Chinese mutant white tea buds, with almond, coconut and vanilla to tas- Wait, what?
Oh Mutan! Riiiiiight. Anybody could’ve made that mistake!
The dear QuiltGuppy included this one in the package she sent me a little while ago. I was dead-lucky with that one because it contained among other things a number of things I had been curious about and one thing that I’d had before and liked. And she didn’t know anything about that when putting it together, so I’m thinking she must have access to some powerful psychic powers.
This has been widely appreciated across Steepster and I’m glad I got to try it as well, even though it’s been a long time since the actual wedding took place. I’ve got some pretty high expectations of it. Of course I should have actually looked it up before putting the kettle on, but at that time I hadn’t chosen a tea yet. And then I discovered it was a white, so I had to wait for my already boiling water to cool so that I could heat it again. It sounds pretty stupid put into words and it felt pretty stupid too. (And as for why I didn’t just get new tap-water, it’s because I filled the kettle all the way so that I can just press the button the next time I want tea water. It’s easier, and while I’m aware that I’m technically supposed to use fresh tap water every time, frankly I can’t taste a difference, so why bother?)
Now, let’s get down to business here. This cup is important as it’s also the first one I’ve had all day, and I’m finding the fact that it smells like a Bounty bar extremely up-lifting. It’s not my favourite type of chocolate bar at all and I’m not generally one to have a lot of luck with coconut in tea, but anything that smells like sweets surely must get a goodly amount of points.
And you know what? This is actually one of the few where coconut in tea works for me. It’s there and it’s very obviously coconut, but it’s not assertive. It’s just sort of standing there, a bit to one side of the room, making a presence of itself but not causing any sort of fuss. Just quietly minding its own business and chatting with the almond, which is behaving in the same way.
The vanilla is a bit more lively, but not as obvious. As opposed to the coconut, the vanilla is trying to get the attention of the room, but failing spectacularly which in turn causes it to behave in an adorably desperate and cheerful way. Refusing to accept that nobody has discovered what it’s trying to do.
Let’s stick to this metaphorical room of party-goers and turn our attention to the white tea itself. It’s quite grassy in flavour and nicely framing the rest of the flavour profile. The tea obviously represents the room itself. The surroundings. The barkeep, polishing pint glasses and asking younger notes for ID. The decorations. All those guests that are there, but you don’t know who they are.
All in all, as befits the name, this tea is a party in a cup, and therefore it’s probably not quite as bizarre that it’s reminding me strongly of carrot cake. With coconutty icing on it. Gosh, I wish I had some carrot cake to go with this.
Not bad for a mutant tea. ;)
