John Ciubuc Send Message

I used around 5g with 90ml, 185F approximately.

Started this off with a quick wash. Because these leaves are small and numerous, they have a large surface area and will steep /very/ quickly, so gotta be fast.

The first thing I noticed is the absolutely incredibly sweet aroma. There was a very strong ‘butterscotch’ scent that came from it. Smelling the leaves directly was a strong buttery vegetable smell that contrasted the sweetness though.

Steep times were as follows: 5s, 7s, 8s, 10s, 12s, 15s, 20s, 25s, 33s, 40s, 55s

first steep was a rather sweet, creamy, buttery vegetable taste. There is a strong floral flavour underneath the main taste.

Second steep has a stronger taste of everything. Much stronger floral taste. Seems that this tea is pretty sensitive on steep times.

Third steep. I swear these are like little baby silver needles — massive amounts of ‘hairs’ floating in the tea resulting in that tingling sensation you get with silver needle. Creamy vegetal flavour with a strong floral hint. Current trend is an increase in the floral portion of the flavour.

Fourth steep. Tea remains creamy, vegetal flavour begins to fade whilst the floral remains strong.

Fifth steep. Took a close whiff and it still smells like butterscotch. The vegetal flavour is very faint now with floral being in the lead adopting a rose-like taste to it. The tea itself is now getting sweeter, which is interesting.

Water temperature drop between fifth and sixth steep. Guessing it’s around 170 or 160F now

Sixth steep. The lower temp did a charm. Floral flavour isn’t so strong and the sweetness is enhanced instead. This is my favourite cup of this tea so far.

Seventh steep. This is what I love about white teas — after several steeps the flavour just changes into something wonderful. Vegetal flavour is completely gone now, instead a really sweet fruity taste is coming out. Taste is somewhat similar to a mixture of apricot and plum, without any of the sour, bitterness, nor tart. Can’t smell that butterscotch flavour anymore but man, it’s almost like some sort of fruit juice now.

Eight steep. The creamy, fruity flavour is really strong now and it’s wonderful.

Ninth steep. Fruity flavour is now accompanied by an awesome creamy honey flavour. This tea just won’t stop giving me surprises. Keeps making me drag the rating slider to the right haha.

Tenth steep. Can’t believe this tea reached this point. Fruity and honey, can’t complain.

Eleventh steep. Jinxed myself, finally out of flavour here.

Wrapping up, the after taste is very very light and in a way, feels like your mouth is ‘aerated’. It’s like a nice mouth refresher. I still am impressed this tea lasted through so many steeps (and had full flavour until the very end!)

I do want to stress that this tea is one of the more sensitive ones when it comes to temperature and steeping times. I have used hotter temperatures and I have used longer steeping times, both of which made the tea to taste absolutely awful (I would rate it 20 out of 100). But when done properly it’s a quick, refreshing little cup of tea.