The tin calls for 1 tsp per two cups of water “just before the boil” and steeping for 3 to 5 minutes. That just didn’t sound right to me, so poking around the net I decided to steep with water at around 176F—and I added about twice as much tea as called for. Despite that, this had the problem I’ve had with most white teas. It’s barely there. This is why I prefer (the more affordable) White Peony over the celebrated Silver Needle. As far as I’m concerned there is such a thing as too subtle. I think I can detect the muscatel taste of darjeeling here, but the taste is so faint I wonder if it’s my imagination. This isn’t as wimpy as Silver Needle or Snowbud, but I definitely prefer my tea stronger. It did strangely improve on a second steeping, with the flavor a bit more pronounced.
white tipped darjeeling
flavour profile: an incredibly sweet & delicate cup of tea that retains a light, muscatel Darjeeling flavour
ingredients: Indian white tea grown at 6000 feet (Darjeeling’s highest elevation)
Our White Tipped Darjeeling is an unrolled, lightly steamed “open leaf” tea. Due to this different method of manufacture, the leaf is no longer covered in a downy, white fuzz, and the white tips are visible on the edges of the leaf. The flavour profile is very similar to that of the old tea, as it is produced on the same estate, using the same tea leaves as before. Since the open leaf method is slightly less labor intensive, this tea is now available at a new, lower price!
