Fuding White Treasure Organic (ZW85)

I’ve been wanting to review this tea for a while and I finally got around to it.

This tea is really pretty. Long uniform leaves with buds. The leaves surround the bud in many cases. They are also white tipped, soft, and furry. As the leaves rested in my rinsed glass press they smelled nutty and mildly fruity.

My first cup was a soft yellow brew with a mild sweetness. As I tasted it and swirled it in my mouth, it is warm and smooth with a nutty flavor, and mild fruits of melon on the back of my tongue. I usually equate the melon notes to cantaloupe or honeydew, and in this case, cantaloupe fits the bill.

As I wait for my second cup to cool, the wet leaves smell sweet and nutty. The cup is somewhat darker in color, and a natural sweet aroma comes through. This is the best cup of the three I had. The nuttiness was somewhat stronger, as were the fruity notes. This was still a gentle cup, as white teas tend to be. It was again naturally sweet and smooth. Brewed 195 for 1 minute.

In my last cup (212 for 3 minutes), the nut aspects faded, leaving it more fruity on my palate-but even these were lighter than my second cup. Still a sweet and flavorful cup. Overall a very light, creamy smooth, naturally sweet brew I love.

It reminds me so much of the warmer months. This tea is so appropriate right now, as it has been in the 60’s the last few days, and today in the 70’s! What a nice welcome to what has been a warm March, and an early Spring! :)) Oh, how I do welcome thee…….

Cupped: Thursday, March 15, 2012. THE IDES OF MARCH!

Reviewed: Saturday, March 17, 2012.

I’m grateful to have found a white tea sample I hadn’t tried yet, last night and to have the proper taste buds to appreciate it (unlike say, my husband). This hit all the right spots after just a 30 sec steep, but I am having a hard time finding the words to describe it. It’s herbaceous sure, there is a nice cool tingling on the side of my tongue that gives way to a bit of sweetness. It also tastes/feels like parchment paper which I am really digging. The second steep is similar but heavier, less sparkling and has a honeydew note to it. There is a savoriness to both cups that I can’t quite pinpoint, but it’s there alongside the sweet. Lovely tea, glad I can still thoroughly enjoy straight whites after all these blacks, dark oolongs and pu’erhs I’ve been getting into lately.

It’s a nice white tea. I’m learning that I don’t like light flowery teas. So this really isn’t my style. But I don’t have any technical complaints about it – good flavor, complex, etc. Better than the average random tea. Brewed twice.

Odd, This tea smells like ginger (which also translates in taste). It’s smooth kind of buttery, barely able to detect the vegital taste or the honey suckle sweetness I’ve found to enjoy in (Teavana’s) Silver Needles. But it’s different, and I like different. It almost has a starchy/rice taste….

Now I want sushi.

I’m actually enjoying the ginger-ness in this. I’m wondering if thats the toasty note the description describes.