Silver Needle 2011

Name; Silver Needle 2011
Type; White, China, Fujian, Fuding (town), Tai Mu Mountain, 14^th April-28^th April, Cultivar, Most likely Fuding Da Bai
Price; £ 10.40 for 50 grams from Jing.

http://jingtea.com/tea/type/white/silver-needle

“Appearance: Light, plump and large downy tips

Infusion: Honeyed yellow with pale green hues

Aroma: Subtle, delicate scents with honeyed sweetness and gentle melon fruits

Taste: Light, delicate quenching flavours underpinned by cucumber and melon freshness yet surprisingly full textured with a satisfying velvety finish”

Review; Silver Needle is always a difficult one to stock in a tea shop.  It is notoriously the first tea to go stale, and is one of the most expensive (in most cases), so rarely does stock move quick enough to ensure good quality.  This is why in most tea shops around the world you’ll either get a sub-par silver needle, or the shop will instead stock a more hardy white tea like Pai Mu Dan, or white peony as it is also called (which undergoes a very very slight oxidation process and as such has a longer shelf life). 

A good silver needle consists of just the buds and gives you wonderful fruity and floral notes to it.  Now that all being said and done, let us get on with this particular one.

The aroma as I open the bag is wonderful.  A slight hint of plastic, but all in all a wonderful freshness to it meaning this tea has been well stored and air tight.  Beautiful peach/lily of the valley heavenly scent.

Leaves are whole, another good indicator.  Placing them in the water they are so light I have to force submerge them.  Lots of white hairs, another good character, and most of them stay attached to the leaves, yet another good sign.  Aroma of brewing matches with the quality and develops more into a full bodied fruitiness.  

The taste of the tea is light and delicate, yet full bodied.  Fresh and lychee, slight undertones of apricot and maybe fresh hay (not usually a good sign, but in this, I accept it as a good type of hay if that makes any since).  Smooth, it sits pleasantly in the mouth with no bitterness at all. Wet leaves are again nice and whole.  Congratulations jing, you’ve passed.  

Please enjoy this tea.  While it may be a bit pricey, this is one of the rare cases where a tea is worth its price.

-Tea Fan

White Monkey, Chinese Green

White Monkey
Type; Green, China, Fujian, Tai-Mi

Price; £ 4.50 for 50 grams from Anteaques.

http://anteaques.co.uk/greentea/whitemonkey

"Harvested from the Tai-Mi mountain in the Fujian province of China, this green tea has a large number of white tips. The fine white downy hairs on these curved and tangled leaves give the tea its unusual name. It is a superb and delicate green tea with the soft texture of white teas and a grassy and slightly sweet taste.
For this tea, only the tip buds and one leaf are picked during early Spring. The leaves are then gently withered and shaped by hand to preserve the white down. If you enjoy both white and green teas, this is an fantastic amalgam with a sweet silky taste."

Review; At a recent tasting I went to, White Monkey was the favourite chosen by the tasters. It has a unique characteristic of the Chinese green teas, mixed with the silky smooth texture associated with a white tea, that lets it sit on the tongue and dance. I find the leaves to be some of the most beautiful of all, trypanosomes curled around each other. Due to the high number of white hairs on the leaves I find one can actually brew this for longer than one would normally brew a green (I usually brew a green for around 2-3 minutes), as it has such a sweetness to it that follows through with savory chestnuts. Honestly I don’t make this up and dare any and all readers to give this tea a try. To me this is one of the highlights of Chinese green teas.

Enjoy!

-Tea Fan

Golden Monkey

Golden Monkey
Type; Black, China, Fujian *Edit 4/2/12

Price; £ 2.00 for 100 grams from Better Beverage Company.

http://www.betterbeverage.co.uk/

Review; Surprisingly this tea is rather nice. What got me to buy it was the large quantities of tips that are distinctive in this black tea. Chinese black teas have this nice malty, caramel sweetness to them that is often missing in other blacks. For value, I find this tea hard to beat. Don’t get me wrong though, Better Beverage should be embarrassed about some of the teas they are selling. The Darjeeling? I doubt it. Also much of their tea is stored next to coffee, which may be why the black teas I’ve tried from there are much better than the greens. Better beverage like Anteaques sells tea, not packaging, however with less of a finesse and care than Anteaques does.

This Fujian black *edit 4/2/12 is a wonderful example of what can be had from black teas in this region. Described by a friend of mine as the aroma one gets when one walks into a clean stable, there is a horse musk in the air. Good colour in the brew, rich amber, that one should be mindful of not to let over-brew.

Enjoy!

-Tea Fan