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Guess who has perfectly dyed vibrantly teal hair? Yeah, ok, no guess really, it is me, for the first time in a long while my hair turned out perfect, it practically glows with the level of brightness. I have Minecraft diamond hair now, which is awesome. What isn’t awesome is I went nocturnal and I am spending today staying up very late in hopes that I can flip my schedule back to diurnal, the constant struggle, of course this means I might be a bit more rambling than usual.

It is Wednesday, meaning it is time for another tea from What-Cha, today’s lucky leaf is Kenya Premium White Tea. Alright everyone, stop, collaborate, and listen…this tea might be the most unusual tea I have ever had (that is actually Camellia sinensis and not some strange herbal concoction) seriously, go out and buy yourself some, heck buy me some, because I went through my sample of this unique tea in record time. Looking at the dry leaves, it doesn’t look like a white, it looks like a fuzzy golden tea from Yunnan…sniffing the leaves it has the sweet corn notes of a Kenyan Silver Needle, the heady floral notes of an oolong, and the malty, sweet potato, and caramel notes of a golden Yunnan tea. I am confused and totally in love, Ben thought I lost my marbles because of the maniacal giggling coming from me while sniffing the leaves.

After a moment of contemplation on the best way to brew these mysterious chimera like leaves and inevitably settling on my gaiwan, I gave the leaves a good steeping. The aroma of the now quite soggy leaves is delicious, a blend of sweet corn, malt, sweet potatoes, and flowers (specifically peony and orchids) waft out towards my nose. The liquid is much yum, very sweet with notes of peony flowers and sweet corn mixing with malt and cocoa. It is like someone did a cocktail of half Yunnan Gold and half Kenyan Silver Needle…two of my favorite teas, oh dear this might undo me.

If you do heed my advice and buy this tea to try yourself, make sure you are sitting down because this tea will sweep you off your feet. It tastes just like the liquid smells, it starts with sweet corn and peony with delicate mouth tickling trichomes and then transitions to malt, caramel, and cocoa notes. It is quite unlike any tea I have ever experienced before.

Second steep time! The aroma is so wonderful, the sweet corn, peony, and malt notes work really well together, no note overpowers. This steep has more in common with the Yunnan Gold aspects of its personality than the Kenyan White, with notes of malt, caramel, cocoa, and sweet potatoes. At the end there is a strong note of peony and a hint of sweet corn with a lingering aftertaste of molasses.

For the third steep the aroma is very sweet, lots of sweet corn and caramel with a touch of malt. This time the tables turned, the taste is more focused on the Kenyan Silver Needle with more delicate notes of sweet corn and a burst of peony. This fades to a blend of caramel and molasses with lingering sweetness.

Alas I did not take official notes or snap a picture because I was in a hurry and grabbed the first tea off my desk (this lucky one) to toss in my travel infuser for sipping while out and about. Using slightly cooler water (180) and an obviously longer steep (several hours) I noticed that it started out with sweet corn and peony, very delicate and sweet. This grew into malt and molasses notes until the finish of my sipping which was quite robust and very sweet. Teas like this really make me happy, not only do they taste fantastic, they are outside the ‘norm’ for that type of tea, it reminds me to never go into a tea expecting something, to treat each tea like an adventure…sometimes you get a few new and unusual flavor or aroma notes and sometimes you get something completely unusual and unique.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/09/what-cha-kenya-premium-white-tea-tea.html

Flavors: Cocoa, Floral, Kettle Corn, Malt, Molasses

hippiechick 42

Love your hair! Thanks for the great review.

TeaNecromancer

Thank you, and my pleasure :D

TeaBrat

Nice, love the hair :)

A2ShedsJackson / MrsPremise

I’m usually a skeptic of white teas, but you make this one sound unbelievable. Also, your hair is awesome. Your new minecraft skin should be an Enderman with a little teal hairdo on top.

What-Cha

Kenya (and Nepal) is really pushing the boundaries in tea experimentation and as a result they are producing teas which are unlike all other teas of the same type. For example the Kenyan Premium White, Purple Varietal Green and Purple Oolong are unlike any other white, green or oolong tea. So even if you are not a fan of these types of tea, you might find yourself becoming a fan of the Kenyan version.

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Comments

hippiechick 42

Love your hair! Thanks for the great review.

TeaNecromancer

Thank you, and my pleasure :D

TeaBrat

Nice, love the hair :)

A2ShedsJackson / MrsPremise

I’m usually a skeptic of white teas, but you make this one sound unbelievable. Also, your hair is awesome. Your new minecraft skin should be an Enderman with a little teal hairdo on top.

What-Cha

Kenya (and Nepal) is really pushing the boundaries in tea experimentation and as a result they are producing teas which are unlike all other teas of the same type. For example the Kenyan Premium White, Purple Varietal Green and Purple Oolong are unlike any other white, green or oolong tea. So even if you are not a fan of these types of tea, you might find yourself becoming a fan of the Kenyan version.

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Bio

I am a nerdy, obsessive, crafty, tea blogging, gaming nut. Yeah, that about sums me up! Ok, you want something more informative….

I am a Geek, hardcore fan-girl Geek. It shapes my life. I spend a large chunk of my life painting miniatures and contemplating my various army layouts. I hoard dice, get obsessed with games, and will talk about whatever fandom, game, etc that I am obsessed over until I am blue in the face. I am not just a gamer girl type Geek, I also fit in the collecting knowledge and spending way too much time reading and researching category of Geek.

But there is more to me than just being a giant nerd. I love tea, always have and have just gotten more and more obsessed as I get older. I love trying new teas and then writing lengthy descriptions about them on my blog, I love reading and researching the history and culture of tea, I love collecting tea pots and fancy tea tools.

When the weather allows it, I love to go mushroom hunting. I don’t eat them, instead I use them for photography and spore prints. I love nature and worked as a Naturalist in the Northwoods one summer, it might have been the best job ever.

I have Fibromyalgia, it sucks, but I feel people who are going to interact with me should know since I tend to vanish because of it so fair warning! I do tend to not vanish very long though. Also I have some ‘social disorders’ which basically translates to I am really awkward and bad at socializing, so forgive any lack of social graces.

I also have cats, love the ocean and all aquatic life, have teal hair, love cheese, and collect hats.

My favorite tea is definitely Oolong, but I also love Japanese greens and…ok I just love tea actually :P I am not a huge fan of lemony black teas or tart fruit teas. I also loathe hibiscus (usually)

This is my actual tea wishlist, you know that I actually update and keep track of…I tend to forget Steepster’s https://www.facebook.com/notes/amanda-wilson/tea-wishlishtshopping-list-perpetually-in-progress/10152336515414411 I use my steepster WL to keep track of teas I have had and really want more of :P

Location

Kansas City, MO

Website

http://ramblingbutterflythoug...

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