Vietnam Wild Mountain Mist Silver Needle White Tea

Prepared western (4 grams) from same pouch as derk. So, Harvest in September 2015, best before September 2018 (only two years behind!)

Ehhm, although I had it in the morning, it seems it is forgettable. My thoughts about this tea are like in the mountain mist.

It was quite thick, velvety mouthfeel as derk said already, but taste… I don’t remember much. It was nice, bit like hay or yellow melons (again borrowing her words), bit drying.

But expected maybe more, maybe I wasn’t just paying much attention, as I was thinking just about the lunch I was about to prepare (Lasagne bolognese), which turned out great! Need to retry this tea.

Another sealed bag from White Antlers :)

September 2015 harvest had grandpa. Dry leaf smells like floral perfume. A deeper sniffing reveals candylike melon and a pleasant, clean animal fur. I don’t remember the liquor aroma. Has the silver needle velvety thick mouthfeel with a dominant honeysuckle-nectar-straw-smoke taste and a background melon that becomes stronger in the aftertaste. Grandpa may not be the best method for this tea since it can get bitter. Pretty enjoyable and I’ll try the next round western style.

The texture is surprisingly viscous and velvety smooth as it fills the mouth, with a peculiar note of white rice accompanying the typical dry hay of other Silver Needles, and the barest floral hint creeps in during the finish. I find it altogether lacking in sweetness, but still a pleasant cup.

This is probably the best Silver Needle tea I’ve tried yet. I’ve found with these teas it works best to start with longer steeps than I would for gongfu with other teas, because they seem almost hydrophobic in nature. So something like 1m, 45s, 30s, 20s, 45s, 1m, 1m. They don’t seem to have the longevity of many other teas, perhaps because I brew them this way, but I find if I follow a more “normal” gongfu progression, the first steeps are light to the point of being flavorless and I don’t really end up with any good steeps at all!

I think this is one of the last teas I have from my first What-Cha order, which included the Discover Vietnam set – a wonderful collection of widely variant teas. I actually hadn’t opened this one yet, as the fact that it had melon in the description made me want to save it for last.

This tea was quite interesting – the description on the bag seemed an uncommon combination: sweet melon and smoke notes. I love melon, and generally dislike smoke, so I had mixed feelings going in. This tea is absolutely sweet. It seemed kind of like melon rind or sweet cucumber – not quite the sugary sweetness that would come from the flesh of a melon, because it had almost a tartness with that sweet flavor, which in part of my notes I described as almost citric.

So while it is sweet, it’s a tart sweetness, and this sweetness is also accompanied by prominent savory notes. Most steeps, this savory flavor was actually what I tasted first, while the sweetness came in more the middle of the sip and they kind of combined on the finish. I think the savory flavor is what was described as smoke, though it wasn’t the BBQ type of smoke I really find distasteful in tea. I don’t even think I would have described it as a smoky taste had it not said that on the bag. To me it was almost woody or maybe like a barnyard taste.

This was a good tea for sure, and an interesting one to boot. I’m glad I got to taste a bunch of awesome teas from Vietnam, and I encourage everybody who orders from What-Cha to give some of them a try. They surprised me with their quality and uniqueness (is that a word? I don’t know).

I might be going to the zoo tomorrow, how fun! It is a big might, see my local zoo sends out these coupons that allows two people free entry one day on a few randomly selected months, and September is one of those months. I am a bit stir crazy, but it seems every time I go out my ‘condition’ gets worse, exacerbated by my already annoying social anxiety, so now I am phobic of leaving the house. Fingers crossed, I want to go to the zoo, it is one of my great joys. Now if only the somewhat tiny ‘chainstore’ version of the local aquarium would give out free passes, oh I would spend all day with the fishes!!

So, tea time! Today I am talking about What-Cha’s Vietnam Wild ‘Mountain Mist’ Silver Needle White Tea, a White Tea from the Assamica varietal, plucked from possibly up to 800 year old trees grown in the Yen Bai Province of Vietnam and harvested by the H’mong Ethnic People. This fancy tea was sourced by Geoff Hopkins of Hatvala, a company whose mission is to spread the word of Vietnamese teas, something you guys probably know I am a fan of. The aroma of the gently fuzzy needles (they have a slight curl to them) is a fascinating blend of sweetness in the form of peaches and green melon, green in the form of cucumber and a touch of celery, and a hint of smoke. The name Mountain Mist is fitting, the aroma is light and airy, crisp and clean, with a wispy hint of distant hearth fires, it is evocative of the environment it was grown.

Into my steeping vessels the leaves went, it took a while for the water to permeate the fuzzy trichome sheath turning the leaves plump and green. The aroma of the wet leaves is an even blend of cucumbers, green melons, watermelon rind, and smoke. It leans more towards cooling vegetal than sweet. The liquid smells sweet and refreshing, blending melon rind, honeydew, and cucumber.

The first steep is intensely cooling! That is very refreshing, starting in the belly and spreading out to my fingers, remind me to keep this stashed away for next time I have a fever! It is very light and clean, reminds me very much of rain water in the mountains. The taste starts with gentle smoke and then moves to melon and peaches with a finish of cucumbers and distant flowers. It is almost effervescent in its lightness.

I went for a second steep, the aroma has a stronger smoke note and a crisp barely ripe peach note as well. It is still potently cooling, though not quite as much so as the first steep, the taste has a slightly astringent edge to it this time, while still being light and airy. Sweet peach, smoke, and melons mix together, with a slightly gentle smoke aftertaste. This was quite the unique tea!

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/09/what-cha-vietnam-wild-mountain-mist.html

What-Cha keeps impressing me with their ability to find the unusual and delicious. The leaf is so white it looks ghostly. Instead of soft tender buds, these seem more crisp. The dry aroma is field grass. Once brewed the first cup seemed more green tea like than white. At first I thought it tasted dairy or milky. As it cooled it became creamy corn. Behind it is a vegetal green flavor and the good type bitter of excellent green tea. This is interestingly complex but not particularly subtle. That is unusual for a white. Had I not seen the dry leaf, I would have a hard time believing. A white tea for people who don’t care for subtle white tea.

The second cup is totally different. It reminds me of sheng. The main flavor is apricot. Along with it is the bright sheng bitter. It doesn’t seem drying and doesn’t have cheek tingle. It just has a neat edge. A shorter second steep might calm it but I’m kind of liking it. So I have a white tea, that is at first like a bold green, then becomes a young sheng. How cool is that?

I am finding Vietnam teas to be bolder and just different than other regions in a good way.

Vietnam Wild Mountain Mist Silver Needle White Tea
Origin: Soui Giang, Yen Bai Province, Vietnam
Elevation: 1200m+

Dry Leaves: The leaves are fairly typical of Silver Needle teas, although they were surprisingly crisp most Silver Needles that I have had has been very pliable and soft. Besides that for the most part these leaves are fairly uniform, I did notice the occasional fuzzy leaf, but for the most part the leaves are lightly twisted and have a pleasant pine needle smell.

Temperature: 176oF
Brewing Time: One Minute (adding one minute each subsequent infusion)
Aroma: Pine and Citrus
Flavor: Melon, Smoke and Vanilla
Tasting Notes: Wow. This is quite a strange tea, even though the packaging clearly sells it has a gentle smoke taste, I was not really expecting it; like the Red Buffalo, this taste like a purple tea.

I could see myself buying this again even though for 50g at $16 (at the time of writing) it is a little expensive; I have not encountered any smoky silver needles before. Normally I am not a fan of unscented silver needles, but those smoky notes make this tea really interesting. At first I wanted to say that this was my favorite of the three teas I looked at today, but I don’t often drink white teas and I always feel Oolongs have an unfair advantage over all teas since it has an incredible range of tastes; although the pricing isn’t that unusual, Teavivre has two silver Needles for $17.90 for 50g (at the time of writing this) of a comparable quality.

[The rest of the review is at http://rah-tea.blogspot.com/2014/12/what-cha-discover-vietnam-part-1.html)