Organic China White Paklum Tips (ZW97)

I’m really not sleeping well, at all; I’m not at all clear on why, either. It isn’t that I cannot get comfortable or that the room is too warm or too cool. I just keep waking up at such short intervals that I get no real rest. So I need tea. Lots of it. And a sense of something cozy.

These Paklum Tips are the biggest, fuzziest, softest white tea I’ve ever seen.

The cup brews up a cheery, bright yellow which fades to golden brown.

The flavor is not as complex as some of the flat leaf white teas, but probably also not as fragile. Soft, fuzzy and mildly earthy, like the leaves themselves, this tea is like a gentle hug from a girl you used to have a crush on, years ago, and these days you’re just happy to see each other happy.

I can’t help but wonder if there is a problem with consistency from batch to batch with this tea, because the other tasting note speaks of broken, short tips. My leaves here are so soft they couldn’t break and they are quite long. Not a “silver needle” at all, just a bag full of fuzzy buds.

Meh. This did not impress me much. I had two or three sessions and now it’s gone and I don’t even remember much about it. Not melony as that’s what stood out about the white I drank immediately after this. I think it was vaguely sweet with a bit of spice in later steeps. And the tips were very very tiny, but not broken as far as I could tell.

I’m finally finishing off this sample… it actually took me a few weeks because I opened it, tried it, didn’t find particularly interesting and put it away.

It’s one of the higher priced white teas that Upton offers but it just doesn’t deliver the way others do. The leaf looks like a regular Silver Needle but is shorter and partially broken. The smell is pretty generic but strong.

I’m really missing out on “velvety cocoa tones”. The flavor is somewhat dry and powdery, without sweet-mushroomy taste I usually find in most Silver Needles. Maybe it is the promised cocoa but I just don’t feel it should taste like this.

On the positive side it is quality tea, it brews very aromatic and holds 4 infusions easily. Just not my cuppa.