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

Ceylon Silver Tips Glentilt Estate 2011

Name; Ceylon Silver Tips Glentilt Estate, Low Grown
Type; White, Sri Lanka, Ceylon, Low Grown, Silver Needle, Glentilt Estate, 2011
Price; £ 9.50 for 50 grams from Monsoon Moutains Tea Company.

http://www.teahills.co.uk/Green_and_White_Teas.html

“Slender velvet needles of pale green grey and a hint of rose is how I'd describe the look of this exquisite white tea. This is a lovely mellow tea who's honeyed apricot liquor is delicate, very delicate, and very sophisticated. This is an elegant tea with a smooth silky feel and lovely at any time of the day”

Review; And now for something completely different. There seems to be a growing trend of orthodox estates producing variants from the standard black tea. For better or for worse it is certainly shaking things up. What I do like is it means these variants of the normal mean the teas are truly produced artisanal. Not to become a hipster or anything, but it means you can either get a batch with lots of TLC, or…is complete rubbish. Not too long ago I had the pleasure(?) of trying an Oolong produced in Darjeeling. While it still had much of the muscatel tones, without a full oxidation to release these tastes the tea ended up tasting a bit bland, and slightly off.

White teas are a whole ‘nother pot of tea if you don’t mine me saying. You get a delicious delicateness that means over-brewing is harder, with a concentration of the flavour in the first little leaves. Silver needle personifies this. Silver needle is generally the most expensive white tea to purchase (yes I know this is a major generalization, but at least I’m not calling white teas the rarest of teas like Teavana does). Lets dive into this Silver Needle shall we?

First-off the price. Auch! Luckily Monsoon Moutains does lovely sample packets so I didn’t spend a fortune (50 p a packet, 10 grams in a packet. I wish all tea shops did this). I spoke with the owner and she thought it tasted best brewing for 7-8 minutes (!) and I actually agree. I also brewed mine for around 85 degrees. Perhaps not being from the Fuding Da Bai cultivar means these tea leaves that are normally destined for black need a bit of time to adjust. Regardless, and perhaps only because it’s a white tea, it does not over brew. It also brew quite clear, with not many of the distinctive silver hairs falling off.

This particular sample has wonderful tones of dried hay, and apricots, with maybe lily of the valley in the background. If I was doing a blind tasting of this tea I would think it was a ya bao tea. I have to say the hay is a little dominant on the tastes for my preference. The aroma isn’t as strong on it as I’ve smelled from other Silver Needles, so problem with either 1.) The estate 2.) The Merchant or 3.) Me. As this is my first review of Monsoon Mountains I guess I shall reserve judgement, and as the estate is probably just started producing this sort of cuppa…

This tea is perfect for the summer weather that is starting to happen, cherry tree blossoms, and bright red lobster people mean that winter has gone! (touch wood).

Enjoy!

-Tea Fan