teabird

Organic Silver Needle from LeafSpa Organic Tea

teabird drank Organic Silver Needle by LeafSpa Organic Tea

Alright – I got this one back when it was a Steepster Select, but I’d been waiting to log it until I got a steep I liked. Someone recently said that the dry leaf smelled like fresh cut hay, and that’s about right. The taste is mildly sweet, and reminiscent of sunshine, meadows, warm summer days. Not overtly floral, but not really grassy either. I’m having trouble pinning the taste down, clearly, but the sweet/dry/sunshine smell of hay is pretty close. The mouthfeel is nice and full, the aftertaste lingering and faintly sweet. I had meant to make this iced, but it’s pretty nice at just above body temp – warm, but not hot.

3 grams of tea, 3 oz water, 185ºF, 1st steep just over 1 minute; cut 1:1 with cool water to make 6oz tea

2010-05-17 18:23:17 -0400

185 °F / 85 °C

1 min 15 sec

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Some notes on ratings:

I’d have separate rating scales for tea types if that were possible (probably Black, Flavored Black, Darjeeling/Dark Oolong, White/Green/Light Oolong, and Herbal) because the flavors and quality markers are just too different. A flavored black rated 100 isn’t better than every oolong I’ve ever drunk, just delicious for a flavored black.

Ratings are a combination of my enjoyment and the perceived quality – I do often demote teas a few points for artificial flavorings, small quantity of steeps supported, or weakness of flavor (requiring extra leaf).

I pay less attention to the number than the order of my ratings; I don’t necessarily keep a stock of everything rated 80+, but if two breakfast blends are rated 82 and 84 I consistently enjoy the 84 more.

And in case it’s not obvious? I am not an expert. I don’t even know what I like until I taste it sometimes, but I’m ok with that :) I like learning to like new teas, as well as enjoying the comfort of familiar ones.