Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘C 167’

The aromas of this white tea’s dry leaves are quite sweet and grassy. Fuzzy, short, white twists intermix with small green leaves for an enjoyable looking tea.  Canton Tea Co’s packaging suggests using 2 teaspoons of leaf per cup of water and infusing the tea for 2-3 minutes. Accordingly, 2 teaspoons of the tiny leaves went into my cup for a little over 2 minutes. The resulting aroma of this tea was somewhat different than the dry leaves suggested.

My cup of tea still maintained its grassy aromas, yet felt deeper and stronger with a light, roasted smell. I was further surprised when, upon tasting it for the first time, the flavour burst in my mouth, both sweet and fruity and without a lot of the formerly smelled grassiness. Impressed by the full flavour, I continue drinking.

This is one complex white tea…the flavour is not, in any way, straightforward. Slightly reminiscent of half a dozen different white teas, this is a must-try for white tea lovers. On my personal enjoyment scale, I would give it a 91/100.

You can purchase the Ye Sheng Wild White Tea directly from the Canton Tea Co. website.

I have to be honest and say, I don’t drink a lot of yellow tea. In the past, it was because yellow tea wasn’t readily or easily available at my local tea shops. But now, I guess it’s not a tea I normally think of reaching for from my tea stash (I currently only have one on hand, a Jun Shan Yin Zhen). So doing a tasting of Canton Tea Co.’s Meng Ding Huang Ya Yellow Tea (as per label on sample) was actually something I was looking forward to.

I admit though, I have always been fascinated as to what makes yellow tea different from white tea and green tea, and how it is produced. The extra step from Chinese green tea production called men huang (literally “cooped up” yellow) seemed reminiscent to me of the steaming of Japanese tea leaves or, even more so, the way the Burmese process tea leaves for eating. However, it is not the same as Japanese tea or Burmese tea leaf processing (which both incorporate steaming in their production), as the still moist fired tea leaves are wrapped with cloth and stored for 1 – 2 days & then the drying & wrapping in cloth is repeated for up to 3 or 4 days in total.

I have heard yellow tea described as a cross between white tea and green tea because of its softer assertiveness and mellow flavour. However, knowing how it is produced always give me the expectation that it would have some aromas & flavours reflecting Burmese “pickled tea leaf” because of being stored or “cooped up” in cloth for a period of time.

Interestingly enough, some of these notes did pop up while tasting Canton Tea Co.’s Meng Ding Huang Ya, which literally translates to Mount Meng Ding Yellow Bud. I actually tasted this tea twice, on two separate days. I used a temperature of about 78°C (173°F) and steeped three times. The first steep was for about 1 1/2 minutes and I upped each steep after by about 15 seconds (really no methodology to my actions, just what I thought might work for this tea).

Here are some of my tasting notes on Canton Tea Co.’s Meng Ding Huang Ya Yellow Tea. Both times that I tasted yielded similar thoughts.

I quite enjoyed this Meng Ding Huang Ya. The first steep was the best tasting and by the third steep, the flavour was gone. I didn’t expect to get more than two steepings from this tea so I wasn’t disappointed. I liked how the flavours were soft yet I was able to discern varying tastes in my mouth ranging from sweetness, vegetal/seaweed, to a sort of fresh tanginess. Very nice.

You can purchase the Meng Ding Huang Ya directly from the Canton Tea Co. website.

To start my first review here, I thought it would be fun to share how I go about tasting teas (and I hope others will share too!). I do all my tea tastings (as opposed to tea drinking) first thing in the morning. Yes, even before I brush my teeth! I was inspired by Chocolate Expert, Chloé Doutre-Roussel in her chocolate tastings (another one of my passions) as she believes our taste buds and sense of smell are most acute on an empty stomach and with a clean palate.

If I am tasting a non-flavoured tea (more often than not), I will also taste the new tea with the same type of tea I have on hand which I believe is an excellent example of that kind of tea. It helps awaken my taste buds and jogs my taste bud memories. When tasting a new tea, I prefer not to look at any taste/scent/appearance descriptions given by the supplier nor do I like to look at any other reviews. I want to experience the tea without any preconceived notions of what others observed.

But for the purposes of this tea review, I wanted to make my tasting even more unbiased so I actually used three unmarked samples of the same type of tea [one an excellent example of the same type, one a good/perfectly acceptable (to me) example of the same type and a sample of the tea I was to review] and shuffled them up while tasting. I don’t have a retail tea business so I don’t do any formal type of cuppings to choose teas to sell; this is just a method I thought might work for me.

Now we all know there is some pretty spectacular tea out there, just as there is, unfortunately, some bad tea. But that leaves so much in between to choose from. I believe tasting tea is a very personal experience. Once we’ve looked for and found good characteristics of a particular tea, it all comes down to flavour and what we prefer and love. Two people may not have the same take on a particular tea and that’s okay! Isn’t that what makes loving, drinking, sharing and discussing tea so unique and wonderful?!

Today I’m reviewing Canton Tea Co.’s Silver Needle Yin Zhen White Tea (as per label on sample) , commonly known as Bai Hao Yin Zhen in Mandarin, which literally translates to White Hair Silver Needle. I actually tasted this tea twice (randomly shuffled with the other two as noted above) on two separate days. Because this tea consists of tight buds, I used a higher temperature compared to what I would use for a Bai Mu Dan, which has more open leaves that infuse quicker. I used a temperature between 77°C and 79°C (or 170°F and 175°F). I usually steep for 1 to 1½ minutes (you will probably notice as time goes by that I am more of a “shorter” steeper than a “longer” steeper).

Here are some of my tasting notes on Canton Tea Co.’s Silver Needle Yin Zhen White Tea. Both times that I tasted yielded similar thoughts.

Because I would have liked to have seen slightly more complexity in the taste of this Silver Needle and a little more depth & longer-lasting flavour, to me this is not an extraordinary tea. I know Bai Hao Yin Zhen is capable of having more taste & intensity. However, I would recommend this tea as acceptable because of its fine-looking downy buds, subtle sweetness and its good price point, meaning you don’t have to expend too much money to add this easily drinkable Silver Needle to your tea stash.

You can purchase the Silver Needle White Tea | Fuding Bai Hao Yin Zhen directly from the Canton Tea Co. website.

For this review I decided to brew this tea using a two-cup glass teapot. Canton Tea Co’s website suggests using 1 tsp of pearls per cup, which is difficult to estimate using pearls, so I believe I added about 35-40 of the small pearls to the teapot. Continuing to follow the directions, I steeped the pearls about three minutes, stopping to taste the tea after two minutes (the website had recommended 2-3 minutes).At two minutes, the taste really wasn’t very far developed, but I could already tell that this was one very sweet tea.

With the dry pearls, one could very much smell the jasmine, yet the scent was not overpowering, nor was it almost sickly-sweet, as some teas are that contain jasmine. The aroma of the brewed tea was even less bold and had an even softer nose, with only faint hints of jasmine.

Upon taking the first big sip, the tea flow smooth and thick across the tongue, and the fruity sweet taste of jasmine infiltrated my entire mouth. If a flower could be described as being delicious, this would be the epitome of such a description. The amount of jasmine is enough to lend great character to the tea, while not completely dominating it.

The website recommends steeping this for at least three separate infusions. I most certainly shall.

On my personal enjoyment scale, I rate this tea an 85/100.

You can purchase the Jasmine Pearls directly from the Canton Tea Co. website. Save 15% right now when you use the code LEAF at checkout!

Before brewing, straight from the bag, the leaves are long and unbroken, tangled together in a nest. The freshness of the leaves is apparent in their strength and scent.

This white tea is simple with no additional ingredients but at the same time flavorful within itself. While only containing one ingredient, this tea is far from plain or flavorless. It has the buttery sweet flavor typical of white teas but also a slight perfume.

This tea is perfect for anyone new to white tea or wishing to enjoy a simple clean flavor.

You can purchase the Silver Needle – Bai Hao Yin Zhen directly from the Canton Tea Co. website. Save 15% right now when you use the code LEAF at checkout!