Goodmorning Steepsterites.
Because of my current (WOOT!) commute, I have to be up at way early in the morning. Today I’ve been up an hour earlier than that. I woke up by myself and felt rested, so I decided to get up and poke about on the interwebs for a while instead of trying to fall asleep again, knowing that the next time I woke up I’d probably be feeling less awake. Maybe it’s because I was dreaming about the new flat all night. :)
Anyway, I got up and fairly quickly decided to have a cup of tea and very quickly it became clear to me that what I actually felt like having was, uncharacteristically, a white. It’s totally the wrong time of day for me to want white, and I don’t even want white that often to start with.
There’s lots of aroma in this for a white tea. Being used to primarily blacks, I often find whites to be a bit flighty in that department. I really like it when I can smell the cup and sort of fill the nose with aroma. We’re not going quite that far with this one, but certainly closer than most. There’s a hay-like note to the aroma, sort of spicy and sweet, and there’s a robustness underneath it that sort of reminds of the smell of freshly peeled potatoes or carrots or other roots. I had never thought I’d come across that particular thought association in a cup of tea! O.o
There is not only a lot of aroma in this cup, there is a ton of flavour as well. It tastes quite greenish, a bit grassy and spicy and quite floral as well. Not the dusty, soapy sort of floral that actually scented teas tend to have for me, but just something that makes me think of little wildflowers. This tea is like a meadow.
There isn’t much of an aftertaste at first, but I suspect it’s one of those that will build up as I drink and as the cup develops. I can pick out the traces of that sour note that I usually get from green and white aftertaste. I could really live without that. I think I would almost rather have no aftertaste at all.
There’s something fruity in here too. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I’m leaning sort of towards apricots or nectarines or that sort of stone fruits. My brain is also shouting something at me to do with blueberries, but I really don’t know where it’s getting those from. I think those are more of a strange association rather than an actual flavour, but I am finding myself with a sudden wish for a blueberry muffin.
Top notch white, this. I’m very pleased.
