Now that I’ve given all the flavored whites in the Adagio white sampler an initial taste I thought I’d move on to the non-flavored ones.
I’m using the time and temp on the Adagio label for the first try. White tea steeping times and temperatures still seem a bit of a mystery to me as the recommendations vary widely. I’ve read lower temperatures and longer steeps, lower temperatures and shorter steeps, higher temperatures and shorter steeps. It seems to be highly subjective. Next time I might try the Breville’s white tea settings and see what happens.
The dry leaves look and smell like the leaves used as the base for the Adagio flavored whites, so I’m expecting a similar flavor, minus the added fruit flavors.
The aroma after steeping is sugary, with a hint of plantiness and the color is almost the same as water, a very faint green-yellow.
And yes, the flavor is what I tasted under the very faint pear and very faint tangerine, and I like it much better on its own, mostly because I can just sit back and enjoy it without playing find the flavor. On the other hand, it isn’t knocking my socks off. Part of this may be that I’m still working my way up the white tea learning curve, but I know I’ve had whites that had more to them in subtlety and substance than this.
Now for something completely different. I noticed that I have now rated 399 teas. Woo hoo-the odometer is about to turn over! What to pick for no. 400. Hmmm…