Sipdown (123)!
My Nannuoshan samples came in! Hooray! This was the first of the four I decided to try out; I know they offered to send more than that out to a person, but I knew I wouldn’t have time to review more than four promptly for them, so I limited the ones I requested. I picked out one silver needle – one of my favourite straight tea types, as well as two darkers oolongs for operation “explore more oolongs this year” and the one Pu’Erh they were offering, to explore that tea type a little further as well.
With all the samples coming in lately (Tea Ave. and Nannuoshan) as well as birthday stuff, I’m impressed that I’ve managed to balance drinking new teas and old teas as well as keeping my cupboard from puffing up. I’ve been hovering around 120 teas pretty consistently! And that’s a good number for me.
I enjoyed my first pot (both pots were done Western style) of this one early into the afternoon with my Dad; it was cool actually getting to pull out my tea set and share it with someone instead of just drinking on my own which is what I usually do. I should offer to share tea with Tre more often; as long as I’m brewing up something fun and flavoured he’s usually fairly interested if I don’t try to teach him about it.
I wish I’d asked my Dad’s impressions on this one; he has a history of not liking white tea at all and I’m wondering if, the more I serve it to him when he visits, that’s changing at all. He did have two cups of it though, so I know he didn’t hate it. That’s pretty high, even if unspoken, praise from him – when I made him Teavivre’s Jasmine Silver Needle he wouldn’t even finish one cup.
I found the first pot had a very soft, milky taste with a light floral edge to it which was really enjoyable. I know it was placebo, but the milky flavour made the tea liquor seem thicker and creamier to me. In the finish, I also noticed a bit of citrus flavour. While, apart from the creamy, milk note that made up most of the body flavour, the flavours in this tea were much more generic I think I liked this infusion just slightly more than the second.
I’m just finishing up my second pot now; there’s definitely a difference in flavours although there are similarities too. Most of the milky flavour has faded, though it’s still there as a supporting note, and the citrus flavour now reads to me as decidedly more lemony and is present in the body of the sip and not just the aftertaste. The floral note has become a little harsher, and is the first thing I’m noticing as I sip. It’s a little too strong for me. I’m also getting some camphor notes, which I didn’t notice in the first pot. Not sure I’m loving them.
Overall, I think this is a pretty good tea – though I chose not to continuing steeping after the second infusion because I felt the direction the flavours were heading was not one I would have been able to speak too favorably about. In particular, I like the milky/creamy flavour and the way the lemon/citrus intertwined with it.
Thank you Nannuoshan for the sample!
Flavors: Camphor, Citrusy, Cream, Floral, Lemon, Milk
