Aged Yunnan Silver Needle White Cake

Initially when I opened the package I picked up the aroma of butter – creamy melted butter! Like when you leave a stick of fresh butter out on the counter and it melts on its own, just perfectly soft and smooth.

The initial sip was of Hay, hay that has been warmed by sunlight sitting out in the field!
As the cup cools some the cinnamon starts to develop and I got a slight tingling sensation around the sides of my mouth.

Through out the entire cup I could feel a slight tingling sensation in my mouth along with a velvety mouthfeel to accompany the sparkle. This tea is a movie star! No, rather this tea is a voluptuous sexy lounge singer, female of course, in a long slinky yet classy dress with sparkles on it, on top of a piano.

Sorry – what I am trying to evoke here is that this tea will take you in and seduce you, if you allow it to, and give it time to temper as the longer I wait – the more this cup develops and this is only steep one!

This is the first cup today I have allowed myself to full enjoy, drinking every last drop so without further ado I am going to haul my behind over to the sofa and nurse as many steepings as I can out of this sample!

Thank you Jason for this Sample Tea

This is the first review on this NEW WHITE TEA from Verdant
(Only saying this because this is not one of the tea’s that is gone!)

It’s Saturday and for most of the day, I’ve been considering this one tea.
First I needed to add it to Steepster, then make sure my palate was clear and my mind still.
The lighter tea’s are more of an effort for me. They are delicate, and for some strange reason, cause me to go places deeper…reaching for elusive flavors that sometimes flutter past me so fast that I can hardly keep up with them.

My preparations were simple. A 5oz. Gaiwan, Spring Water, small sipping bowl and tea. The color of the infusions was not spectacular ranging from pale green to light green. The scent was lovely. Others will follow and discuss this more. I followed the exact steeping instructions on the Verdant website, 20 seconds, 15 seconds, 25 seconds.

The tasting of this tea was a complete experience. An adventure of remembering a time and event without losing touch with the reality of
the tea experience taking place at the same time.

I began with the first sip which sparkled with effervescence, dancing on my tongue like the sun rays on the sea.
There was the softest hint of pine and lilac ending in bread baked in a hot brick outdoor oven.

This is what did it. The flavor and scent that was hardly there and like a small hand reaching out, pulled me into a memory.

Corfu. I began to see that beautiful Greek Island again with the pines and flowers and….

The second steep was stronger than the first. It sparkled then splayed a dryness like linen sheets from a clothesline…slap across my tongue and gone. Here again there was the soft floral flavor spreading like a vine and wrapped around the pine taste trying to come out but still barely there. The taste of semolina was strongest at the finish.

I remembered going to Paleokastritsa Monastery on Corfu perched on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Ionian Sea. Walls washed with white and tan, abundant bougenvilla flowers and many happy monastery cats laying about. I approached an old Heiromonk and placed my hands palms up in the form of a cross indicating that I was asking for a blessing. He was from the U.S. and had retired to this Greek Monastery(a common practice especially after a Priest is a widower http://flic.kr/p/cfhUGo ). He blessed me, we chatted in the shade under the trees and I went my way. It was such an ancient, beautiful and peaceful place…smelling of flowers, pine and baked bricks and bread. Monasteries always have tea for guests.

My final steepings were very, very tingling on the tip of my tongue and sweeter. A great deal of semolina and creaminess with a hint of salt. I could tell that there was a rose floral flavor in these pourings and a bit of tannin at the finish, although not much.

I had a decision to make. The salt is what prompted me to make this decision. Should I add some sugar? It is vulgar to some people I know…but this is MY cup and I am not a tea snob. I believe that if there is any saltiness in a tea, a little sweet will often enhance the flavor.

So…I…Did…IT….

NECTAR We have a place in Colorado that is beautiful called
Garden of the Gods. This is the tea version of the place!
Grand Canyon, Niagra Falls…whatever your AHHHH! is…this flavor is that AHHHHH!

http://youtu.be/q2pgPkZZZOg Music

This nectar flavor is where I began my journey back to Corfu with the sun shining on the clearest water I’ve ever seen, and pine trees dipping to the Ionian Sea. Flowers, pink, red and purple, white washed houses and Greek Taverna’s all along a narrow road leading up to a beautiful Monastery. Calm and unforgetable.

TEA!

Here are some pictures, Corfu..
http://youtu.be/WuUHIoo7raA

I picked some of this up in a sample size from Verdant – I absolutely love the sample sizes! Such a great way to sample ALL the teas, which seems to be a necessity for me.

Initially, my roommate said that the aroma of this tea reminded her of manure! (Not an association I was getting.) However, after some thought, she amended it to “barn/hay”, which I completely agree with. A sweet sort of aged hay. I definitely would have pegged this tea as a white strictly by aroma, although I honestly can’t describe as to the reason. It just smells like a white tea!!

I used 5g of this one, as per the recommendation, although brewed for 30 instead of 20 seconds, as I felt that the additional 10 wouldn’t hurt (I was right).

The flavour of this one is oddly familiar. I’m not sure if it’s the Yunnan Jasmine that I’m thinking of (probably?), but I could swear I’ve tasted this flavour before. However, it’s more more intense than I’m used to. It’s kind of sweet and hay-y, rather light and very smooth. There’s almost a musty sort of aftertaste, which I assume is from the aging. Definitely tasty, and well worth the sample size, but not my favourite, as I really seem to lean towards greens and oolongs as opposed to whites.

ETA: Second infusion (25s) is pretty good too… and it dawned on me that I think I might be likening this to the Yunnan Black I have from Verdant. Hrrrrrm. As a white, the flavour is much better though, I think…

Sipdown of this tea as well because I’m splitting the sample i receive from verdant to let my other friend try this tea. She’s a huge fan of white and greens teas so I’d like to try and get a few higher end teas to her to see if she really enjoys them.

White teas are generally not my thing. Not because i hate them, but because i don’t like them lol My taste buds tend to feel largely unable to get much out of whites. Generally when i drink white teas, the weight of them is so imperceptible, that most of the time i feel like i’m drinking hot water with a splash of “something very nearly undetectable.”

This tea? It’s better than most. Initially it was much like drinking something the way that Hay smells. That fresh barnyard smell after you’ve cleaned all the stalls out. I have to say, after several steeps though, I’m just feeling like i’ve had too much water to drink. Again, not a bad tea, but nothing that knocks my socks off.

It did give me a chance for more practice with my gaiwan, so that’s wonderful. :)

Received this from Invader Zim today! Thanks!

I was really intrigued by the idea of an aged white, and I’ve been contemplating ordering some of this for ages. But fortunately, she said it wasn’t quite to her taste and offered to send me some!

Steeping in a tasting cup, with water that started around 185 and has since cooled (though by how much I can’t say). Steep times follow Verdant’s parameters – 20s, 15s, 25s.

First steep – 20s: crisp and cool and light. My mum saw me, and said “You’re drinking hot tea? You’re crazy.”

Second steep: – 15s – Sweet. I begin to taste a bit of the “age” on it – it’s not heavy like a pu’erh would be, but it doesn’t taste fresh. It’s not stale, it just doesn’t taste new.

Third steep – 25s: I’m beginning to get some of the semolina or wheat notes that Verdant mentions. It’s surprising to get this out of a white, as I’d normally expect it from a black, but it’s not unpleasant. It’s a very dry steep.

Fourth steep – 25s: Smooth, buttery. Verdant mentions honeysuckle, and it does remind me of the flowers (back before our bush got mown over…)

Fifth steep – 25s: The flavor itself is mellow, and we’ve gone back to the heavy dryness of of the third.

I really like this tea. It’s seductive. I look forward to the rest of the (generously large) sample Invader Zim sent me, and I can definitely see this as being a staple in my cupboard!

Well, I got the 1 oz. sample to try from Verdant and I was not disappointed at all…

I did the first two steeps at once and they were quite lovely together. I get a light medium-yellowish color with the tea liquor. I am really picking up on the semolina type flavors or maybe a touch of pastry. Plus the floral notes are coming through in a very light way. I would say this is gentle and sweet at the same time. I used water that was nearly boiling and for around 10 seconds so I will try a slightly lower temp. for the next steep.

3rd and 4th steep, intriguing this tea is now a bit darker and the delicate notes have disappeared a bit and I am finding the cinnamon spice flavors coming to the forefront.

this is a very intriguing and interesting cake and it is tempting to purchase a whole one for aging, although I feel $110.00 for a cake this young (2011) seem rather pricey, even though the quality is fine. It has not been aging for very long so far, but it would be very interesting to see what happens to it in the future. Perhaps I will age this smaller piece for a bit or pick up another smaller piece to age. I have certainly enjoyed trying it.

Thank you to David and Verdant Tea for this sample. And what wonderful customer service to hand-write a note!! It really shows that you care about your tea!

I steeped 8 steeps per the website’s directions at 20,15,25,25,25,30,35,40s.

Ah silver needle, I have missed you. I am sorry, I didn’t mean to ignore you like this. I feel like I should be wearing a pretty dress, big hat, and white gloves to drink this tea. It is just so delicate and romantic.

It is sweet and floral with not an ounce of astingency. It is just the slightest tad malty. Like a fine wine, this is aged to perfection.

I finally decided to break into my sample of this tea, my boyfriend wanted to try some as well. I have been wanting to hoard all my new samples of Verdant teas that are discontinued, but I am telling myself “there will be more new teas you will want to try, so you better drink some to make room!” So here I am, sipping this lovely tea.

The dry smell is faintly of hay and flowers. It is very clean smelling, and the leaves are a little bit fuzzy :) I used approx 190 C water and about half of my 7 g pack for about 5 oz in my gongfu pot. The bf and I are splitting each gongfu and having half a cup.

The wet smell reminds me so much of spring! And summer! Early clover blossoms, fresh hay in the fields and barn, bees humming away in the flowers, honey…ahhh this smells just perfect.

First steep was for 20 seconds. The liquor is perfectly pale and clear, with the barest hint of a light golden tinge. My boyfriend said it looks like water. But this is definitely not just water. There is a wonderful fresh hay taste to this tea, followed by a crisp linen feel. I can actually kind of recognize the base of Yunnan Jasmine Silver needles now, that crisp flavor was also present in that tea. Mmm and that floral goodness is in there, definitely honeysuckle, and some actual honey too maybe.

The second steep – 15 seconds. Following Verdant’s page. Now the liquor has some color, light yellow. Oh, and the wet leaves just smell INTOXICATING! So sweet and floral! I want to sniff them all day! This steep still has the hay taste, but more honey, and a lot thicker. I can see the bread resemblance in the mouthfeel a bit. Also a tiny bit of rose at the back of the sip, not much nutmeg. This is a heck of a complex tea. I don’t think I’m doing it justice with finding all the nuances, but it is very very good. I’m going to have a bunch more steeps of this, but I think I will leave off here so this review isn’t insanely long haha.

Overall, this is a beautiful white tea. This is thick, soft, spring like. This makes me think of bees pollinating flowers. This puts me in quite a nice place. Very happy I got a chance to try an aged white tea, thank you again Verdant for an outstanding tea.

ETA: Man, my review already is pretty long. Haha.

Now this is my comfort tea of the evening. So pure, so silky, so hydrating. The leaves are stunning silver and silky to the touch, they glisten and darken when brewed. The liquor is silky on the tongue and so just enlivening. The word nectar keeps coming back to me, flower nectar not fruit, yet some how I think that would be too sweet, or sticky or even astringent, this is just divine but I’d so honeysuckle is fairly accurate. Ooo and there is peach in the bottom of this cooled cup. Brewed three short steeps in a row in my 10oz glass infuser mug only a third of the way full, all of them heavenly and I’m going back for more.

Fourth steep is more familiar white tea territory, herbaceous, rosemary, bit of pine and hay. Fifth has some creamy green tea qualities and the sixth I’m sipping on? Smells like honey, tastes like honeydew and several of these infusions have left the sensation of cocoa powder on the tongue. I know I’ve tasted several of these things before, but not all from one tea and not all so pure. Oh how I wish I could buy I cake of this to age.

Tonight feels like a good night to sample this tea. Thank you David and Verdant Tea for this sample!
Dry: Smells very sweet, and the most beautiful and interesting leaves! I’m excited =)
3.7g, 4oz, 190F, 20s: Sweet and delicate. Small notes of pine dew, which remind me of my favourite Silver Buds Yabao.. a creaminess or silky texture. Spicy notes too, though mild. There is some drying qualities at the back of the throat. But wow. Cinnamon pine with a salty edge. So complex. My last small cupful cooled..it became thick pine dew and its texture which reminded me of just sightly undercooked okra. I really don’t mind that texture at all. Huffing the cup smells like rose honey. Delightful.
15s: Oh my floral! It’s like I just shoved a rose in my mouth. Shocking.. I wasn’t expecting rose flavours to that intensity. Very juicy flavour profile too.
25s: Silky jasmine pine that quickly becomes malty.

Now this is a white tea that I like!
The clove and the floral notes are amazing.

I guess I just like aged white tea :).

Story Time: I finally got my Iggy Pop and the Stooges CD in today. I got the original Raw Power CD; before it was horribly remixed. It is a lot less over buzzed and pushed unlike the new one. I just wish I could play it louder so I can get the full effect, but I think my mom is starting to doze off; it is 9:20 PM.

Tea Time: I don’t think I used enough for my first steeping. I tried first using my teaspoon, but I don’t think it will work for this tea. It didn’t have right color and hue has it did online

Steep 1: The smell of the brew is like earthy flowers. First sip was spicy. Almost like cardamom. Next sips are not as spicy, but they sort of cool your tongue and have this buttery floralish taste to it. Is this a maltyness I taste? definitely a product of the ageing, since white tea never has this. This almost taste like a white chia tea. I can taste cloves.
cooled: More maltyness and clove appearing with a buttery floral after taste.
And all this was from not using enough leaf!

Steep 1.1: This almost smells like a black tea. It’s earthy and malty smelling.
This taste malty for sure. It has a sort of spice to it and with a hit of clove. Very smooth and leaves a sweet, crispy floral taste on the tongue. It is almost like a black tea minus the coco or darker bite black tea has.
It has cooled down some now. It isn’t as sparkly or quite as floraly, but the malty is showing through more. Going to put this in the freezer to cool it down more…
Way more malty. I can still taste a bit of clove. This is not crispy anymore, but more smooth and buttery. It is like a black tea without the astringency or darker tones. SIP: do I detect some clovey coco? Hmmm….. I can’t tell if I like it cool or hot. Must test more

Steep 2: This smells almost like coco….. MADNESS! The liquor is Yellower as well.
hmmm… I can’t taste an uber difference. Though it cooled a little more that I liked. This is starting to have an unusual mix of black and white tea quality’s. Malty, clovey, earthy, sweet, tingly, floral, crisp. SIP: I made sure to try to breath in and sip. I am getting the faintest of coco malt from it. My tongue feels like it has a pinch of spice put on it, but not heat spice, sting spice.

more luke warm/cool: less flora sparkle, but more malt.

Later on: My tongue almost feels the same way after I drank the zhu rong. Sort of savory and cyan.

Cold: More of a malt taste with a strong clove and earthiness. It seems that when this cools it gets more malty and aged flavor. It also seems to have a bit of spice sort of to it. SIP: wow really strong malt and clove. Like a punch to the face. Not sure if I like it or not.

Steep 3: Seems more sweet and floral with clove malt mixed in. Dang, I burnt the tip of my tongue. I hope this doesn’t hurt my tasting. SIP: Still seems more floral and crispy with less malt. It seems sort of i don’t know, grainy… ricey. It’s luke warm now. Malty grain is there, but with what seems to be a bit more floral.
Cold: Not nearly as clovey as the other cold brew. It has a little bit more noticeable floralness to it. Very sweet and sliky. It almost seems to have a strong earthy malty……and even coco like after taste. I would say that the taste is more of a expected white tea, but with the maltyness of dark tea. Definitely taste more grainy as well. Interesting……..

Steep 4: Smell more floral
Starting to get more of a classic white tea taste. Very crispy floral and has a hint of clove. SIP: Still more expected white tea taste, yet slightly deeper.
More luke warm now. I am getting a bit more malt and semolina flavor. It also leaves a sweet and savory after taste. SIP: The clove and malty is becoming more pronounced. My tongue still has this spicy tingle on it. I am also getting some honeysuckle as well in the after taste
I am noticing Luke warm is more like a mix of it being hot and cold; it is a lot less clovey.

Cold: The clove once again is very pronounced. However there is hints of other floral flavors as well. Also the malt and more pronounced. There is more a of a lingering semolina flavor in the after taste. SIP: Still VERY CLOVEY. I’m not sure if I like this when it is cold. The clove can get to be sickening.

Ok by this point I think I am tea drunk and sick. I didn’t eat anything before I started, since I thought it might hurt my pallet. However I hadn’t eaten anything in a while. Ugh, my stomach hurts a little and my eyes feel glazy. It is because of this that I decided to stop and eat some pretzels and do a weird brewing session. Sometimes with teas like this I will brew them for a long time to extract all the liquor from them and get a supper over infused cup. I know this sounds blasphemous, but sometimes it works…… sometimes it doesn’t.

Steep 5: After brewing for 25 minutes in a makeshift gaiwan in about 8-9ish ounces:
This smells is like a black tea…..hmmm
With no sweetener: The liquor color is a clear light brown…. Interesting. This taste like a black tea, but with clove and not as deep, and with a little astringency.
Sweeten with agave: Taste more like a black tea, but the bitter astringency is gone. It’s definitely clovey. It is like black tea, but less strong, yet not washed out. A lot stronger coco malt as well. Very smooth…

Overall I am very intrigued by this tea. It has such potential that when I can I am going to buy a cake to age it more to enhance its flavor. I must say that the whole time I was tasting this though I kept thinking how this would taste if used for a chai or with a added fruit flavor. Something to help complement its’ profile.

P.S. The Liquor become yellower with every infusion. Also the wet leaf smells like a black tea with bits of coco.

I would recommend this to pu’er lovers and white tea lovers

Unrelated: This is one of my favorite songs from the Album I bought
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPyUXb2QwDM&list=PL0F4F1D0F36A715C1&index=70&feature=plpp_video

Specifics
Used a mug covered with a saucer as a gaiwan; and would pre heat before brewing.
Water amount: About 6 ounces for all but the last infusion.
Leaf: um I think 5 grams, or close to that.
Steepings: Fallowed the directions from the site except for the last one.
Sweetener: non except for the last.

this tea is so mellow that i think i’m probably not sensitive enough for it.
i already know i have a poor sense of smell due to years of horrid allergies. and that i tend to like my food really spicy and really salty for this same reason. because taste is actually like 80% smell or something. so i think really this tea is just too subtle for me to understand and appreciate. which is sad. but also makes sense. perhaps with more time i can reverse my sinus damage. that would be cool.

Sample from @VerdantTea. Rinsed once with 205F water. Infused for 2 seconds, decanted, infused again (for 4 seconds), and decanted into the same cup. The color of the liquor is pale yellow and perfectly clear. The aroma is slightly floral with some biscuity malt. Extremely pleasant. Similar notes in the flavor; slightly sweet biscuit, a hint of honey. Very drying on the finish. An enjoyable cup of tea.

This tea will age nicely.

I went to Verdant Tea’s website, and followed the steeping directions carefully.

This tea was very easily separated from its former cake shape. The leaves didn’t even break or snap when separated at all.

Leaf Quality
Excellent. The dry leaves were sort of fluffy. Fuzzy leaves with pale-green underneath. They smelled very sweet, and almost grassy. They were very light, and I needed to add what appeared to be more leaves than usual, to make the proper brew.

Brewed Tea
I brewed this tea twice. The first time, was as the website specified it. The second time, I experimented to see if it would taste different. It did. With the directions from the website, the tea leaves yielded an extremely light- yellow, and crystal clear drink. The smell was wonderful. It was sweet, with elements of honeydew, and a sweet vegetal aroma. The taste was light, and harder to grasp than the smell.
My Method: I took 5 grams of the leaves, and put them in a clear teapot. I brought water to about 80 degrees Celsius, and poured them over the leaves. I know that white teas can handle steepings of 3 to 4 minutes, so I decided to stop steeping at 3.

With this method, I got a very floral, and sweet cup. I hadn’t noticed the floral notes using the website’s directions. The liquid was also a more yellow-green color, but still very clear and light. There was a nice sweet-earthy taste at the end of the cup as well. I really like that the character changes well (a sign of great aging potential).

I think I’ll buy the whole cake to let it age.

Interesting. Aged silver needles seem to have picked sweetness somewhere which actually makes this tea tolerable for me. I am still no fan, but at least I can enjoy the taste.

And the individual leaves are so fluffy… :)

This is good! Smells very healthy, like hay with a hint of floral. This tea is definitely crisp. It tastes of cloves and floral but I find the after taste to be buttery. It kind of does taste like white cake haha I think it would taste like it more with some honey. I really like this :)