Silver Needles - White Tea of Feng Qing (Spring 2014)

Lewis & Clark Traveling Teabox – Tea #19
I love these types of teas… I’d crave this when I crave something light. These fuzzy little sickles don’t have too much flavor but I love the flavor that is there. I’m not sure why I rinsed the leaves as there doesn’t seem to be many fuzzies in the mug I was sipping anyway. It’s very smooth! Sweet and light, hints of melon, cucumber, lemon, bit of creaminess. The flavor seems to morph with every sip. I wanted a second steep but I waited too long the next day/overnight… I wouldn’t be tasting the tea at its finest.
Steep #1 // 2 tsps // 35 min after boiling // rinse // 2 min

Lewis & Clarke TTB

Ah, silver needles, always so lovely. :D This is the first white tea I’ve tried from Yunnan Sourcing, though I love their blacks. The buds are a beautiful combination of white and green with bits of grey in there, and they’re super fuzzy. Dry, they smell strongly of honey with a little bit of fruitiness and a touch of grass, also some grain. I did 2 minutes at 185 degrees.

Mm, the aroma is lovely! Creamy and grainy with just a touch of grassy freshness, along with some cucumber. Oh my goodness, this is delicious! There’s a light fruitiness that reminds me of apricots along with a lovely malty flavor combined with the ubiquitous grain of white tea. I also seem to pick up on a little touch of floral (honeysuckle?), but it’s not the heady variety and it goes nicely with the lightness of this tea. There’s also maybe a hint of spice, cinnamon perhaps? Along with all of this is a lovely fresh note that’s some combination of cucumber and a sweet grassy note. Definitely the best silver needle I’ve had so far! :D

Edit: I am finding this one to be quite astringent as I continue to drink. It doesn’t bother me, as it causes me to recall apricots more clearly. :P

http://yunnansourcing.com/en/whitetea/2887-silver-needles-white-tea-of-feng-qing-spring-2014.html

Lewis and Clarke TTB

I can almost believe that theres an ever so slight cinnamon note here. There’s also some subtle cream-like notes, and what seems like honeysuckle. Later steeps bring out some hay and oats.

This is a light and delicate tea.

http://yunnansourcing.com/en/whitetea/2887-silver-needles-white-tea-of-feng-qing-spring-2014.html

This was really nice, more subtle and lighter than what I usually drink so it was a nice change of pace. Photo of my gong fu with it: http://imgur.com/LWCu73p

I don’t drink a lot of whites, but really enjoyed the chance to try this one.
http://yunnansourcing.com/en/whitetea/2887-silver-needles-white-tea-of-feng-qing-spring-2014.html

Kinda wasted my extra time this morning just doing stupid shit on Tumblr when really I wanted to be watching GOT; oh well. At least I got in a few cups of tea including this sample from 221Tea and her hubby Brian!

I’ve been wanting to try it for a while now but couldn’t while I was sick because I was really worried I’d miss out on the subtleties in it. But I feel totally clear and healthy today (it’s a miracle!) so bring it!

This is really nice; it’s gentle and really serene but still has some pretty distinct flavour notes to it. Specifically I picked up cream notes and sweet hay. The tea’s description says “Sweet Cinnamon Spice Aroma” but I really didn’t get that from it. Then again, I brewed it actually using Stacy’s recommended steeping parameters for Doke Silver Needle instead of in short 15 sec. or so infusions so maybe that was the difference. I still have one more cup left. I guess I can save that last cup to try out that way; I don’t typically want seven cups of one tea (and this is supposed to be good for like eight infusions), but maybe it’s worth trying it out just to see the difference in flavour.

Tasted good my way though.

Description also says “very lubricating mouthfeel” which seemed really weird to me, but after drinking it I totally get what they meant. It is weird, but very accurate.

This is by far the best silver needle I have tasted, it’s flavor is so complex and evolves over the course of the tasting. Be very careful on the steep times because 5 seconds either way makes a big difference, when they say the first steep after rinsing is only 10 seconds they mean it! I do find that after 3 or 4 steeps the flavor kind of mellows but on a good way, as though the tea was speaking loudly at first to be heard in a full tea cabinet but then settles down once it knows you’re paying attention.