Pretty sure I got an old batch, next time I go into a teavana I’ll try to exchange it per their policy. This was my first silver needle ever, so at first I just followed their instructions.
What I got was a cup of barnyard hay and wet straw, kind of like walking through the farm animal exhibits at a county fair, not really much else. For the price of 2oz I could have bought an entire bale of straw from a local farmer and made 50-gallon drums of this stuff. Perplexed, I thought “hmm, maybe there’s some trick to this” and scoured the internet for more info. At first, I thought I was being a dufus and overbrewing it, but trying much shorter infusions, different temperatures from 100-190F (even went nozomi gyokuro style and tried room temp water once for 15 mins), nothing but hay and straw. So I figured, “hmmm.. guess I just don’t like white tea..”
Then I had some good fresh whites from a few other sources and voila! I love whites!
So long story short, based on all the other positive reviews I’m reading here and now that I know what to look for, I’m pretty sure I got an old batch and need to go back to switch out what I have. Until I do though, this is getting an appropriate rating.
Flavors: Autumn Leaf Pile, Corn Husk, Grass
