Early Spring Yunnan Silver Needles

This pale yellow tea belies its simple color by packing a good deal of complexity and flavor range into my cup. It does not have some of the overwhelming vegetal taste of the greens (which I do like—-I’ve discovered that I like hot buttered “spinach” in my cup.

This tea is more delicate yet quite fulfilling. The “vegetal” elements have been reigned into a decorous garden taste. The tea is naturally sweet on its own and has got a lot of “buttah” as well—not cardiac strength butter, but a delicate amount.

The tea conjures up a sort of pure elegance and understated glamour. I don’t see how anyone could dislike this. I also am rethinking my earlier and stupid aversion to white teas as being tasteless and packing no punch. That prejudice was ingrained, no doubt, by somebody’s elderly tea-bag once upon a time. This tea makes me want to try more silver needle types and start paying attention to white teas in general.

A favorite of mine for it’s cooling qi. Lightly buttery, ever-so-slight astringency, and vegetal overtones. Quite a complex taste, I can’t quite call it camphorous but I seem to feel it somewhere on my pallet.

First try with this tea.

First infusions about 1 gram of tea in a 2 oz gaiwan, water 160 degrees, 30 second infusion. It is a little more floral and less vegetal than the Tai Ping Hou Kui I was just drinking, and nothing like as fruity as the Yin Zhen silver needle from the Cultured Cup that I recently tasted. It is a little milder than the Yunnan Mao Feng I’ve been getting from Norbu, as expected for a white tea made from the same general source material. The floral taste is decreasing after the 3rd infusion, but some mellow sweetness remains through a 4th at least.

As anticipated, it is a less refined and more camphorous tea than the versions I’ve had before from Fujian. It is sweet, mellow, but not bitter. A nice tea, but not spectacular.