to bring out this sensation. I also taste honey. Interesting how the chamomile has taken the lead. This drifts into the rose later, but rather than dropping off, the chamomile travels along side the rose. It is a very interesting combination.

I can pick up the silver needle but only lightly. There is subtle notes of hay and cucumber. Had I not tried straight silver needle before, I might have missed these notes.

A very interesting and changing cup depending on the amount of leaf used.

A sample from Angel at Teavivre. After trying the plain Silver Needle this morning, I decided to move on to the two flavoured blends she sent me. The silver needle in this packet appears to be of the same quality — pale creamy green buds, very downy. In addition, there are rose buds and whole chamomile flowers scattered throughout. The scent upon opening the little pouch reminded me of peaches — sweet, slightly floral, with a lovely juicy fruitiness. Amazing! It’s the scent of summer.

I gave just over 1 tsp of leaves 2.5 minutes in water cooled to approx. 175. The resulting liquor is pale green, with a hint of yellow.

The initial flavour is rose, in a kind of sweet, sugar-dusted, turkish delight kind of fashion. I think the sweetness comes from the chamomile — it’s almost honey-like, with notes of hay and sunlight. The two flavours sit well on the silver needle base, which is itself mildly floral, a little sweet, but mild and unobtrusive on the whole. There is a slight savoury, fresh cucumber note that I picked up on in the plain Silver Needle, but it’s mostly overwhelmed by the sweeter flavours.

I like the combination of chamomile and rose here. It’s sweet, delicate, not overpowering, and tastes wonderfully of turkish delight! What’s not to love? I also found it very calming during a stressful morning at work, so that’s another point majorly in its favour! Thanks again to Angel and Teavivre for allowing me to sample this delicious, sophisticated blend!

Thanks of much to Teavivre for sending samples of this tea! I wasn’t sure how I would feel about a tea with both chamomile and rose (neither of which I overly care for), but I thought it could be interesting – and I think that would be accurate! The aroma of the dry tea is almost peachy – kind of floral (rose), and sweet from the silver needles. The flavour ends up being kind of fruity-floral as well – a nice sweet base from the silver needles, with rose and chamomile both appearing distinctly in the foreground. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that although I could tell there was rose in this tea, it tasted nothing like perfume; likewise, the chamomile had a sort of appley fruitiness instead of the flavour I dislike (chlorine?). Overall, it wouldn’t rank anywhere near my favourite teas, but it was a pretty tasty cup considering the ingredients. I have a sample stashed away to give to my mom – I’m pretty sure she’ll appreciate it even more!

The dry tea smells first of chamomile touched by rose mixed with a fruity grassiness from the base tea. The tea includes rose buds chamomile flower heads and a medium long slightly wide bladed silver green toned tea bud.

I steeped 1.5tsp in a 170 ml gaiwan and got 5 good steeps after which the flavour began to fade and the tea thinned. As a caveat this tea does have a moderate dose of caffeine so is perhaps better suited to a time when you want a mellow alertness rather than later on in the evening.

1 min Chamomile scent with a faint hint of spicy rose and a fruity slightly sweet vegetal note from the base tea.

The tea is creamy and sweet with a mineral note.creamy sweet soft slightly fruity and nectar like note from base opens up to a cooling spicy note from the chamomile and a faint hint of rose as the flavour dissolves on the tongue.

90s tea has a slightly deeper tone under the chamomile. Cream, sweet soft fruit and nectar, sweet vegetal note, almost a hint of peaches and cream corn with rose appearing briefly before the chamomile.

2 min. Similar scent. Chamomile more dominant, with base tea sweetening the mix and adding cream notes underneath. Rose presents a certain spiciness at the end.

2.5min. A balance between the flavours. The base tea has developed a little more depth with vegetal notes, but it is still very fruity and creamy. There is a faint hint of citrus notes.

3 similar to above with a slight bitterness.

4 not as sweet or creamy but still flavourful.

5 min continuing to fade.

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I enjoyed this tea and liked how the sweet and creamy white tea enhanced the chamomile with the rose being a minor player. Thanks to TeaVivre for the chance to sample this blend!

Thank you Angel for this sample! When I first open the package for this tea I was reminded of the sparkling apple cider my family drinks every New Years. The rose and chamomile buds are very beautiful and the tea itself has downy, full buds. I was expecting this to taste more of the white base, but it is more given to the other flavors. I was able to pull about seven equally good steepings from my first try with this tea. I really love the flavors and they all balanced together very well. Since school started this has become my go-to relaxing tea and I am excited to try mixing it with a few of the others in my cupboard. I think this might be one of my very favorites from Teavivre!

Another generous sample from Angel that i’m enjoying today in an effort to get more teas closer to sipdown category :) I wasn’t sure whether i’d like this one or not, given my dislike of “rose” as a general flavour in teas. Turns out that this one is pretty tasty. The chamomile balances out the rose sufficiently for me (though maybe that’s because i picked all the really big flower chunks out of my cup before brewing…) Not sure if i’d restock this one, but i am enjoying this quite a bit. It’s a lovely evening tea for relaxing…

This is my second note on this tea. The first time I had it, chamomile was the first aroma that rushed from the sample pouch, then Rose, and then chamomile with creamy white tea was the dominant flavor to me, the Rose coming in as a sweet taste.

Tonight I opened my new pouch of this and set up a gong fu session for my youngest daughter and her friend who is spending the night. They are having lots of food adventures and made us a wonderful French onion soup for supper. Since it is quite late, I thought this would be a great night time tea with the chamomile.

This is such a beautiful tea. It really should be displayed briefly before steeping whether you are having people over or drinking it by yourself, because the beauty of the flowers is a part of the experience with this one. This time it was more rose-y to me. Both of the young ladies loved it, and said that the Rose flavor lingered for a long time. They stayed for three steeps before getting ready for bed, and I continued steeping for two more steeps.

This is a truly lovely tea, and I already knew I would enjoy it in the evenings for a quiet, contemplative cup.

I am actually disappointed by this tea, mostly because I had such a great floral white from Teavivre yesterday (Jasmine Silver Needle White.)

This one is just a lot lot lot more rose than I was expecting it to be. I couldn’t taste the white at all. While I could see the chamomile, I didn’t taste it as much as I had hoped, either, but at least I could taste that. This wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t what I expected.