Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Life in Teacup
Tea Description:
Production Year – 2012
Production Season – Spring, first day havest
Production Region – Fujian, Fuding County
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I can always count on Life in Teacup to offer some of the very best teas … and this Bai Hao Silver Needle – also known as Yin Zhen – is a perfect example of what I mean by that. The dry leaves are so beautiful with the coloration ranging from pale green to silvery white, and each needle is soft and covered with fluffy fuzz. The aroma of the dry leaf is soft, with notes of flower and hay.
The flavor is delightful. On the Life in Teacup website, there is a short discussion on brewing this tea using boiling water … this is something I’ve not tried (or if I have, I don’t recall having tried it!) I’ve always used a lower temperature, but today I was feeling a little rebellious and while I wasn’t feeling quite so courageous to try boiling water, I did turn up the heat just a little, using water brought to 185° instead of the customary 160° that I usually would use for a silver needle. The flavor is stronger … but not too strong. But … it certainly is no longer the “delicate” flavor that I’d expect from a silver needle.
And while I have a great appreciation for the delicateness of a white tea, I like the slightly bolder flavor of this cup using a higher temperature. Maybe next time, I might even try boiling water on my white tea!
As it is, though, I’m finding this to be quite delightful. The flavor is sweet and vegetative … but not a green tea vegetative taste. It’s more like the flavor of sweet flowers and hay … similar to the fragrance I enjoyed from the dry leaf. There is an earthiness to this as well … and I find that the earthiness here is where I notice the biggest difference between the lower temperature and higher temperature brewing water. The earthiness really comes out with the hotter water.
There are subtle notes of fruit to this cup as well, and I notice that as I continue to sip, the fruit notes become more distinguished. Overall, the cup is sweet, refreshing and light … but with a fullness to it that I find really satisfying.
If you are one who generally finds white teas to be too soft or delicate in flavor, I recommend trying a slightly higher temperature … this really brings out the flavor, and I am not noticing any bitterness or scalded tea taste from the higher temperature.
A really enjoyable tea experience – thanks to Life in Teacup!
Silver Needle White Tea (Bai Hao Yinzhen) from Enjoying Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Enjoying Tea
Tea Description:
This white tea with a white downy appearance comes from the province of Zhejiang. The Silver Needle, highest quality white tea, is picked during the spring before the buds open to preserve its tenderness. Exquisite and delicate, Silver Needle has a fresh, sweet fragrance and produces a pale yellow brew. Brewing with a Yixing teapot can best show the aroma of Silver Needle. This tea has high concentrations of polyphenols (antioxidants that help fight against cancer-causing radicals and heart disease)
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is a LOVELY Silver Needle White Tea – also known as Bai Hao Yinzhen – from Enjoying Tea. It is so deliciously sweet and beautifully delicate.
The aroma is sweet and reminiscent of hay. I’ve compared the fragrance of other Silver Needle teas that I’ve tried to the scent of the air that would surround a field of hay after a cutting, and that is true of this Bai Hao Yinzhen as well. It smells fresh.
The flavor is also fresh tasting. Sweet, mellow vegetative tones. It is certainly delicate, and I have heard that some people tend to avoid white teas because of their delicate quality. I would say don’t let this detract you! It took me a while to allow my palate to adapt to the lighter characteristics of a white tea … but once my palate became accustomed to the softer flavor, it was so rewarding! I love white tea!
This Silver Needle from Enjoying Tea is an absolute delight!
Curled Dragon Silver Tip from Zen Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Zen Tea
Tea Description:
A most amazing tea – even just to look at. The name refers to the unusual and striking shape and color of the leaves, which are rolled into complex, tightly-curled dragon-like shapes with a silvery color. Curled Dragon Silver Tips is an extremely well-made tea, and a good example of the high level of hand-work. Even before infusion, the aroma of this tea is heavenly! Infused, it produces a complex, sweet and somewhat floral liquor. There are no edges and no astringency. Entirely handmade, it is a must have for green tea lovers.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This has to be one of the most beautiful teas I’ve ever seen. The leaves are so tiny and frail looking, and have been shaped into itty-bitty dragon-like curls. Each tiny leaf is an absolutely stunning work of art! These leaves look as though they could be a white tea because of their pale green color and the tiniest little silvery fuzz that covers them.
The color of the liquid is almost as beautiful as the dry leaf. It is the palest shade of green, mixed with a translucent, golden alabaster. So breathtakingly gorgeous! Again, this tea looks as though it could be the highest quality white tea, rather than a green.
And all of this would mean very little if the tea was not also stunning. But it is, indeed, amazingly good. The texture reminds me just a bit of champagne, how it dances lightly over the tongue in an almost effervescent way until it settles in and offers a soft, smooth mouthfeel that lightly coats the palate.
The overall delicateness of this tea is also rather reminiscent of a fine white tea. The flavor is light and crisp with a sweet taste. It doesn’t taste strongly vegetative at all, in fact, this tea is one of the lighter, more delicate tasting green teas I’ve encountered. It features flavors that are sweeter and mellower than the typical vegetative tones that I notice with green teas that can be somewhat sharp. This is softer … like a very mild tasting, young artichoke heart. Not the ones that have been processed and pickled in a brine. But the fresh artichoke that has been steamed until tender and smooth like butter, with a flavor to match. Yeah, that’s what I taste now.
By mid-cup, I find that the vegetative notes have developed somewhat. They are still remarkably smooth and buttery, as there is not a sharp edge to this cup whatsoever. But, it has become much more green tea-like now that the tea has cooled slightly and I’ve been drinking it a little while. But it remains delicate. There is no astringency, no bitterness… nothing at all that might be construed as off-putting. It is just simply delicious.
Goomtee Silver Green 2nd Flush from Darjeeling Tea Lovers
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Darjeeling Tea Lovers
Tea Description:
GOOMTEE SILVER GREEN is a visual delight for GREEN TEA LOVERS. This tea comes with a lot of SILVER NEEDLES to add glory to this wonderful and rare tea. Each sip is an instant trip to blissful nirvana.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh… this is nice!
I am absolutely loving this Goomtee Silver Green! It’s not at all what I expected when I first opened the package. As I usually do when I first open a package of tea, I inhaled deeply to take in the fragrance. It had a very vegetative and earthy fragrance, reminding me of the forest floor here in the Pacific Northwest – earthy, mossy, and woody.
Once it’s brewed it takes on a stronger vegetative tone, reminding me a bit of the smell that I’d experience while walking through the “green” section of the produce area in a natural foods market. Very green. Very fresh.
The taste is not quite as vegetative as I would have expected given the strong vegetative and earthy tones I experienced from smelling the dry leaf. Sure, it’s still vegetative, but, it is more like mild vegetables, like something between a steamed artichoke and steamed spinach, with a lovely buttery undertone. It’s remarkably smooth and free of that bitter grassy tone that green teas can sometimes possess. It has a slight astringency to it … but again, not nearly as much as I would expect from a Darjeeling green.
But it still has much of what I would expect from a Darjeeling green, too. It has that crisp, vibrant taste that is almost bubbly. Hints of fruit notes, although with this green variety the fruit notes are not as strongly pronounced as they might be with an oxidized Darjeeling. Hints of spice as well, but again, a mellower spice note than what I might experience from an oxidized Darjeeling.
A spectacular tea, I just love the sweetness of this cup, as well as the deliciously satisfying broth-y taste. It is very comforting, a nice cuppa to enjoy with the cooler weather of autumn.
Silver Needle from PekoeTea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: PekoeTea
Tea Description:
Silver Needle White Tea with a white downy appearance comes from the province of Fujian. The Silvery Needle, highest quality white tea, is picked during the spring before the buds open to preserve its tenderness. Exquisite and delicate, Silvery Needle has a fresh, sweet fragrance and produces a pale yellow brew.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m very happy with this month’s selections in the Steepster Select box. The theme is “Best Buds” and features some of the finest teas that I’ve tasted. Like this amazing Silver Needle Tea from PekoeTea.
I steeped these needles in my gaiwan, and the flavor is so intense! I am surprised at just how much flavor I’m getting from this tea. The flavor is sweet and floral, with some intriguing savory qualities as well. I taste notes of cucumber and even the slightest hint of very young asparagus that’s been steamed and lightly buttered. I also detect some hay-like notes in the distance.
There are some delectable fruit notes to this tea too. I tasted what I thought might be an apple-y pear kind of taste which has since developed into more of a melon (honeydew) taste.
As I continue to sip, I notice a mineral-y note. This is one of the more complex Silver Needle teas I’ve encountered. It seems that with every sip, I discover something new.
If you’ve been meaning to try a Silver Needle Tea (or add one to your tea stash!), I suggest trying this one from PekoeTea. It’s quite lovely!