Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Yin Zhen’

Product Description:
Golden Moon Tea delicately blends hand-plucked white loose leaf tea leaves and exquisite Yin Zhen buds with freshly dried ginger root to produce a sweet and enlivening cup. Ginger, treasured by traditional herbalists for its strengthening and digestive properties, lends a spicy and aromatic note to the clear infusion. White Ginger, delicate yet vibrant, serene yet sensuous, warming yet refreshing. Ingredients: White tea, ginger root

Tasters Review:
When I first sampled this I noticed many other reviews online from others that didn’t particularly like this. I, however, didn’t think it was all that bad. I don’t think I would purchase it for myself in large quantities but I gave it a little more credit than others seemed to have given it. This wasn’t very gingery – which is fine by me – I do know that White Ginger is supposed to be mellower than regular ginger – but I think this is regular ginger and it’s in white tea…so…perhaps the white tea toned down the heavier ginger flavor. Regardless – the ginger isn’t harsh. It’s a bit chewy for a white tea but the flavor overall isn’t very memorable. The taste of this flavored white is not bad…it’s just not what I would call stunning either! Perhaps people were looking for that stereotypical ginger taste – I guess I can understand their confusion because this flavor isn’t your typical ginger taste. I, however, am grateful it wasn’t overly gingery…that factor I will say I enjoyed about this offering.

You can purchase the White Ginger directly from the Golden Moon Tea website.

This tea? This tea moved me to buy a tea scale.

I’ve known for a while that if you really want to get serious about making sure you’re able to get good, repeatable results from your tea that you need to watch all your parameters. But I hadn’t bothered to get a scale, until I met this tea.

I got the package, and thought, meh- I can just wing it. So I did. And the tea was awesome. And then my brain finally kicked it and thought – hey, if you can get awesome tea by winging it – what would happen if you actually did it 100% right?? I ordered a scale 5 minutes later.

The dry leaf is very silvery, the large needles are covered with that silvery down that gives this style of tea it’s name. In aroma, it’s got a lot of hay overtones – like summer fields. The liquor is a very light yellow once brewed, with only traces of summer fields. But – the flavor on this tea is where it really shines. It’s got a rich, silky feel in your mouth, and a flavor of newly mown hay and just a hint of honeysuckle for a delicate sweet note on the finish. This is light and clear – not a tea to be drunk with a heavy meal, but a tea to be savored on it’s own or maybe with light fruit. It has almost no astringency, but the very little it does have just invites you to sip more.

Delicate yet rich; smooth and clear. This is an amazing example of a silver needle.

You can purchase TeaGschwendner China Yin Zhen Silver Needle directly from their 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.

White teas are generally early spring pick, young growth leaf, that are picked early in the day.  They are delicately handled, to ensure the leaf is not damaged, and sun dried for short periods, and are minimally oxidized. White teas have very delicate aromas and taste, and need some patience to prepare and appreciate.

This white tea has a classic big leaf with round tight shape.  The leaf is covered with silvery fluffy down, and has a mild sweet aroma.This fluffy down is indicative of proper processing and high quality.  (And proper storage and handling by the vendor.)

The down begs a choice: some classic tea masters advise a very quick rinse with at temperature water prior to brewing, others advise against it. I am going to forgo the rinse – it is purely about cosmetics in this case, to wash away any loose down, so it does not float in the cup.

There are also two schools of thought as to the brewing temperature. Classically, whites are brewed with “warm” water in the 155F-170F range.  Some modern masters advise “very warm’ water in the 170F-180F range, but very short steeps.  My view is that this is a high quality tea, and I will stick with the classic thought which is consistent with the vendors suggestion of 75C/about 165F.

Brewed 1 TBLS of tea (about 5g) in 6oz water @ 168F for 2 minutes in my for green Xing pot. Pale golden in the cup, like a Chablis wine – with a very very small amount of the down floating on the surface.  There is a very delicate aroma of chestnut, with a hint of sweetness.  Dry, refreshing taste, just a small amount of astringency, with a hint of mellon in the aftertaste.

Plump wet leaves unfurl to the classic two leaf shape expected.  These are good looking leaves.

2nd Steep @ 168F for 2:30.  Creamy, smooth on the tongue, more astringency.  This is a most satisfying cup. The flavors are not prominent, more expressions of sweetness, dryness. 

3rd Steep @ 170F for 3:00.  Aroma almost gone, and the flavors an afterimage, but still nicely refreshing.

This is an excellent, high quality, satisfying, white tea.  It is worth the attention to detail it demands.

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!

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!