Silver Tips White Tea

My last Nepali tea, squeezed in just before the end of August! This one came from a cupboard sale from Ost, thank you Ost! Prepared gong fu style.

7.5g / 200ml / 185F / 20s|30s|40s|50s|60s

The wet leaf has a strong, pungent aroma of wet hay. The steeped tea smells of bitter melon, hay, and an herbaceous/floral aroma that is reminding me of bee pollen and dandelions. The first steep is spot on with the aroma, leading with a sharp bitter melon note that fades to more of a sweeter cantalope over the sip, and a strong peppery herbaceous/sweet floral quality that tastes of hay, flowers, and pollen. A sweeter rosy floral lingers on the tongue after the sip, as well as a sort of lemony citrus note, which presented much stronger on the subsequent steep. The third steep in particular had a strong lemon/ginger sort of flavor. Was still getting a nice flavor by the time I wrapped up at five steeps, so it probably could’ve been pushed a bit more, but I was very tea-full by that point. I’m always impressed how well very old white tea holds up.

Here’s Hoping Teabox – Round Seven- Tea #44
I haven’t had this sort of white tea in a while. Wow. I remember the fuzzies on this sort of white tea would have ruined the tea for me in the past, but not anymore (or possibly not with this tea)? I don’t know if it is because I have matured as a tea drinker or if this is just a very high quality tea (possibly both.) The tea is very sweet and light. But I love to balance the sweetness and light out with having a darker tea throughout the day also.
Steep #1 // 2 teaspoons for a full mug// 30 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 25 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep

Way old backlog.

This was a solid white silver needle-esque white tea that is incredibly floral and herby. If I brewed it longer or with more leaves, this had a sweet potatoe malt against its overall wheat and hay like dryness. Its dryness is what threw me a curve ball especially if it got astringent, but if I brewed with a bit more delicately with 2-3 grams of leaves, it was a good balance with the dryer qualities with a hint of the softer profiles popping out. There was some melon notes here in there, but melon is one of those weird ass notes to start with anyway.

My criticism is that this tea was dryer and herby than the usual white. I am so glad to have tried it, but I think I’ll stick to Kenya and Fujian until I have another Himalayan or Nepali tea that wows me-which I know will probably happen. This is also more for a tea snob who knows what they are looking for, or for someone expanding their palette.

A nice, lite grassy tea. Made with the hot water spigot at work and small gaiwan. 30 Second steep. Neither the water nor tea was measured, just eyeballed.

White tea will never be my favorite, but silver tips white tea seems better than most. It doesn’t taste so strongly of hay. There’s almost a light muscatel note here, plus a combination of sweet and savory notes. Re-steeped well.

Well, the wet leaf of this tea smells vile, but that’s really not unique. In fact, I think I’ve had another tea from this very company whose wet leaf smelled like rotten hot dogs.

FORTUNATELY, the brew neither smells nor tastes like rotten hot dogs. The brew smells sweet, like gentle spring flowers. Peonies? I have no idea if peonies bloom in the spring, but just go with it. Don’t shatter my bubble. Maybe some honey in there, but mostly the flowers.

I don’t have a lot of experience with whites, so I don’t know what I am supposed to expect. The brew is sweet and floral. I’m not really familiar with the individual scents of flowers, but I’m feeling pink ones. Shall we stick with peonies? There’s also a little funk, which reminds me of a green tea. Perhaps some sweet snap peas?

I think this might be a tea best enjoyed in the spring.