You know, I was almost hoping I wouldn’t like this one. Thus far, I hadn’t found a white tea blend that wasn’t seriously hampered by fruit/floral additions. Could such a thing exist? Well, if anyone could do it, Stacy at Butiki probably could—but I already knew that if I liked this one, I’d want to try some of the other white blends while they’re still available (Lemon French Macaron is calling my name). So that will only add to the problem of too many teas that I’ll be loathe to part with!
Well, this one is in fact pretty good. The blend consists of silver needles and pink fuzzy amaranth buds, and has a fresh, juicy watermelon scent. The brewed tea is almost colorless, with that same watermelon flavor, sweet but delicate and not excessive. The good thing about this tea is that once it’s cooled and steeped for longer, the natural fragrance of the white tea itself comes through—honey-sweet, vegetal, and distinct from the melon flavor. It’s a very “cooling” tea, somehow, and there’s almost a hint of mintiness to it. In fact, a good comparison for it would be to an after-dinner mint instead of a sugary dessert, it’s very nice as a palette-cleanser tea. (And after all, watermelon often serves the same purpose at restaurants in China during the summer months!) So now, time to think about what else I want to try…
