Jasmine Silver Needle

Lazy morning cuppa, to ease into the day, from yesterday morning.

Amazingly, this tasted like jasmine to me and not grapes! I feel like, if you’ve not seen any of my “why am I the only person in the world who thinks jasmine tastes like grapes!” rants in tasting notes before then that statement will make zero sense to you – but for me it was a very jarring experience just tasting the unadulterated, smooth, and floral notes of jasmine without getting those grape-y comparisons.

Regardless, I like this as a more casual/every day sort of jasmine tea. It’s not the highest quality jasmine silver needle I’ve ever had – but it’s solid enough for just an average cup you could make daily and not feel disappointed in having.

Such a perfect jasmine tea. So light and floral and gorgeous and wonderful. I made it iced and mixed it with lychee juice. Damn.

This is my new favorite jasmine anything. I used slightly more water than usual (on accident) and a little bit of sugar (on purpose) and basically cried into my cup because it was so good.

First time trying a jasmine white tea and I have to say I LOVE IT! It tastes a lot sweeter than green tea and I feel like I almost taste a fruity finish on it. There’s less bitterness with this tea and you still get that great jasmine flavor. Yummm would definitely recommend this tea to others!

Thanks Allie for sending this one to me in a swap.

It was a nice Jasmine Silver Needle. I think it definitely sits right along with the Teavana Jasmine Silver Needle. This one is a bit less perfumey than the Teavana one, which is nice. This one is also now a Sipdown! Woot!

I am making slow headway on my sipping down of my tea cupboard. And now that I’m on an actual tea buying ban, I should be able to actually make some space. Instead of making space and immediately filling it back up with new tea. Though my Just Organic Tea order from the Kickstarter should be arriving relatively soon… and there’s so much tea in that order. XD

Backlog: I made a pot of this a week or two ago from a sample I pilfered from the first round of the European Traveling Tea Box. The dry leaf smelled amazing, but my expectations weren’t all that high based on what I’ve heard about & tried from Adagio.

I had taken more from the box than the brewing instructions recommended for a cup, so I used what looked like proportionately more water (didn’t bother measuring, though) and followed the parameters on Adagio’s website. The first infusion was rather heavy, resinous, and almost piney – interesting, but not really what I was hoping for. Probably too hot & long a steep.

From the second infusion on, I decided to just go with what I thought was the right amount of water/temperature/time. That’s when rainbows appeared and birds started singing. Gorgeous perfect jasmine flavor! As if that weren’t enough, these lovely little leaves gave me another five delicious steeps. SEVEN steeps from a white tea brewed western style! Super impressive. I’m definitely grabbing some more of this next time I place an Adagio order. Thanks for sharing, KittyLovesTea!

Heaven. Not too heavy on the Jasmine, so you can brew it strong. Perfectly subtle and demure white, just the way it should be. Significantly diminished aroma on resteepings, unfortunately, and the aroma that remains overpowers the especially subtle flavors that normally come out of a silver needle after the first cup. A bit pricey, though, I want to find a cheaper Jasmine.

what a fragrance!

This tea is loaded with Jasmine. The floral notes overwhelm everything else. I’m really not sure what to make of it. It’s definitely bitter, in a way that reminds me of hoppy beer, so not all bad. I’ll probably be a bit better able to judge this tea after trying some other white teas.

A friend gifted me with loose-leaf teas and accessories just last March, so I’m very new to tea, and that might have affected my reaction. This was part of a sample pack of White Teas. The plain Silver Needle, often described as “subtle” was far too subtle for my tastes—could barely tell the difference between it and hot water. Combining that with Jasmine was a shock. To me it tasted like perfume. I found it undrinkable and gave it away to a friend.