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I thought this was a green tea. In all seriousness, I really did. It brews to a greenish y ellow color, and there is a great deal of particulate in with the fuzz (with some leniency for the fact that this was shipped to me, and may have been crushed a bit along the way).

It’s white tea? Really? I guess I can see that now that I know. Probably bai mu dan, which never makes me think ‘delicate’ as far as the white teas I’ve had go. It’s usually vegetal, slightly sweet, and a bit musty for reasons I have yet to isolate.

Anyway, so yes! Smells a bit like suntan lotion, with something faintly sour, also. Like maybe the bar of an all-inclusive hotel in Cozumel, where everybody’s been ordering pina coladas all day long in the hot sun, and there’s still puddles of it in the moat mats…or you can smell it through somebody’s pores, somebody who’s wearing Hawaiian Tropic lotion…or something. Something like that.

That doesn’t sound particularly alluring, does it? But it probably has shades of pleasantness, with the faintest a definite undercurrent of not-so-great to spoil its tropical-ness? If that’s how it sounds, then I’d say I’m hitting the mark, because that’s essentially what it’s like. On my first sip I made the ‘ew’ face, but then I took another one. And another one.

It’s drinkable primarily because the coconut taste — which really and truly is more like the tanning oil than any coconut I’ve ever opened and eaten — saves it. I always did like the smell of that stuff. I’m pretty sure I’ve never met anybody who didn’t like that smell, actually.

The rest of the tea is immediately forgettable. There might be pineapple in there somewhere, but I can’t imagine being bothered enough to try and enhance it somehow. I don’t know where the slight sourness is coming from, but I think it’s a dealbreaker for me.

Not a horrid cup, but not my cup — I’ve been too spoiled by the Coconut Pouchong to settle for less. Still glad for the chance to try it, though! Thanks Auggy!