Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Silver Needle’

Interesting name for this tea. I don’t know the reasons behind such a name, but I’ll take a stab at it. First of all, it is a white silver needle tea flavoured with Jasmine, so possibly this is where the “white” came from.

When we hear of tiger, we think of something that is fierce, strong, powerful; East Pacific’s White Tiger is none of these things, at least not at first; indeed the word “white” in front may bring ideas of calmness, clean, mellow, and softness. The jasmine flavour is natural tasting, not artificial. It is very fresh, things I would find synonymous with the word “white.”

Or perhaps the moniker “White Tiger” has more to do with the physical description of the tea – “white” or clear infusion, white pekoe on dark green buds creating a white tiger stripe-like image. It is a fitting name. Like a tiger waiting to pounce, the jasmine flavour does not come out straight away, but once it comes out, the taste lingers, and seems to get increasingly more intense. The jasmine flavour is not as “fierce” or “strong” as a lot of the jasmine teas available today that are just in-your-face overpowering but rather is a “white” :”fierce,” a tempered fierceness if that makes any sense. I like and prefer this to the former jasmines.

I steeped it according to the instructions on the website at a temperature of 175F for 1-2 minutes. I think they have these directions spot on as you get to taste the tea right at the moment where there is a pause if you will and then the jasmine flavour emerges out of the leaf and lingers sweetly in your mouth thereafter as it intensifies. For those of you looking for something different in the way of Jasmines, I would definitely recommend this. If steeped correctly it will taste unlike any other Jasmine you’ve ever tasted.

You can purchase the White Tiger directly from the East Pacific Tea Co website.

It doesn’t happen very often these days, but I would say about once every couple o’ months, something catches my eye in an “ooo shiny!” fashion. Okay, okay, I do that a lot…but not AS often with tea. I have a list saved as a Gmail draft that I call my “Tea WANT!” list. On it are several orthodox (and some plain out-there) teas that I hope to try someday. At present, I’ve notched off half of it. Some of the more difficult things were more easily obtained than I thought.

What’s this got to do with Shang Tea? Well, I ran across their operation via a tea social network called Steepster. (Think Facebook for cuppers.) Someone was waxing poetic about this black tea blend they recently tried. What caught my “shiny!” gland was the mention of tangerine blossoms. In case it isn’t readily apparent, I’m a tangerine fiend – been addicted to ‘em ever since I was a wee tot. I never knew those damn fruit trees had blossoms to them. Had I known, I would’ve built a fort out of ‘em.

Shang Tea is an operation out of Kansas City, MO. Other than being another brick-n-mortar tea shop in a mall, they have another thing to their credit. They own their own high-altitude tea garden in Fujian province, China. Their specialty happens to be Silver Needle white tea, but they also play around with the same cultivar to make red (or black) tea. This fermented option was blended with tangerine blossoms.

I bought a sampler pack that included this, along with several other white teas and blends. Needless to say, I first tore open the Tangerine Blossom black. Almost like an addict, even. It smelled beyond superb. Along with the slightly smoky/earthy black tea base was a scent similar to jasmine flowers and citrus rind – sweet yet floral. The tea leaves themselves were thin and twisty; the blossoms looked like – well – blossoms. Very…uh…blossomy.

The brewing instructions they recommended were a tad confusing, especially the measurements for the tea leaves. I skipped theirs and went with my own prep – 1 heaping teaspoon of leaves in 8oz of 205F water for three minutes. A bit light, sure, but it seemed the wisest approach.

The liquor brewed to a color that I would call “oolong amber”. The liquid aroma echoed the semi-fermented tea comparison with a fruity/lightly-astringent nose. As for taste, this completely floored me. It began with a regular Dian Hong-ish forefront that was immediately followed up with a strong citrus lean in the middle. That tapered off into a honey-floral aftertaste that simply lingered. I could find no fault with this blend. At all. It was perfect. I’m only upset that I’m all out of it now.

You can purchase the Tangerine Blossom Red Tea directly from the Shang Tea website.

Canton Tea recently asked if we could review their Special Puerh, produced for them a small artisan farm in Yunnan Province. They state that it is made from big leaf maocha is from the Big Tree, Arbor varietal, and consists of Grade 6 leaves and above, with some small buds.

I approached this in their suggested manner, using 4g of leaf, 95C water, doing multiple steeps, starting at 20 seconds per steep. The dry leaf appears to be tightly compressed, consisting of mostly dark leaves, with a smattering of light silver-needle like buds here and there. There seems to be a higher than usual proportion of leaf to stem ratio, favouring the leaf side.

The scent of the dry leaf is earthy, but raw. A definite scent of dried hay, or drying grass on the lawn. I can also detect a slight fruity sweetness, like ripening peaches.

1st steep – just a quick rinse.

2nd steep – 20 seconds. The scent of the leaf on the lid of the pot is wet hay, and the color of the liquor is a rich golden yellow – on the lighter side, not dark at all. The scent is raw, and already triggering a drooling response The taste is very light, and a bit flat. In the mouth it is cooling and fresh, sliding off the tongue, not coating it. The most interesting characteristic is the cooling sensation – telling me that it is a high-mountain Puerh.

3rd steep – 20 seconds. The scent is much sharper, with deeper tones. I think this is giving us a hint of what we will see in 3-4 years as it ages, with a sweetness coming out to play. The astringency is starting to show up – but still playing a background role.

4th steep – 20 seconds. The liquor is still the color of golden nectar, but starting to turn slightly cloudy. It seems to have a bit less flavour than the 3rd steep, but otherwise still the same characteristics.

5th steep – 1 minute. I decided to up the steeping time, as it seemed to be getting close to washed out. At 1 minute for the steep, the color is a bit lighter, but the astringency is starting to come out. I can feel it on the sides of the tongue, and a slight tingling in the middle of my tongue. The flavours are still sweet, slightly fruity, and cooling in the mouth. A very clean taste.

6th steep – 1 minute. Now this is what I was waiting for. All of a sudden, the flavour has become very complex, and strong, with a biting feeling in the back of the throat. My tongue is definitely tingling now, and the sweetness has reached an almost candy flavour. It is not as cooling, but there is more depth and character to it now. This is how I envision it in 7 to 8 years from now. This is the steep that I would like to freeze it on – really loving it right here!

7th steep – 1 minute. Back to about where the 5th was. Lighter flavour, sweetness, but definitely starting to feel a bit washed out.

You could probably continue on and easily get another 4-5 steeps out of this before you entirely lose the flavours. As a first year raw puerh – I would say that this is probably going to age very well, the flavours are beautiful and cool, like a high-mountain spring running through a peach orchard. As it ages and gains complexity, it will only get better, I am sure!

As always, Canton Tea never fails to impress. Whether you want to enjoy it young, or let it age and enjoy it later, this beeng cha will not disappoint!

You can purchase the 2011 Canton Tea Co Special Puerh directly from the Canton Tea Co. website.

Here at Its All About The Leaf, we were recently contacted by Adagio – asking if we were interested in reviewing their new line of gourmet tea bags. Now, I have been following Charles Cain of Adagio on twitter, and on the tearetailer.com website, and on several occasions the issue of loose leaf tea vs. teabag has arisen. Often it is brought up by new “tea retailers” in a bit of a snobby attempt to differentiate themselves from other store-bought teabag companies. Claims of the non-teabag faction include:

- teabags contain only fannings – the tea “leftovers”
- the teabag interferes with the taste of the tea
- teabags are for old ladies and young children not hip middle agers
- only loose leaf tea will give you the full taste and experience of tea.

I have to admit, that at one time, I thought all of these things exactly. However, since starting this website, I have had a chance to review tea in all different forms and fashions, from teabag to loose, to dried, even baked in chocolate. And I have come to the conclusion – it is not the container the tea is in, it is the quality of tea.

And with that, I come back around to Adagios’ offering. This collection includes Jasmine Pearls, Silver Needle, Dragonwell, Wuyi Oolong, Golden Yunnan and Oolong Goddess. Each tea is packaged individually in a sealed wrapper, and in each wrapper is a teabag *GASP* containing just enough for one cup of tea. The tea bag its self is a good quality, pyramid teabag, allowing plenty of room for the tea to expand as it infuses.

Now, lets compare these teabags to the most popular claims by the anti-bag groups:

1. Teabags contain only fannings -> not here folks. The Jasmine Pearls for example, contained ACTUAL Jasmine Pearls – kind of a waste in my opinion, since it is such a high quality tea that’s neat to watch unfurl, but it is clear, that these are no fannings. The same goes with the rest of the teas – we are talking full leaf tea, not broken down old leaf.

2. The teabag interferes with the taste of the tea -> what are you, a supertaster? The fact is, 75% of people do not even have the capacity to tell the difference between good and bad tea, never mind to detect if a teabag interferes with a teas taste! I will tell you, I consider myself relatively picky with tea, that comes with the territory of drinking it daily and in great variety, and in not one single tea I had from this collection, could I taste the “teabag”.

3. Teabags are for old ladies and young children -> I am neither. Nor is my family, or friends. All of them mix teabags and loose leaf. Lets be real, how many old ladies do you know that will pay $19.00 for 30 bags of tea – not many I warrant. And kids? Rarely will they even do the buying. Lets just drop this myth entirely, it smacks of 50′s England, and I have never seen anyone in North America drink tea with a pinky out!

4. Only loose leaf tea will give you the full taste and experience of tea -> nope. That is plain old tea bigotry. Anyone who says this without qualification is either willfully ignorant, or is trying to sell you something. The reality is the quality of the TEA is what gives you the taste and experience – not the delivery mechanism. I have had loose leaf that is garbage, and teabags that sing (i.e. the Adagio Silver Needle in this collection) – it is about the tea folks, not the wrapper.

So – now that we have dispelled the myths, lets again, focus on this collection.

Jasmine Pearls – the taste is exactly what I would expect out of a good quality Jasmine tea. I enjoyed it very much, but the Pearls part is a bit of a waste since you cannot really see them unfurl. From a marketing point of view, I get it, but the same quality Jasmine tea would have accomplished the same experience. None the less – I loved it, it reminded me of my youth at home in the kitchen with my Grandmother!

Silver Needles – By far, I am a Silver Needle guy. No matter where I am, if Silver Needles are on the menu, I am buying/drinking/taking it home. I have had some stinkers, but this one is NOT! I loved every drop, and even got 3 good steepings out of it. There would have been more, but the teabag mysteriously disappeared in a whirl of kitchen cleaning…

Dragonwell – I am not a huge Dragonwell fan, but enough so that I know good green when I taste it, and again, this is it. Adagio has not skimped on the tea part of these teabags!

Wuyi Oolong – Oolong can be a lifelong study. There are so many kinds, from a greener Oolong to a dark, rich Oolong, to buttery light Oolongs. Wuyi is one of the more recognizable (see a pattern in this collection?) and is a good mid-range Oolong, appealing to a wider audience than say, a Formosa Oolong. It tasted… just as it should. No teabag flavours, no bitterness, just smooth, Oolongy goodness.

Golden Yunnan – a Chinese black “standard” – it is again, a good mid-range selection that appeals to a wide variety of palates. You get the boldness of a black tea, without the over-astringent flavours of a poor quality Black. I would have liked to see this replaced with a good Darjeeling or Assam, but to keep with the theme, it does work

Finally – Oolong Goddess. To be honest, I have not had a chance to try this out of the sampler, but I can assure you, that it will be a good example of this kind of Oolong, it will be fully leafed, and it will not suffer in the least for being presented in a teabag!

The Gourmet Tea Collections from Adagio are not meant for established, hard core loose leaf tea drinkers, nor are they meant to replace Adagios’ high quality loose leaf tea offerings. As Charles Cain has pointed out in the past, too many people are “scared” of loose leaf tea, I think because it has been made out to be too exclusive a club. These tea bag collections are intended to assist people in the transition of poor quality teabags, to loose leaf, being the intermediate step along the way. I think that they accomplish that admirably. High quality tea in a teabag is NOT a new concept, but the presentation of these in a retail environment like Adagio is doing will only serve to convert more people to good quality tea, and for that, Adagio gets kudos for a great effort, and I am looking forward to more collections just like this!

If you have gotten this far, you have probably formed your own opinion – and I am dying to know what it is! Leave me a comment, and I will reply to each and every one of them, pro-teabag or not, this website is about the everyday tea drinker – which you are! So let me know your thoughts!

You can purchase the Gourmet Tea Collection – Artisan Comfort directly from the Adagio website.

The Grace Tea Company originally hails from New York and was founded by one Frank Cho – a man deemed an experienced tea taster. The focus of the company has always been on bringing rare teas from many different areas to the palates of the public. In 2009, all operations were moved to Acton, MA., under the care of Elliot and Hartley E. Johnson – better known as the owners of the Mark T. Wendell Tea Company. I was so slow in realizing the connection I even commented how the websites looked similar. This is why I love “About Us” sections.

Grace’s Organic China White Fujian Silver Needle hails from – you guessed it – Fujian province. Also known as Bai Hao Yinzhen (White Hair Silver Needle), this white tea is made using the buds of the Dai Bai or “Large Leaf” varietal. Said buds are hand-rolled into needle-like shapes after a light fermentation process. The best whites are picked in the early spring; the more fuzz on the leaves, the younger and better they are.

I don’t consider myself an “expert” tea taster by any stretch, but I am quite familiar with Silver Needle whites. They were the first loose leaf tea I ever tried, and to this day remain one of my favorites. I’ve had good ones, fair ones, and wretched ones. Quality can usually be discerned on first whiff. This Silver Needle smelled of melons, lotus blossoms, cream and spice – absolutely wonderful. Also appealing were the leaves themselves, tightly-rolled and basking in their furry display.

Brewing instructions on the sample bag called for 1 tsp of leaves per cup (likely 8oz). Grace Tea instructed that water should be brought to a boil and then allowed cool for a minute. The actual steep recommended was one-and-a-half to two minutes. I didn’t like the temp instructions. Instead, I went with my usual approach of water heated to 165F and a steep of two-and-a-half minutes – same leaf measurements, though.

The liquor brewed up almost clear, save for a slight yellow tinge. The aroma was wonderfully fruity, faintly citrus-like with a grape-y lean. Any melon echo it had was gone, but that was okay. Flavor-wise, it lived up to how a Silver Needle should be – floral, creamy, fruity, slightly nutty, and no vegetal profile. This was just as impressive as the Silver Needle put out by Mark T. Wendell. A fabulous late-afternoon cup o’ subtlety. It made me feel like a Chinese aristocrat…even though I was wearing gym shorts at the time.

You can purchase the Organic China White Fujian Silver Needle directly from the Grace Tea Company website.