Snow Buds (Xue Ya)

I recently discovered a wealth of Rishi tea in my local Wegmans, which made me really happy. I grabbed this and ran before I could convince myself to buy more.

This is quite possibly the strongest unflavored white tea I have ever had. The flavors involved are mostly light, but it’s definitely not weak. That could also be because I used a lot of tea [Rishi recommends 1 tablespoon per 8 oz. water].

It reminds me a lot of Ancient Emerald Lily, actually. It’s got the grassy, nutty, and roasty notes that I keep on talking about in a lot of these green tea logs because I lack creativity and an experienced enough palate to pull much more out of the flavors. The difference between this and a tea like Ancient Emerald Lily, however, is that the sweetness in this soars upwards – like that nearly sharp smell of freshly cut grass. It reminds me, in a way, of the high sweetness of honeydew melon.

In fact, yes. That’s the difference. Honeydew Melon : Snowbuds :: Sweet Corn : Ancient Emerald Lily.

It’s an enjoyable tea, and I think it could become a good staple tea for me if it weren’t so similar to AEL. In the battle between those two, I think that AEL wins out, though time and experience may change that.

No rating, for these Snow Buds were a present from a chum and there were complications to the gifting process. The wonderful teas were in thin polyethylene bags. One of them was a heavily-smoked lapsang souchong. The poly bags had absorbed the smoke, resulting in smelly bags and smelly contents for all the teas. I got the Snow Buds out of its poly bag and into a tin immediately. Then aired it out in a nylon bag for weeks at a time, but alas, the smoke will not subside.

Please pass this info along to other tea lovers. THE LESSON: Thin poly bags don’t keep aromas and flavors apart. Even very thick ones eventually seep. All it took for the damage to be done was a couple of days of co-habitation of the teas in a gift bag. Such poly bags are okay for storing tea for short periods, as long as it isn’t near any strong odors. Fruit, herb, smoke or floral — it doesn’t matter, all will permeate. Snack bags, sandwich bags and the tiny poly ziploc bags sold at craft stores are ideal for sharing tea samples but they make lousy long-term storage containers. They don’t even keep moisture out very well over time; the tea swells in size. Word.

Thank you GOD! Tonight when I prepared this tea, I was very meticulous. I pulled out the tea scale, thermometer and the spring water. I waited for the water to come down from 93 C to 85C (I live in CO, so H2Obp is 93ish) and poured the water into my vessel so the leaves floated for a bit before being completely submerged. As I was pouring, the aroma was creamy, like pie. Exactly three minutes later, I decanted and took my first sip. It was like dessert: sweet, smooth, like liquid candy.
I never want to run out of this, but I cannot wait to drink more tomorrow =)

I didn’t think I liked white teas. In fact, I didn’t think I liked this tea. But two days ago, I had it again for the first time since I started paying attention to water temperature. Delish. Light, grassy/vegiteal, and easy to drink. I’m adding it below the oolong on my this-is-all-I-want-to-drink list.

Standard mug – blue pottery. 1 tbsp. gently steaming water. 5 minutes.

Second brewing. 6 minutes.

I was hoping to try a third brewing but I fear I might be tea-d out for the evening.

It’s taken me a bit of time to appreciate this tea. Since I’m predominantly a black-tea drinker, Snow Buds organic white tea was a little too subtle for me at first, kinda like those hints my wife leaves for me when she wants me to do something.

Rishi’s description of the tea is very accurate. It’s grassy and has a sweet hazelnut finish. The grassiness reminds me a bit of a sencha, while the nutty finish is vaguely reminiscent of Rishi’s dragonwell (which is less smokey than other dragonwells I’ve tried).

If you’re a green tea lover and looking for something less caffeinated, perhaps in the evening, this is a pretty good find. It requires a fairly long steep time, however. Rishi recommends five to six minutes. Go for six. And since white tea is made from the virtually tannin-free buds, you don’t have to worry about the tea going tannic on you from the longer steep time. The never-steep-your-tea-longer-than-five-minutes rule can be damned with this one.

I found this tea to be not as interesting flavor-wise as Rishi’s Peach Blossom white tea, but if you’re a purist and want to taste a good white tea straight (without the peach and jasmine), this is the real deal.

Available by the ounce at http://www.rishi-tea.com and in 1.3 ounce tins (it’s hard to pack bud teas very tightly) at my local (go figure) Food Emporium supermarket, home to the very sweet, but dumbfoundingly unknowledgeable sales clerk. (Ah, to be young, cute and perky and able to get away with not knowing a bloody thing about what you’re selling.)

The leaves smell yummy but I can’t place the smell. It’s good though. Sweet. Green. Brewing it smells like a sweet green, not white. The notes say a grassy highnote and a hazelnut finish. I totally get the grassy. Not sure about the hazelnut since pretty much my only exposure to that flavor is flavored coffees and teas which I can’t imagine the actual nut tasting like. There is a light-ish nutty taste at the end that I’m guessing is hazelnut? It doesn’t taste quite like the taste that I think is chestnut but has a similar-ish note. Anyway, it has little to no salty taste I get from Chinese greens so I’m liking this.

blah! not for me at all. I couldn’t help but think about urine the whole time I smelt or drank this tea. Looks like many others enjoyed it, so don’t take my word for it. I’m new to white tea and this wasn’t a great start :(

I really like Snow Buds. The flavor is very light, but there is a wonderful aroma. Great tea for a snowy, blustery day. Prepared using TasteTimer.

As far as white teas go this is my favorite simply because it has a lot of qualities more commonly associated with green teas. It does have a semi-pungent scent and greenish flavor.

This is a beautiful tea. It has a creamy, buttery, faintly sweet quality that I love, and it has a richness to the color. The taste for this is what really stands out for me – some teas deliver on smell and fall short on taste, but this tea has a lot of complex flavors. I’m reminded of almonds, and, of course butter, with a bit of something sweet. When I was little my mother used to make me a snack of plain white bread with butter, sprinkled with sugar on the top, and this tea reminds me that taste, with the possible addition of the almond-esque essence.

And it’s amazingly inexpensive and – even better – I can buy this at the Whole Foods near me.

Heated 16 oz of water to 185 F. 2 teaspoons of tea in an open glass teapot.
A grassy white tea. Light. Almost fruity. The closest thing I could think of is a pear. Very enjoyable. I wouldn’t steep it more than 5 minutes.

I made this tea this weekend as a cold brew – SO GOOD! I just put 2 tablespoons in a quart-sized pitcher with a filter on top, filled it with cold water, and let it sit in the fridge overnight. Delicious!

For a really easy-to-use pitcher with a filter on it, try Rishi’s:
http://www.rishi-tea.com/store/Glass-Iced-Tea-Pitcher.html

Pretty tasty tea. Decided to buy it just to try something new, pretty happy that I did. Very fresh flavour; still looking for the nutty flavour, but overall very palatable.

I think my palate is just not subtle enough for the white teas yet – I spoil it with strong blacks. This is nice, a little sweet, a little floral/nutty something, but it’s a bare step up from drinking water. This was a gift, so I think I’m going to spend more time with it and some greens or light oolongs before spending any money on white tea.

Smooth tea, I enjoy it with a little organic peppermint. Makes my day. :)

This is a very hearty white tea – which is why it is probably the only white tea that I will pair with a hearty, strongly flavoured meal. Excellent, and a little goes a long way.

While I intend to finish drinking this container of white tea (as tea is too precious to waste!), I don’t care for this white tea blend. This tastes too “grassy” to me (which I don’t mind in other teas, like Yerba Mate), and its flavor is too strong for my liking. At least a little bit goes a long way.

One of the few so-called premium teas I can find here in Colorado Springs (at whole foods). Wonderfully nutty flavored, with no bitterness. One of my favorite all day teas.

This is one of the first premium teas I picked up when I really started getting serious about tea last year.

The nutty aroma of the dry leaves comes through wonderfully at first whiff, and it’s a great lunchtime/afternoon tea, especially when paired with spicy Thai food.