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“A while back, the husband and I got a food dehydrator to make jerky. (The husband makes seriously awesome venison jerky.) When we first got it, we went a little dehydrator-crazy. If it was...” Read full tasting note
“This is byfar the truest honeydew flavored tea, honeydew flavored anything, I have tried. A gold star to Teas Etc for hitting this right on the mark. The white tea is the perfect pairing for the...” Read full tasting note
“Steep Information: Amount: 3 tsp Additives: none Water: 2 zarafina cups filtered water Tool: Zarafina white-loose-medium Served: Hot Tasting Notes: Dry Leaf Smell: like honeydew milk boba...” Read full tasting note
“I think this tea has helped me realize that I’m not the biggest fan of hot white teas. They’re fine, but not my favorites. I really like some of them iced, but I don’t think that I’ll be going...” Read full tasting note
New to our lineup, Honeydew has quickly gained attention from white tea enthusiasts in and out of the office.
The soft melon flavor lingers on the palate, is perfectly balanced and not to sweet.
Honeydew Tea Type: White Tea
Ingredients: Chinese white tea and flavor
Origin of Honeydew : China
Direct trade quality loose leaf tea for more than a decade. World Tea Championship winners in 2008 & 2009. USDA Certified Organic. Based in US with buying office in China.
A while back, the husband and I got a food dehydrator to make jerky. (The husband makes seriously awesome venison jerky.) When we first got it, we went a little dehydrator-crazy. If it was edible, we’d try to dehydrate it. Some of our experiments were more successful than others (I highly suggest dehydrated zucchini slices – they are potato-chip-level addictive.) But I knew we had gone too far when we dehydrated watermelon.
The dried watermelon bits were textured like Fruit Roll-Ups (which wasn’t bad) but the taste… it was melon and slightly sweet and very musky. I cannot adequately explain how musky it was. “Extremely” would be an understatement. It was perhaps how licking a male muskox would taste. Obviously, this was very weird to me and I found eating the dried watermelon distracting and unpleasant. After that experience, I decided to retreat back into dehydrating only jerky and zucchini and never think of the watermelon musk disaster again.
Until I drank this tea.
This is byfar the truest honeydew flavored tea, honeydew flavored anything, I have tried. A gold star to Teas Etc for hitting this right on the mark. The white tea is the perfect pairing for the light honeydew flavor. I enjoy the lightness this tea has.
Steep Information:
Amount: 3 tsp
Additives: none
Water: 2 zarafina cups filtered water
Tool: Zarafina white-loose-medium
Served: Hot
Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: like honeydew milk boba tea
Steeped Tea Smell: vegetal, like honeydew milk boba tea, flowery
Flavor: slightly bitter, astringent but melon
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: bitter
Liquor: translucent light orange
I should try a mild steep and / or less leaf next time.
The tea came in a black plastic sealed bag inside the tin. When I dumped it into the tin I noticed a pollen like fluffy residue in the bag. I wonder if this is a white tea attribute?
Post-Steep Additives: none, but was thinking about some sugar
Resteep: just as strong as the first steep
images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/04/teas-etc-loose-leaf-white-tea-honeydew.html
co-workers love this tea
My Teas Etc. golden monkey had a lot of pollen yellow residue too (like yellow dust).
it’s weird to have fluffy dusty tea – i wonder if the fluff has flavor?
Maybe the fluff is leaf-hairs. White tea (or tea with lots of young, hairy buds) has more of them than almost any other kind. You can see them in the liquid, too, because they escape the infuser.
@Dax I think you are right, it’s sooooo fluffy
I think this tea has helped me realize that I’m not the biggest fan of hot white teas. They’re fine, but not my favorites. I really like some of them iced, but I don’t think that I’ll be going out of my way to sample more (or if I do, then it will be as an iced tea).
I’ve also realized that I’m not a big fan of melon flavor in teas. They just seem extra “musky” to me and I only enjoy melons when they’re sweet. I might have a different feeling about melon tea if I added sweetner, but I’d rather do tea straight up.
Overall it’s probably a decent melon white tea, but it’s not for me. M
I agree I like white teas iced more then hot…well sometimes, depending on the fruit used. Peach I can to hot or cold, but I tried a melon one a couple of weeks ago iced and it was really refreshing! …and no, it was not the horrid Persian Melon one LOL. But something like strawberry flavored I can’t do hot, it just seems wrong!
I’ve never been tempted by melon or cucumber in hot tea. Don’t get it. :)
This is….interesting. It’s not so much “honeydew” as it is asparagus! :O It’s a very “vegetal” tasting tea. And, in the beginning, the vegetable flavor is very potent. But as the liquid cools, notes of white flowers and (finally!) melon emerge. The scent, upon cool down, reminds me of melon chewing gum! In some Korean restaurants around here, they give you sticks of melon-flavored gum with the check after the meal. And the scent is exactly like that!
So, honestly, I kind of like this…but not really. It was good to try as a sample though!
This was a free sample from Teas Etc.
Leaves are green and finely chopped. The Honeydew aroma is strong both before and after brewing. Brewed, it tasted like Honeydew melon. The tea provides the dark-gold color. If you want a honeydew drink, this might be it, but as a tea, as a coworker commented, a waste of good water.
A sad little story. So sorry. :-(
What kind of dehydrator did you get?
Morgana, It was a traumatic moment in our culinary history. :)
RachanaC, We have a Nesco Gardenmaster. We liked it so much we got one for my dad. (He had a tendency of putting peppers in the oven to dry, then my mom wouldn’t know and would preheat the oven for something… Yeah, burned peppers is not a happy smell.) It does a fantastic job, even on meats (which our old dehydrator had issues with – not hot enough I suppose?)
I love story reviews like this.
I think I still have some of these flowers from Teaspring lying around. I once bought a couple of different ones because I thought it could be fun to experiment with in otherwise boring teas. I never got the hang of honeydew. It doesn’t taste like honey and it doesn’t taste like dew. The entire name is false advertising. Once again our tastebuds are aligned…
oh no! :( and i do love this tea so but i can see how after that experience it would be an unpleasant thing
I do like fresh melon (though honeydew is probably my least favorite, I still like it), I guess since the sweet taste overrides any musk (which, obviously, I’m not a fan of). If there were a fresh melon tea, I could get behind that probably. Maybe.
Angrboda, Wonder Twin powers, activate! :)
So like… is there anything that is sweet and dehydrator safe? Now you have me curious. Boyfriend’s dad hunts deer all the time, and I’d kill to have some fresh jerky. I’ve never had it. Only store bought. But I’ve heard great things about it. Problem is, I can’t ever justify buying something that has one use, especially kitchen gadgets. So, is there anything that’s sweet that is dehydrate-able do you think? Or is it just better with salty things I wonder.
Also are the zucchinis crunchy or chewy?
Fresh jerky is awesome and you can flavor it depending on your likes- spicy, sweet, a little of both… As far as other non-meat things, dehydrated strawberries are delightful. We usually end up eating about half of them before they are fully done dehydrating. Sweet potatoes and zucchini aren’t salty (unless you add salt) but they don’t really qualify as sweet like the strawberries, I suppose. And they are both crunchy/crisp. And tasty.
That sounds awesome. :) Thanks. I need to try this out sometime.