Silver Needle

I love Silver Needle. That is all.

This is one of my all-time favorite low-caffeine teas; it’s very delicate and lightly smoky. I love this as a pre-bedtime relaxing tea, but it’s also great in the afternoon. The flavor is so soft that it really should be drunk on its own – not a tea to drink with a meal.

Honestly…
At first I loved this tea, my first white tea experience. Several pots and fresh brews later, I wonder if it was good because of the marketing hype that I wanted to believe, and had invested so much money in this purchase.
Did I buy real Silver Needles? There is no white feathering on these ‘sticks’.
So. I shall try buying from a different source, David’s Tea, and see what happens.
Thank you Steepsters!!!

Subtle and delicate, a tea to be examined thoughtfully. Lots of little things going on: a hay-like, dry grass note, even a mild cedar tone. Think mild summer nights and clean, open air in a cup.

The type of tea that you drink in silence or with a good book.

I spent so much money on this tea that I reserved it for special occasions. However, those are few and far between and as I got more tea, this one got forgotten. I made a cup this morning and it seemed flat; wasn’t very interesting like it should be but just blah. I think it has gone bad :(

This tea is great when you’re feeling under the weather. I added it to all my tea when I was fighting off a head cold, and definitely felt a lot better for it. On its own, it has an extremely soft, slightly grassy flavour. This is a subtle tea that I mainly use for blending.

Really the perfect tea when you are looking for a subtle and light tasting drink. Good for reflecting and relaxing.

You can tell this tea is quality because of how all of the leaves are roughly the same shape and size. At Professor Ying’s house we tried it three times. The first as a rich brew and the second and third as a lighter brew. The difference between these two methods were significant. In the richer method, the tea had more of a bitter aftertaste and less of a lingering mouthfeel, while the lighter method was more preferable to myself. It had the fragrant clear taste of a white tea with no aftertaste and a lingering mouthfeel after each sip.

Seeing as this is my first time with a silver needle PERIOD, I probably shouldn’t have gone as far over the recommended leaf amount and steep time as I did, but I don’t think it suffered for it at all. I’ve been surprised in the past by how forgiving white teas can be.

The dry leaves are full and downy, almost adorable. I want to pet them. The wet leaves don’t unfurl very much; they stay pretty rolled (at least, mine did.)

Going to hold off on commenting about the aroma because I think there might be some influence from the last tea that was in this cup…

The flavor is light. It’s so. Light. It’s the lightest touch of pastel flower. I read “honeysuckle,” and I think that’s right. Bit of soap, but nothing abrasive. What else is there? There’s an airiness in the flavor. I read “hay” and I can taste that too. I don’t really know how to describe it… it’s not perfumey or artificial at all. It’s just very, very, very subtle, to the point where it’s almost a challenge to truly evaluate the flavor. At least, for me. But I can tell I really like it.

this is the tea that is introducing me into loose leaf teas. i always buy the bags of white tea from stash, and always wondered what the “good stuff” tasted like. so i bought this and was pleasantly surprised.

i use a 4 oz gaiwan, and about 2 tsp of buds, at 170 degrees, infusing about 45 seconds each time until i notice a drop in flavor, and add about 15-30 seconds after that.

this tea has the taste you would expect of a white tea, the light notes of straw, but fresh, good straw. it also has faint notes of honeysuckle, though depending on how you brew it, this will change to a very light taste of sweet corn.

all in all, i was pleasantly surprised with the difference in the taste of bagged and loose leaf. i find that i like a stronger flavor than is apparently standard, so i simply use a little more leaf. this is an excellent tea, as long as you keep in mind it IS a white tea, and will not Gibbslap you over the head with flavor.