Organic Silver Needle

Lots of stress today, but there is good news: I finally found a white tea I truly love. The smell is natural, a bit like hay, vibrant and it smells delicious.

Infused hot, three minutes, no additives. The tea is light, airy, a brilliant white tea in a sea of otherwise bland and uninteresting white teas. Most of my previous white tea experiences have been blends of white and greens, or whites and flavors, but this is a pure white tea. There is a fruity, slightly floral fragrance of the brewed tea. There is a delicious flavor, it is light, crisp and clean.

I am sure this has caffeine, but for some reason Silver Needle is always comforting and relaxing. This tea tastes especially good tonight – very honeyed and smooth.

The smell that came wafting out of the canister when I opened it up reminded me of nothing so much as fresh-cut, sweet hay on a warm, sunny day. It’s a smell I’m used to associating with summer because many of the ranchers around here grow and cut hay crops during that time to feed their livestock over the winter.

The flavour of the tea is also reminisent of sweet hay, but without tasting too grassy or bitter. It’s not too vegetal either – a problem which I noticed with some other silver needle teas that I’ve tried. It is slightly drying to the mouth, but only a bit – nothing too unpleasent. It makes for a light, fragrant, and flavourful drink, and perhaps it’s just the hay association, but it seems like a tea that’s very much suited for sipping in the summertime.

EDIT TO ADD:
The resteep is considerably paler in colour and lighter in flavour. It has an almost delicately flowery quality to it now. Still very drinkable and it could probably go for more steeps, but it’s late and I don’t want to be more caffeinated than I already am! ;)

This is my first white tea but I do like it. The leaves are green and soft with little white hairs on them. I don’t know what to compare the smell to other than to say that they smell fresh and airy. It is a very soft aroma. The tea brews up to be a light golden color with tiny white hairs in it. The tea is very delicate with a mild sweet floral taste. I have no other white teas to compare this tea to so I’m rating it as it appeals to me. I like it a lot.
3g/8 oz

One of my favorite parts of trying a new type of tea is that first moment where you’re opening the packaging for the first time; the first sniff where you get a hints of what will soon be filling your cup. I often sit there smelling a new tea long enough to get funny looks from the pets. Unfortunately, this tea did not give me that initial pleasure. When I opened the bag, the tea scent was almost overpowered with a scent of paper. Meh. Not really what I was expecting. The leaf however, looked gorgeous. Very light and fuzzy, just like silver needle teas are supposed to look.

The directions on this packet call for a heaping teaspoon per 6 oz. of water. My recommendation for any of you playing the home game would be to use a very generous teaspoon. My first steeping didn’t use much leaf, and resulted in basically a flavorless brew. When I upped the amount of leaf I got a much more flavorful brew with a lovely buttery feel to it – although a highly flavored white tea always tends to be a very delicate cup – unflavored white teas very rarely jump up and down and demand your attention. They are instead like the Easter eggs of the tea world. If you have patience and spend a little time looking you can occasionally find something great.

The overall flavor is lightly grassy and actually a little papery. However, unlike the initial aroma, the slightly papery taste was not unpleasant at all. The liquid slides around in your mouth like silk, and it’s a very smooth drink. The flavors also intensifies as the brew cools. Longer steeping times bring out additional flavor profiles with hints of apricots and almonds. This is a nice silver needle, and overall is fairly reasonably priced among the other offerings out there on the net. Those who enjoy light delicate flavors may very much like this tea.

Check out this review at: http://www.itsallabouttheleaf.com/740/tea-review-leaf-spa-tea-organic-silver-needle/

This is a nice WYSIWYG type tea. Great Silver Needle to have on hand. There is a lovely natural-sugary-sweet type taste to it.

I’m surprised on how much I like this tea! Usually white teas have been a “meh” for me. But this is actually pretty yummy. I’ve kept the leaves steeping in my travel mug and the flavor just seems to get richer and richer. There’s a thick, almost buttery quality to the liquid and the scent is like brothy white flowers. I also added more leaves than normal—like two tablespoons in my 12oz—because I’ve read that it’s good to be generous when brewing white tea (you have to make sure to add enough leaf).

I’m now down to the last dregs in my mug and the taste is almost starchy—like potatoes—and bit bitter, but I still find it good!

Alright – I got this one back when it was a Steepster Select, but I’d been waiting to log it until I got a steep I liked. Someone recently said that the dry leaf smelled like fresh cut hay, and that’s about right. The taste is mildly sweet, and reminiscent of sunshine, meadows, warm summer days. Not overtly floral, but not really grassy either. I’m having trouble pinning the taste down, clearly, but the sweet/dry/sunshine smell of hay is pretty close. The mouthfeel is nice and full, the aftertaste lingering and faintly sweet. I had meant to make this iced, but it’s pretty nice at just above body temp – warm, but not hot.

3 grams of tea, 3 oz water, 185ºF, 1st steep just over 1 minute; cut 1:1 with cool water to make 6oz tea

My first exposure to a quality white tea, this from the Steepster Select offer.
My first impression, upon opening the can was “What!, this can’t be tea, its grey”…and I thought it looked a bit moldy! Come to find out…it’s not moldy, it’s hairy; an important distinction :-P
I read the directions on the can… 1tsp, water at 170 for 5 minutes—and promptly ignored them. I used 1 tsp in a paper sleeve, water at boiling, for 1 minute. I took the leaves out of the water and gave them a squeeze (gasp!). The brew was such a pale yellow that I didn’t think I had anything in there! I was wrong. I thought this being white tea would equate to low caffeine—it doesn’t. note to self, don’t drink at 10pm.
The tea is a pale yellow, turning amber/brown as it cools and oxidizes. The taste is incredibly light but flavorful. Not grassy like some green teas, but definetly vegetal and wholly unlike a black tea. Nothing in the way of spicy, or earthy or any of the other descriptions I’d apply to black teas. This tea is in a world of its own and I highly recommend it. If I fix it “right”, it might get even better…have to try that sometime ;-)

Somehow my tasting note for this disappeared. (I had some issues re-reviewing it, and who knows what I did). I obviously can’t remember now everything I said, but I assure you it was amazing. In fact, it’s probably my favorite tea in my cupboard at the moment. It’s night and light, and has a subtle flavor.

Trust me, my old review was awesome.