White Rhino

2021 sipdown no. 89

It’s quite possible that either age or two cross-country moves to different climates has affected the taste of this once-delightful tea. I am sadly missing the creamy hay notes here. There’s nothing wrong with this cup, but the special-ness of it was difficult to find.

Forever looking for the perfect replacement for this.

This week is really chaotic. I’m taking a nice break now to enjoy this phenomenal tea. I love it so much! I’m not sure how well it will be received, maybe it’s just me that loves it but I really feel like both Kenya and India have just been producing some amazing white teas lately. I’m not really a white tea drinker. I usually only have white tea when friends are over and I can brew it in a nice glass vessel of some kind, often when we are playing poker. Our poker friends really love our White Whisper and it gives a nice little buzz when we are up all night playing cards. This tea is just different. While it’s still on the lighter side, it has really rich and sweet caramel notes. It also has some malt, sweet potato and the standard white hay notes. I prefer to brew this one with boiling water since it adds to the malt flavor. Overleafing can cover some of the rich caramel so I tend to measure this one out. This has now become my go to tea. I’m starting to reach for it a little more than the Premium Taiwanese Assam though I think they are fairly equally yummy but in different ways. This tea is a substitute for our Royal Golden Safari, even though that is a black tea. Unfortunately, our photo for this tea is too dark, it really is more golden in color but unfortunately our camera broke and we are waiting on some parts. So in order to get this up in time for the sale I had to use my cell phone. Terrible, I know.

Blarg, I’m noticing my writing skills have gone way down since I’ve only had 4 hours of sleep. Tonight will be nice since its date night. The hubby and I will be enjoying Thanksgiving leftovers and binge watching all the shows we put off since we have both been so busy with work. I think we have multiple Ultimate Fighters, Walking Dead, Marvel, and maybe 1 American Horror Story. Lately, I feel like watching Walking Dead is more of a chore. I think after season 1, I just never enjoy watching it but I keep watching it to see if it gets better. The hubby still loves it though. The whole farm season was pretty awful in my opinion.

farewell you delicious tea. We WILL meet again…soon! I had the last little bit of this today in an effort to get at least a couple sipdowns in for the past couple of days. I feel like i’ve taken weeks off from sipdowns and now it’s time to get back on the sipdown bandwagon – especially since i lose a week in April. I love this tea a whole lot! I really like that it’s not a black tea..but it is…but it’s not but it IS…but it’s really NOT… yep.

This one’s quite neat! the first steep bore similarities to a greener Darjeeling’s second steep. There’s a smoothing out of sour, muscatel notes and a subduing of hay and malt, except this tea was never bold in these characteristics, like a Darjeeling, to begin with. It’s a trippy experience. The finish was also deliciously sweet, which made it an easy cup to gulp down.

While the second steep is still somewhat malty, it’s starting to taste more like a silky floral white tea, with a bit of citrus. It’s a very pleasing and smooth tea, with lots of fun layers.

Wait, a white that brews like a black? Okay… I’ll bite. The leaves are gorgeous, it smells divine as it brews, however it’s the flavor that got me going, “Wow. WOW!” Honeyed bread and cocoa, that’s what I get from this, although there’s quite a bit going on. It reminds me of Laoshan Black, yet… better. Richer? Fuller? A bit more depth? Hard to compare exactly until I have more Laoshan Black.

One of the best teas I’ve had to date, and one I’ll definitely drink more of often.

Thank you Stacy at Butiki for sharing a generous sample of this in my last order. I have some already, however this was much more fun to crack open. ;)

1.5 tsp in 12 oz.

I shared some of this with a student this morning, & although I enjoyed it, nothing about it said, “Drink me & drink me often”.
I will, of course, drink it again, as I still have a bit left, but like other white teas, it’s just not my cuppa. Hopefully next time I’ll have more to say.

The fact that this tea is described as a white tea for people who like black tea lured me in. I’ve been wanting to get into white tea, or to try to, but I haven’t been impressed with white teas thus far – the flavors just aren’t vibrant enough for me, at least with regard to the limited selection I’ve tried.

And this is certainly different from what I’ve had before! It’s sweet, smooth, and a little bit malty. I’m not quite getting caramel, but sweet potato seems closer to the mark. When the tea was hot, I could’ve sworn I tasted the faintest note of citrus, or something like it, something sour – maybe that’s the apricot mentioned in the description? – but that’s faded now that it’s cooler. It does taste remarkably like a black tea; as others have noted, it’s got a lot in common with a greener Darjeeling. If I hadn’t known it was white, I never would’ve guessed. Now that my cup’s cooled quite a bit, I’m definitely getting dried apricot. I’m glad I got to try this, and I’m enjoying my cup, but I don’t think it will be a reorder.

There is no way this is a white tea!

Lightly malty, mildly sweet, hefty, chewy, just lovely. This was a sample and I’d certainly think about keeping some of it on hand.

New tea #2 since the last was such a bust. And I’ll keep going through tea until I find one I can sip at while playing Diablo tonight….Then again, that might just take all night. I hope not though.

The leaves for this are gorgeous. (I never thought I’d say that about a tea. Lol) They’re wiry with gold fuzz on them, but some are kinda silvery. And damn are these hard to measure. Definitely on par with Caramel Vanilla Assam to measure. So I’m not even sure if I got the right ratio for this cup. There needs to be a gram measure instead. Lol.
Anyway, I get a sweet hay/grass sort of scent when I put my nose really close tot he dry leaves. But’s not not an unpleasant smell.
The brew I get that same sort of hay scent and the color is this nice golden tone.
Maltiness and a vaguely fruity tone. Also sweetness, though it’s very light. And a mild hay sort of taste though it just adds to the rest instead of being an unpleasant focus.
It is rather astringent to me, but I’m wondering if that’s something left over from my cold or just how I am right now, since I’m getting a strong dry sort of sensation in the back of my throat. And now that I’m pondering it, I get a strange fuzzy sensation at the top of my mouth and tip of my tongue. It’s similar to the sensation I remember getting if I bit into that brown stuff that pecans have around the meats when you’re cracking them yourself to eat, but without the horrible bitter/sour/UGH! sort of taste. (That stuff probly has a name, but I can’t remember it. Lol)

Taste wise overall it’s a bit watery, but I had a feeling that would be the case. So next time I’ll measure out more leaves.
I’m surprised that this was a white tea. But then with the color of the leaves and the name I guess I should’ve realized it.

Overall it was a nice tea past the astringency. I’ll most likely give this another go later on to see if it was just the remnants of the cold, or actually something I didn’t like.

Thank you so much CrowKettle for sharing some of this special tea with me! :D

It DOES have a really interesting combination of black tea and white tea characteristics. There is enough going on here to keep me rapt sip after sip! I would purchase some in the future, if my cupboard is ever low enough to allow it, lol.