I was intrigued by takgoti’s description of this tea being like ‘sugared flowers’ and she was kind enough to send me some so I could see for myself. I have to say, I agree with her. This tea smells like a little pale pink flower on a white wedding cake, made from sugar, with a faint, subtle sparkle. I can see very clearly in my head. Which is kind of weird. The tea smells like this too, almost exactly, but with a note of something underneath. Part of my mind says Play Doh – the homemade kind – but the sane part of me says no way. Actually, it smells nothing like that but for some reason, I keep making the connection. It’s weird.
The taste is both similar and different from the smell. That pale pink sparkly flower is still floating around, but now it’s got a little company – alcoholic cherry blossoms perhaps? Not drunk – they haven’t been drinking or anything – more like if small, pale pink, slightly sparkly flowers were to be made into a dessert wine and then a little of that splashed into the tea. I’m thinking it is the tea base in here giving it a slightly darker, richer (but still sweet in its own way) flavor but I don’t know enough about white tea to guess as to what the base would be or what additional flavors it is bringing to the table.
I find the two tastes – the sweet and the dark – to be quite a contrast. It’s like this tea isn’t sure if it wants to be a geisha or a member of the Cult of Cute. So it’s a maiko with a really cute Sanrio dangle on her phone. But I kind of like it for that because I’ve met a maiko with a really Sanrio dangle (okay, it wasn’t actually a Sanrio dangle but it was a Print Club with a Sanrio frame so close enough) so this tea is making me think of the evening I spent in Gion. Which is weird because I was in Gion in fall, not spring so no cherry blossoms. But anyway…
Yeah, this tea is really different but I’m kind of groovin’ on it. Sweet and cute but with a darker exotic flair. The second steep (also @ 3:00) tends to lean more towards the cute pink side and I’m really liking that (yes, everyone is shocked, I know). There’s still the darker syrup-iness underlying the sweet taste but it doesn’t seem to be thumb wresting the cute anymore. The second steep is my favorite so far but the taste is strong enough that I’m going to keep going.
