Yunnan white tea has a bit of a smokey(?) aroma, is this normal?
I recently blindly purchased some Yunnan pure bud white tea on sale and it has an odd smokey (only good word I can think of to describe it) aroma that I don’t associate with white tea. This is the first Yunnan white I’ve tried so I’m hardly an expert. It seems to go away mostly with a wash, but the aroma is still there on the first few steeps. Is this normal? A bad batch?
Below are pics of both the un-brewed and brewed leaves.
Thanks for your help Steepsterites.
I expect it has something to do with poor processing. I didn’t think white teas were pan fried but perhaps this one was and it was fried too long. Either this or something similar to create smoke in the processing. A flavor of smoke is always created in the processing phase whether intentionally or unintentionally.
White tea shouldn’t be smokey, especially since it isn’t labelled as a smoked white tea. I’m guessing it was stored near a smokey blend or it was from a bad batch.
Sounds like it might have been given too much heat. White tea still needs frying or steaming to stop fermentation. Let it rest for a few weeks and see if that helps any
Would you recommend letting it rest in an airtight bag? I did that with some very roasty da hong pao and it seems to have mellowed a lot.
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