Nepal Silver Needle White Tea

Love it! So smooth, so mild, yet so complex! Best white tea I’ve had. Excited to try silver needle from other companies.

Dry leaf: floral
Wet leaf: floral
Taste: Apricot, cream, honey

I am once again starting to clear out my backlog of tea reviews. I think I finished what I had of this tea right at the end of October. It was either the last or next to last sipdown of the month. As silver needle white teas go, I found it to be tremendously enjoyable. It was oddly a heavier and more accessible tea than many of its Chinese counterparts.

Naturally, I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea buds in 4 ounces of 185 F water for 10 seconds. This infusion was followed by 18 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, and 30 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea buds emitted aromas of hay, eucalyptus, vanilla, and malt that were underscored by hints of smoke and corn husk. After the rinse, I detected stronger corn husk and smoke scents along with aromas of cream, celery, and butter. I did not notice any difference in the tea’s bouquet on the first infusion. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of hay, smoke, eucalyptus, cream, corn husk, and butter that were backed by hints of vanilla. Subsequent infusions introduced scents of green beans, sugarcane, apricot, fennel, puff pastry, and marshmallow as well as well as a subtle honeydew aroma. Stronger vanilla notes emerged in the mouth as well as belatedly emerging impressions of malt and celery. New impressions of minerals, green beans, sugarcane, apple, puff pastry, honeydew, marshmallow, apricot, fennel, and orange zest also emerged. At the end of the session, the tea liquor had grown a bit astringent, but I could still pick up mineral, celery, cream, fennel, butter, and sugarcane impressions framed by accents of hay, honeydew, apple, vanilla, and eucalyptus.

This was an absolutely fantastic silver needle white tea, one that I would honestly rank up above some of the better Chinese silver needles I have tried. I think I would even put it above the few Darjeeling silver needles I have tried to this point. I would recommend it highly to anyone with an interest in quality white teas, especially someone looking for something more exotic than the traditional Chinese offerings.

(This review is for the Spring flush 2016)

Ahhhh, the taste of terroir..

Nepal borders Darjeeling , & i think this comes out in the taste in a big way. It tastes to me like very forgiving super sweet FF DJ rather than a fujian white. Or is that my brain knowing that Taplejung might as well be Darjeeling? (in India terms its a drive away, :lol:) Anyway I spent a while cross referencing FF DJ process vs White & they are very similar anyway, so great! I learnt something again today. And thinking back on it, they can be very similar, cant they.

I used quite a lot (~5g?) & about 3:30 80c, & didnt get any FF overbrewing. It is pretty delicious. Fresh golden water with essence of apricots, oranges, maybe even raspberry Mixed with the ‘hay’ taste of a white, also some FF nutty underneath. Amazingly delicate but unmistakable smell of candy apples & a sweetness in the feel that just coats the mouth with sugar, while not being cloying. The first cup went very quickly. Its pretty subtle & delicate, but really good.

Second cup I just left the leaf to steep, and drinking a cooler cup I also get a little milk with my fruit.

Third cup I just did 90c & left it again, this one was less of everything else but with a hint of citrus. Still got the sugary aroma though. By this third cup I felt pretty warm & nice from the chi.

ive found quite a few Nepalese teas from Alistair now that I really like, this one I reckon with really pedantic brewing – accurate weights, pushing the citrus flavour out more with 85-90c or just longer steep times you will end up with something even better. Will have to experiment & report back if the fruit can be brought out using this method.

edit* The instructions say to use roughly 85c, I should have looked harder!

But even as it stands with my underbrewing, I would re-purchase this one for sure, & im already looking forward to tomorrow morning when im finishing the rest of the sample with a higher temp

Sunday / Day 1 – White Tea
I’m doing the week of different teas challenge Lion is doing.

The loose tea smells like dry tea leaves and like the inside of a store that sells high end furniture and home décor. The leaves are thin and small, they look like rosemary (no herb or rosemary flavour though) but are light silvery green and have short white hairs.

First steep: 2 minutes, 450 mL of fairly hot water (not boiling)
Steeps very light , almost clear
Smells very sweet and fruity
Tastes like candy and apricot, absolutely delicious and very sweet. I taste light tannins so it does taste like a tea, but it has a natural fruity sweetness I love.

Second steep: 3 minutes hotish water (not boiling)
Smells a bit floral and like white tea
I taste raspberry and apricot, very subtle sweetness, light tannins, delicate and clear tea taste. This is a phenomenal tea, probably the best unflavoured white tea I own.

This was an interesting tea. It looks like rosemary.

It is definitely fresh in aroma and taste. At first it was a bit offputting as it smelled lightly of fish to me but that is nowhere in the taste. The first sips are smooth and buttery, like a lightly oxidized oolong. It’s not one that will make me shift over to white teas over my beloved malty blacks, but it’s a unique white that is appealing and light.

Thanks for sharing this, KS