Jasmine Silver Needle White Tea (Mo Li Yin Zhen)

The lady I had not seen in about five years who came for tea last month wanted to come again. She was picking up feed bags for a Pinterest project. Of course, I wanted to serve tea again because she was so stunned at how good the high quality tea tastes last time! I chose this one for today because she mentioned that she and her mother were interested in tea for the health benefits.

Twice now I have had trouble getting people to understand that white tea is higher in antioxidants than green. They keep insisting on green because of all the articles they have read. As I served this one I read the description and details from the Teavivre website. She was very excited when she heard the part about antioxidants.

We tasted the tea and she declared it to be the best tea she has ever tasted in her entire life, and asked me to order one bag for her and one for her mom. She even stayed for a resteep of the pot and we finished that one, too.

This is one of those teas that would be in my shelf if I ever had to have just five teas. (Gasp!)

I know nothing about the jasmine flower. It sure seems like there must be two distinct types used in tea, or two different application methods. All I know is all tea bag versions, and most loose versions, I’ve tried have the same icky smell and flavor about them. For years people told me how good jasmine tea tasted. I was convinced they had no taste buds. Then came TeaVivre changing my mind.

All the TeaVivre (and honorable mention to Utopia) jasmines have such a wonderful scent. The flavor always makes me think grapes. They are light and sweet. I am totally amazed how much I like them.

I have to admit, at first, this one made me uncomfortable. White tea, especially silver needle, is so delicately flavored on its own that it seemed wrong to cover it up. Tasting it caused me to forget my concern. The lightness is maintained. It crosses the lips as gentle grapes surrounded by flowers, then caresses the throat with creamy delight. The aftertaste lingers with sweet nectar that slowly fades revealing the silver needle base. Yep, this is good stuff.

This is like an instant-calm potion. I take a sip and I can just feel myself relax. It is tea like this that makes me wish I either had a fantastic thermos bottle to bring hot water down with me or an electric kettle that I can keep in my room.

I will be surprised if I drink another tea today. I might bring this one through lots of steepings from now until bedtime.

This is a big sample, and it’s getting up there in age, especially for a white tea. I really need to drink it down!

I put a big pile of this in my gongfu teapot and steeped it for somewhere between 10 and 20 seconds. Not a lot of precision here, but the result is quite lovely. Sweet, honeysuckle-y jasmine, yum. My second cup is not my favorite… I think the white tea is overtaking the jasmine, somehow, and I think I prefer a green base (rather, a pearl base) for jasmines overall. But still a delicious jasmine tea.

A perfectly simple tea to end the evening with, and a perfectly simple tasting note to match.

Holy butts I can’t believe I turn 19 in one day! Ahhh!

Thankyou so much Angel and Teavivre for this sample. This is the sample that I have been most anxious to try. I think I am falling in love with jasmine teas.

Dry leaf appearance: Beautiful fuzzy long white needles

Aroma: smells like fresh jasmine in a sunny meadow

Taste: Light jasmine, with that wonderful delicate white tea in the background. Sweetness comes through in a silky smooth way. This has a wonderful mouth feel to it, creamy like! I am glad I got such a large sample pack of this because I am certainly enjoying this!

2nd steep: 85degrees, 2minutes, just as delicious as the first with a little stronger jasmine.

I have had a LOT of tea today, so I will have to do the other steepings tomorrow and update!

Not sure how it compares to my beloved pearls, I will have to taste this tea again, and then on another day…have a side-by-side taste comparison.

Edit: 3rd steep, 90degrees, 3minutes, starting to lose flavour and silkiness, I think I would cold brew this steep next time.

Jasmine has this magical thing it does where no matter where I’m at emotionally when I start my cup, by the time I finish, I’m in a good place. I think if I absolutely had to decide on one type of tea to drink for the rest of my life, a variety of jasmine would absolutely be in the running. It’s easily my favorite floral flavor.

In this particular one, the silver needle is sweet with notes of honeysuckle and pairs perfectly with the jasmine, which is delicate, floral, and sweet itself. It’s so smooth. I enjoy the first two steeps the most, where the jasmine and silver needle are in harmonious balance, but the jasmine starts overcoming it by about the third steep.

I don’t think jasmine is a flavor. It’s an experience.

Another gratuitous sample from Teavivre! I really wanted to try some more of their teas but I didn’t feel like sitting down to something dark, and I’d already had a cup of the Dragonwell this morning. So here goes with this one.

When I opened the sample package, I looked inside to see that the buds were a bit more curled than I’d seen previously, and there are some small leaves mixed in with the buds. Bending down to take a closer look, I was hit with a really strong scent – much more strong than I’d expected. It was a lot different too – very flavorful. Beyond the jasmine I got whiffs of peach, plum and nectarine. There’s something else there that I can’t quite put my finger on. Maybe a sort of orchid scent? It almost reminds me of the forest, mossy and cool, but not dark. Regardless, it’s the best smelling unaltered white tea I’ve ever smelled.

The steeping instructions asked for 1-3 minutes; I steeped mine for approximately 2 to 3. I didn’t set a timer. After steeping, the buds look a bit of a brighter green than before, and they’ve started to unroll just slightly. The wet scent of these is similar to the dry scent, but not as strong. I’m also getting a little bit closer to the flavor I was unable to identify in the dry leaves – it smells almost mossy, somehow.

I used my 2-cup teapot for this, which is a light rose color. I really do need to get a glass or a white teapot. I’ve been eyeing the 18oz glass ForLife ones… sigh. Too many teapots, so little money. As it pours, the stream looks white. Even in the light pink teacup, I can see that the liquor is a pale yellow in color. The scent of the liquor is even fainter than the scent of the wet leaves, but it’s still along the same line.

It tastes fantastic. I haven’t had a lot of experience with yin zhen teas – I’ve tried the Teavana silver needles and David’s jasmine-scented. Both of them have been soft but fairly tasteless to me. I can hardly taste the jasmine in David’s.

But this – this is something else. I can taste the jasmine there without a doubt, but it’s light and delicate, without the overpowering dryness or “soapy” qualities it can have when used in excess. The best descriptor I can find for the tea is “round.” It’s clear and pure, mild and sweet. It’s the fullest-flavored yin zhen I’ve ever tasted, and it has its own distinctive flavor.

The first time I went into Teavana (hardly knowing anything about tea, but knowing that silver needles was considered “expensive and quality”) I asked for a cup of their silver needles so I could taste it. The girl there said “Sure, but it has a very light flavor it’s really best blended with other teas. Would you like to try that?” She blended it with another, and it was good, but this is a tea which, while very light, needs nothing extra to taste fantastic.

Thanks again Teavivre – you’ve sold me. Another one I have to add to my shopping list!

A nice light and floral white tea. Not an everyday tea for me, but a nice option for when I’m in the mood for something elegant. A lovely tea for multiple steeps.

Sipdown!
This is lovely Jasmine white. Some jasmines have a soapy flavor, probably because they are artificial, but this one is very nice, not too heavy on the jasmine, with a sweet & clean flavor. I shared it with a student, & she loved it so much that I gave her the last bit of it, enough for another cup, to enjoy at home.