Body + Mind White Tea

I am skeptical of the much-touted detoxifying/cleansing attributes of this tea. I drink it because I think it tastes good. It’s overpriced, and I’ve noticed the quality of the white tea has gone down (Teavana used to put silver needle white tea in here; now it’s a less expensive variety), yet still, I have to keep this on hand. It’s the perfect tea for those moments when I really don’t know what I’m in the mood for. Black tea? Nah, too close to bedtime. Green? Sounds good, but I don’t feel like being super-vigilant about temp and steep time. Oolong? White? Both sound good, but I’d like a little extra flavor. I don’t want any artificial flavors, though — I just want to taste the flavor of tea, amplified. Bingo! It’s time for Body + Mind.

I generally dislike jasmine tea. This blend does have a lot of it. Open the bag, and the smell of jasmine tea nearly knocks you over. But somehow, in the cup, it works. The jasmine flavors are balanced by the oolong and white. The flavors all blend together to create a mellow, smooth, slightly fruity (without any fruit flavors or chewy bits added, unlike most of Teavana’s blends), softly floral, delicious blend. I have had this iced and it is just as good. The liquor is light amber, about the color of a glass of beer or ale. It’s not necessary to be precise with the steep time or temp, but I don’t advise letting this sit for more than 5 minutes.

You could probably create this blend yourself at home, and save the trouble of a trip to Teavana, but I like to buy it from them. It keeps me on my toes to have to run the Teavana Upsell Gauntlet (“you sure you don’t want a tin for that tea? an iron teapot? some rock sugar?”) and be amused by the so-called advice (“this will help slow down the aging process”) once in a while. I smile into their horrified faces as I request the tea in bags, even though they’ve warned me it will go “stale” in one week sans tin. Then I go home and drink Body + Mind and feel zenlike and calm.

Bought this a few weeks ago and had it once, but it was not enough to write a proper review or give it a rating. I do remember it smelling and tasting very predominantly oolong. So hanging out at home and with the weather today I decided it would be a good time to brew some more of this up.

The leaves are an even blend of white, green and oolong leaves. The smell is the sweet oolong, with a hint of vegetal green, you cannot recognize the white by smell. The aroma of the brewed tea mimics this, mostly oolong with a hint of green. The white tea appears mostly in the liquor, the liquor is very pale green.

The first infusion, three minutes, hot no additives. The flavor is predominantly oolong. It definitely starts with the sweet oolong flavor, then comes the gentle white flavor, very neutral and clean, a hint of vegetal from the green, finished off by more of the oolong sweetness.

The second infusion of the leaves (hot, 2 minutes, no additives) all of the flavors were muted, not gone, but reduced by about 50%. I find this pretty disappointing because for one I usually use a lot of tea in my white and green infusions, so it seems wasteful, furthermore it tells me it would make a disappointing iced tea.

The bottom line with this tea is that it is good, very good, but the accent is heavily on the oolong. Personally, I like oolong tea, I do not mind that Body + Mind is heavily oolong, I would just classify this as an oolong and not a white tea, but Teavana has funny ways of classifying it’s tea. Overall, this was enjoyable and I will thoroughly enjoy the rest of my bag.

I’m not usually into jasmine teas, but this was a tasty cup. The taste was mellow and everything blended well together. It soothed the savage beast of waiting in line at the doctor’s office.

I was all about the white tea a few years ago, but more recently I’ve been getting into green and oolong, and my old white tea friends got somewhat left behind. I’ve been getting back into the white tea groove this week and that’s been cool.

Although this is called a white tea it’s really a white/green/oolong blend and the white tea is actually the lesser part of it. The jasmine gives it a beautiful, not-too-overdone floral aroma and the oolong dominates the flavour. If you like the greener oolongs, you should like the flavour of this tea. Overall the taste is very… clean, so it’s no real surprise that this is a detoxifying tea. It’s also just a really good cup of tea. I liked this combination a lot.

I’m surprised I haven’t tealogged this one. I save this for a day I really need something just to cleanse my body. Recently I just go to oolongs, but this tea is always a nice alternative.

After a really hot, sticky, humid day and eating lots of vegetarian food, including my experimentation with asian dishes… i just needed some tea.

Little on the grassy side this time, but the jasmine flavor really comes through. —Woah, just completely took a sip and choked on it…. that’s annoying. ANYWAY, I’ve definitely had this tea better before, maybe steeping it with rock sugar would have been a better choice but I didn’t really want anything sweet.

My biggest gripe with this tea is that since it mixes whites, oolong, and green it’s hard to figure out what to steep it at. Sure, Teavana treats it as a white tea, but it’s a really hard tea to steep because it can get bitter so fast. Also, the jasmine flavor really kills any of the white or oolong flavor. Still, I enjoy this tea.

Another one I had received in a gift set, but I had enjoyed it so much that I keep buying it. It probably helps that jasmine pearls is my favorite tea, At first sniff (dry) it is predominantly oolong and jasmine, I can’t say I can smell the white tea in it at all, same with after having brewed it. Although when drinking it I can get a hint of the white tea, not much. The oolong and jasmine dominate this one in every aspect, but they blend well together. I usually get 3-4 steepings out of this one and it is a staple in my cupboard.

i am a huge fan of white and green and oolong teas so i was sure that i would love this tea. i was on the hunt for something to have before bed because i usually have trouble getting to sleep and i found this tea to do the trick. Its very relaxing and has just the right amount of Jasmine in it it. Despite its smell its not overpoweringly perfume-y as you would think it to be by smelling it. its pretty mellow with a nice flowery-herbal finnish. my only complain is that it is classified as a white tea when its got mostly oolong in it and it tastes a little to vegetal when steeped just the slightest over time. its not to the point where it could be mistaken for a green tea but still to green tasting for something classified as a white. Over all a nice, low-maintenence tea with good herbal and floral note that accent the teas natural flavours pretty well. ONe of my favourites

Thanks again to lizeepea for sending me this sample in the giveaway! :)

I don’t think I can add much else that hasn’t been said already, so I will keep this short and sweet.

This reminds me of a field of wildflowers. I really can’t think of any other way to describe it. It’s aroma, taste, feel…wildflowers. But I love it! Also, after drinking 16oz of this stuff, I feel great. White and green teas always make me feel cleansed, in a way, especially this one. I could almost see myself using this as a “repairing” tea once a week, or something (as someone mentioned before).

It’s floral and jasmine-y and very pleasant. I’d recommend it to anyone to at least try. :)

This one is INTERESTING…in a very stellar way.

Has a soft, gentle taste (sound like a romance novel) but there is a definate fruity scent and a little hint of maybe pear or something along that line.

It’s actually a mix of green and white…really invigorating. Had it before and during a meeting in the afternoon and it had me zinging.

Plus, the leaves expand tremendously during steeping…got 2 good 16 oz glasses out of 3 teaspoons.

I am not a jasmine fan but I love this tea! The soft jasmine blended with the oolong and the smooth white tea makes for a delicious, soothing cup. Good for anytime of the day, although I am partial to this in the mornings when I need to wake up gently.

I love the subtlety of the Jasmine and the Oolong flavor. It’s definitely a nice relaxing tea.

Today I heeded the advice of steeping it after the boiled cooled down a bit and got a completely different experience. In the past I poured it into my cup right as the water was boiling…oops! I also did my first steep at 4 min because that’s what the back of the bag said, now I see that I should have only done 2 minutes. Oops again!! This was consumed without any sweeteners or additives.

I definitely expected this to be a very jasmine-y tea, when you smell the leaves that was predominant. But even if you get past the floral smell they leaves just smell yummy, so fresh!

My first steep yielded a light amber/greenish brew. Surprisingly, I can actually taste the white, green, AND oolong. When it was hot, I mostly could taste the fresh white with some of the green vegetal notes. It was smooth, which was a surprise because I’ve gotten so used to green-type teas having a bitter ending. As it cooled down (i drink my tea sloooow) it was the oolong that was the predominant flavor. Unfortunately, there was more astringency as the oolong came out, but I honestly don’t mind because I kind of like a tea with a small kick. It wasn’t overpowering at all and I still consider it to be a very delicate cup. I love watching how all the leaves unfurl, beautiful!

I’ve been pleasantly surprised with this tea, even though I initially found it to be BORING. I guess I got so accustomed to brewing bagged tea at basically any temperature that I neglected to heat the water properly. So DEFINITELY make sure you heat around 175 degrees or you will be disappointed. Too hot and you won’t get much white or green, too cold and you won’t get much of anything. Brewed properly, it is one of my favorites!

And does the fact that drinking one cup makes me run to the bathroom every 10 min mean that it’s detoxifying?

After the first brew it lost most of its subtleties. I couldn’t taste the white, the green was very grassy, and the oolong was more astringent. Fortunately, I can still make 5 cups with one teaspoon….just the first brew tastes much different than the new four.

First steeping: very light, jasmine scented tea. It’s fragrant and floral and very slightly sweet. The delicate brightness cuts through the light smokiness of the oolong. The tea brews a golden color and has a short, dry finish.

Second steeping: The floral and oolong flavors come out more clearly. It brews a bit of a darker color, and the white tea is more difficult to taste here. It’s smokier, and the oolong leaves have expanded much more fully .

Try iced this time- not bad but not as magical as when it’s hot. :)

I like this tea a lot. The jasmine and the oolong tea are the most pronounced in this blend and it works very well. It is a good tea to drink in the afternoon for a little pick me up as well as a break from the day.

Of the three teas in this blend, the taste which comes through the most strongly is the jasmine green tea (understandable, since it’s the only flavored one included). I’m a big fan of jasmine, so this isn’t a problem for me! It’s a little grassier than jasmine alone, and due to the white tea, easy to burn- though if you do, the bitterness is usually sufficiently muted by the others not to completely ruin your cup- but it’s very clean and fresh, and overall, nice to drink either hot or iced.

One of my favorite teas the subtly hint of jasmine is perfect with a tiny bit of honey added to the tea. I love it hot or iced

Might be my favorite jasmine.

The scent is overwhelmingly jasminey- light and floral. I have a bad habit of oversteeping my tea, but this came out without a hint of bitterness. Excellent stress-reliever after a long day.

This blend of White, Green and Oolong teas is perfect for someone who loves a good jasmine but would like to get the health benefits from multiple teas. It doesn’t need sweetener and steeps well all day long. This is my go-to tea as and all day drink at work.

You really have to like jasmine to enjoy this tea, as the jasmine pretty much overpowers everything else, in my opinion. I’m not that big a fan of jasmine, so I was rather disappointed by this tea, unfortunately. Though the jasmine does give a nice sweet flavor to the tea, I would prefer for the other flavors to come forward a bit more, but I can’t say I hate this tea. I just find it rather so-so.

This is quite tasty mixed with Teavana’s Rooibos Sweet Amore, so that’s how I’ve been drinking it lately. The Sweet Amore adds some light, fruity flavors that bring the jasmine flavor to the background a bit more. I very much like this combination! Next, I will try it with the Rooibos Tropica, as Teavana suggests.