Jing Gu Sun-Dried Silver Needles White Pu-erh Tea Cake Spring 2016

This is a highly affordable silver needle with a bit more complexity than others of the genre I have tried. There’s a definite hay note to it, plus a subtle fruity sweetness that’s quite pleasant- melon, perhaps? More experienced folks could surely find more to compare it to, but in any case I found it good enough to order twice. Perhaps with some more years on it, this white could become something very special.
The cake is also quite pretty, for what it’s worth.

A nice, sweet white. You have to hit this tea hard – high temp and long steeps – unlike most whites. Nice thirst-quencher when you don’t want anything heavy or thick.

A very enjoyable white tea,

The sweetness is sharp and persistant. Feeling at times like some sweetners, this piercing sweetness reminds me of white cake for some reasons.
steeping brings in contrast between sweetness and roundness. further brews give way to a rich texture.

Unsure whether the flavors or the tea is causing happy delights within me, I’d reccomend it for moody days, or perhaps any day!

Can’t get enough!

This is a great tea. I used five grams in a 100ml glass pot, and started with about a ten second steep (after a rinse) which was a tad weak. It’s only the buds so subsequent, longer steeps, 20 seconds on the second, and a bit longer each additional one, is bringing out much more of the flavor. It’s very sweet, with no bitterness, and as I’ve noticed with many white teas, the flavors that develop in my mouth after I swallow it is what I like best. After the sip, my mouth salivates and it releases a very sweet, delicious flavor throughout my mouth that lasts a long time. I don’t know exactly how long, because it’s still there when I take my next sip. I’m glad I bought a tong of this tea, I look forward to seeing how my other eight 100g cakes age over the next few years. This is an excellent tea.

I gave this tea a fair chance, steeping it at a variety of different temperatures for different lengths of time, but it’s just not for me. The cake itself is ‘pretty’ and easy to break apart. However, It doesn’t have much flavor, zero complexity, and has bitter undertones. The tea itself is very picky even for a white. I found that the ‘best’ it got was @ 175 F for two minutes; it produced a strong golden colored liquor and only slight bitterness. The taste itself is sweet, sugarcane, with bitter afternotes. I find myself passing it over for other teas (most of which were cheaper). Overall, overpriced and unenjoyable – I find it a struggle to drink a full cup of this.

affordable white cake? I jumped on it ok. I got 2. They’re only $8! and look how pretty

It came apart so nicely in whole buds it was great
I’m just going to jump right into the tasting notes
Early session, brewed at 85C:

It’s so sweet, but it’s like a artificial sweetener sweetness, it’s very thick with some grassy notes and a very lovely creamy texture, there’s a corn-bread kind of aroma which is also quite lovely. There’s a vanilla-like flavour, and in the beginning is sort of drying on the tongue, there’s like a cookie-like taste, it’s more desserty than most white teas I’ve had. Soo smooth and creamy,

mid-session brewed at 90C:
More pronounced flavours, everything’s more powerful, but the drying is a lot stronger, and very milky tasting,there’s a floral, fruity.. taste that becomes prominent but I can’t make anything out. I’m gonna raise it more now to see how it does.

95C:
still so pleasant, no trace of bitterness, a bit of a woody/rocky note, but still some fruits and flowers, if anything it’s only gotten more complex. Okay lets do 100.

100C:
I think it’s fruitier. Stonefruits? More aromatic, quite a bit dry, but still perfectly reasonable amounts of dryness, it’s really impressive how tolerant this white is.

I accidentally got the paper wrapper for this wet.. and so I wrapped it in normal lined paper.. Is that going to be okay? Or is it not permeable enough or something..