96

Dry – Sweet, Vegetal, Nutty, Honey, Flowery.
Wet – Nutty, Honey, Vegetal, Peas, Butter.
Liquor – Pale Green/Yellow

Gong Fu – 5oz Gaiwan 4-5g (a very light tea)

1st 2secs – Sweet, smooth, creamy with nuttiness slightly resembling snow peas up front. As it washes down it turns savory and vegetal. The aftertaste is sweet, smooth and creamy that lingers.

2nd 2secs – Creamy, smooth and sweet with nuttiness that resembles snow peas and honey notes. As it washes down it is creamy and sweet vegetal that lingers through the aftertaste.

3rd 4secs – Creamy, sweet, vegetal, buttery nutty sweet corn and snow peas upfront. As it washes down it has a vegetal and slightly floral taste that slowly becomes sweeter. The aftertaste is sweet and nutty that lingers with creaminess.

4th 9secs – Creamy, vegetal, buttery, nutty sweetness and slightly floral up front. As it washes down it has a strong savory vegetal and nutty body. The aftertaste turns sweet again and it becomes sweeter, nutty and buttery.

5th 16secs – Vegetal, sweet, nutty, floral and lightly creamy. As it washes down it is somewhat floral that turns very savory, vegetal, nutty that is almost broth like, that slowly turn sweeter again. The aftertaste is sweet and nutty.

6th 30secs – Buttery, vegetal, nutty, sweet but not as creamy up front. As it washes down it is vegetal, savory and nutty that slowly turns sweeter. The aftertaste is sweet, nutty, and slightly vegetal.

Final Notes
Amazing tea, it has a very complex scent even when dry. It really amazes me how even though I can usually tell a green tea from a white tea by scent (some traits give it up), I never really paid enough attention to note exactly WHAT it is lets me know or gives it out. I still don’t have a word to describe it. But as I’m smelling and drinking this tea I ‘spot’ that something and lose it over and over.

Overall, the tea seems like a green tea that was progressing towards a white tea. It has the complexity of a Bi Luo Chun in some floral hints that come and go. It reminds me of a Long Jin, in its vegetal nuttiness and some other green teas with Buttery/creamy body, yet it still holds on to some of its sweet and nutty notes from a Silver Needles tea, that freshness almost juicy. This is the kind of tea that different people will qualify differently as they drink it as it crossess the boundaries of white vs green. Very enjoyable.

MINI NOTE I did longer steeps of 30s, 1:00m, 1:30m, 2:00m, etc. The shorter steeps seems like its closer to a white tea, not because its ‘weak’ but rather, the sweetness is more apparent. During longer steeps it is more brothy, the buttery character is more apparent and then in later steeps the sweetness is more apparent.
Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C
Cody

Great review! This one sounds particularly nice.

JC

Thanks Cody! It is! It actually caught me by surprise. I have around 2-3 green teas that are the ones I really enjoy, others I usually like but not enough to restock. This one however, feels really easy to fall in love with, its my first time with a ‘creamy’ white tea. I’ve had others that have a slight hint of it, but this one was more apparent. I’m pretty sure once I decide to take a small break of my Puerh ‘adventure’ I’ll stock this one.

Cody

I really need to put an order in with The Phoenix Collection. Your reviews make their teas sound very enticing and I’ve been on the hunt for pu’ers to add to my next tea acquisition.

JC

Go for it. I recommend you trying them. I also do swaps from time to time. I need to restock some teas. I’ve been exploring so much that I’ve neglected re-stocking some of my faves.

TheTeaFairy

JC, I’m assuming this is he tea you were referring to yesterday… I now understand what you meant by being confused and amazed :-) Your description makes it quite appealing!

JC

You are right. Thanks, I had to try it several times to get it ‘right’. I have to laugh at myself when you are so busy enjoying the tea that I forget to write down what I tasted. I gave the rest of the sample to my friend at work today (green tea addict, mostly dragon well and Bi Luo Chun), I want his opinion on it.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Comments

Cody

Great review! This one sounds particularly nice.

JC

Thanks Cody! It is! It actually caught me by surprise. I have around 2-3 green teas that are the ones I really enjoy, others I usually like but not enough to restock. This one however, feels really easy to fall in love with, its my first time with a ‘creamy’ white tea. I’ve had others that have a slight hint of it, but this one was more apparent. I’m pretty sure once I decide to take a small break of my Puerh ‘adventure’ I’ll stock this one.

Cody

I really need to put an order in with The Phoenix Collection. Your reviews make their teas sound very enticing and I’ve been on the hunt for pu’ers to add to my next tea acquisition.

JC

Go for it. I recommend you trying them. I also do swaps from time to time. I need to restock some teas. I’ve been exploring so much that I’ve neglected re-stocking some of my faves.

TheTeaFairy

JC, I’m assuming this is he tea you were referring to yesterday… I now understand what you meant by being confused and amazed :-) Your description makes it quite appealing!

JC

You are right. Thanks, I had to try it several times to get it ‘right’. I have to laugh at myself when you are so busy enjoying the tea that I forget to write down what I tasted. I gave the rest of the sample to my friend at work today (green tea addict, mostly dragon well and Bi Luo Chun), I want his opinion on it.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Profile

Bio

I’ve been drinking tea for about 8-10 years now, but Puerh for about 7-8 years. I love learning and I love the people who ae passionate about it. This is a constant learning field and I love that too. I’m mostly in to Puerh, Black tea and Oolongs but I do enjoy other types from time to time.

I’m adding the scale because I noted that we all use the same system but it doesn’t mean the same to all.(I rate the tea not by how much I ‘like it’ only; there are flavors/scents I don’t like but they are quality and are how they are supposed to be and I rate them as such).

90 – 100: AMAZING. This the tea I feel you should drop whatever you are doing and just enjoy.

80-89: Great tea that I would recommend because they are above ‘average’ tea, they usually posses that ‘something’ extra that separates them from the rest.

70-79: An OK tea, still good quality, taste and smell. For me usually the tea that I have at work for everyday use but I can still appreciate and get me going through my day.

60-69: Average nothing special and quality is not high. The tea you make and don’t worry about the EXACT time of steep because you just want tea.

30-59: The tea you should probably avoid, the tea that you can mostly use for iced tea and ‘hide’ what you don’t like.

1-29: Caveat emptor! I feel sorry for my enemies when they drink this tea. :P

Location

DC

Website

http://thetinmycup.blogspot.com/

Following These People

Moderator Tools

Mark as Spammer