Jasmine Silver Needle White Tea (Mo Li Yin Zhen)

Let me start this review by saying that I come into it somewhat prejudiced as I am not fond of jasmine, in tea or otherwise. However, I do not tackle this sample with as much apprehension as I did before the last Teavivre jasmine tea sample I tried because Teavivre really surprised me with that one. I actually liked it! So, here goes…

I steeped this tea for three minutes at 185 degrees as Teavivre prescribed. The unbrewed tea had a very strong jasmine odor that was also present in the steeped liquid, but the brewed jasmine aroma was not as powerful.

As I gingerly inched down the first sip, I could clearly taste the jasmine, but it was not overwhelming. There was a nice sweetness to the flavor followed by a smooth and delicate white tea taste. Each sip thereafter did leave a jasmine aftertaste but it was not offensive or bitter.

This is another Teavivre tea that is so smooth and light that I had no trouble finishing the pot. Once again, Teavivre has amazed me with a product that was much better than I expected.

Will I now add jasmine teas to my collection? No. But, Teavivre makes jasmine digest very pleasantly in this tea. I guess I would probably have the same reaction from castor oil blended in a rich delicious chocolate cake!

I received a free sample several months ago, and life slipped in and put me on a bit of a tea-drinking hiatus, but a fall breeze had me craving Jasmine tea. So lucky for me, I had TeaVivre’s Jasmine Silver Needle in my cupboard.

Very well balanced flavoring. The jasmine scent does not overpower, and it doesn’t evolve into being a “sugary-sweet” note as with other producers. I could actually still pick up on the flavor of the leaves themselves, and it drinks very smoothly rather than forcing the cheeks to prepare for “syrup wince” – what happens when I try teas that are too sweet for my liking.

It’s persuaded me to re-think whether I’ll buy the other producer’s Jasmine pearls again. Really hit my preference zone for richness, delicacy, and balance.

Pictures and more detail at my blog: http://bit.ly/PaBpEq

I love silver needles and love jasmine, and this is just the cup of mellow I’ve been needing lately. The jasmine scenting is really well done, and doesn’t dominate the cup excessively; despite how muted white tea can be, I can still tell it’s here beneath the jasmine. The result is delicious; definitely a different caliber than the bagged jasmine tea I’ve been downing at local restaurants lately. This is the kind of jasmine tea I can see myself sipping in a shady tea shop, seated at a low tea table, relaxing as the cicadas hum outside. It’s really refreshing, as a good white tea ought to be, and the jasmine reminds me of a sultry hot summer day. I love this kind of tea in the warmer months; it makes a good iced tea too.

Free sample from Teavivre

The dry leaf has the heady aroma of a high quality florist’s shop (like my wife’s shop! :-) ). The jasmine aroma is strong with an element of hay behind it. The leaves are, well, silvery and very pleasing to look at. They are soft to the touch.

Brewing the tea in my small glass teapot I am rewarded with a jasmine aroma wafting off the leaves and a little forest of needles balanced delicately in the hot water. The liquor is almost clear, the jasmine smell is, how best to describe it, round. Yes, it has a roundedness (is that a word?) to it that transfers to the flavour. The tea is light. It makes my tongue tingle even after the tea has been swallowed. Yet still it has a strong, round flavour that is very pleasant. The jasmine is at the forefront of that flavour and I now feel like I am breathing out delicate jasmine aroma all around me. This is another great tea from Teavivre.

Many thanks to Angel and Teavivre for this generous sample!

My first experience with this tea was disappointing, I’m sorry to say. Jasmine teas are generally too strong for me, as I’m really sensitive to potent, perfume-y smells. I prepared it with the expectation that it was a scented tea and was blown away by the jasmine. A headache ensued, and I was not able to get through very many steeps. This was mostly error on my part which I discovered when inspecting the wet leaves. Jasmine flowers are mixed in with the tea leaves…Ahh no wonder. After that experience, I put the tea away for a while and let it rest.

After my nice experience with Pekko Teas’ Jasmine Dragon Tears, my confidence with jasmine teas was renewed. I gave the jasmine silver needle another shot and altered my methods. I went with cooler water (~160 F), maybe a bit less dry leaf (~1/3 100mL gaiwan), and ultra short steeps (one second for first steep, added one second for each successive steep, then three-five additional seconds each steep after the sixth). It turned out to work much better for me. The flavor was much more delicate, the mouthfeel became less syrupy and instead creamy. I was also able to pick up many more subtler nuances than I did the first time I tried this tea. Most notably this occurred with the first and second steeps which developed honey textures and a light whipped cream undertone, developing into something more savory into the next steeps. The “greener” flavors were more noticeable and tasted like fresh vegetables.

Into the fifth steep, a very faint, but intriguing, spicy note climbed up. It had the flavor of parsley and the texture of ground black pepper. Also in this steep, further heavy tastes became apparent, pulling the flavor profile together and giving the liquor a fuller body and thicker mouthfeel with the addition of a stone flavor and increased vegetal taste. Honey notes reached a minimum here, and rose again throughout consecutive steeps. After this point, the tea reached a balanced point in which jasmine flavors decreased to midtones, vegetal, savory, and fresh green flavors became most prominent, and stone flavors settled into undertones. These remained fairly constant and faded out together while jasmine notes slowly slipped away.

The leaves smell extremely potent to me especially during the first few steeps. In later steeps, this settles some and I am able to detect sweeter notes, and some stone aromas. The aroma of the liquor is syrupy, sometimes medicine like, although it is very floral with notes of fresh hay.

Conclusions: I’m a stickler with jasmine. However, going with my new method definitely changed my opinion of this tea and made it a great deal more palatable for me. The actual silver needle white tea has some very intriguing complexities to it, but they seem to be masked by the jasmine flavoring when using the suggested methods.

Thanks to Angel and Teavivre for this generous sample to review.

I’ve only had silver needles once before (from a different company), and I wasn’t crazy about it-too floral for me.

However, I’d like to drink a little more white tea and jasmine-scented sounded promising.

Dry leaves are green with a silver-white coating and the needles are long with some curves. A very pleasant, but not overpowering, jasmine aroma emanates from the leaves. In addition, there is a scent of the tea in the undercurrent that I can’t quite describe. It’s sort of floral, but not exactly-but it’s nice.

The leaves brew into a pale, translucent liquor the color of straw.

The flavor is sweet, smooth, and of course jasmine-y. Although it’s delicate, the jasmine is not overpowering and it’s very natural. It’s lighter than say Jasmine pearls and I wonder if the flavors aren’t a touch more complementary here. This is a very good tea and it’s definitely worth trying if you like jasmine.

I had three western-style steeps of 1m, 2m, 3m.

This is by far the best experience I’ve had with any white tea, ever. I suppose it’s not surprising, since I love jasmine and it’s done perfectly here. The jasmine is soft and natural and totally lacking in those jarring soapy notes lesser jasmines sometimes have. It’s certainly the dominant flavor, though; happily for me, the silver needle really just serves as a sweet, mellow backdrop. There’s something very relaxing about good jasmine teas, and this one’s no exception.

There’s a purer jasmine flavor here than I get with my usual jasmine greens; there are no vegetal notes to complicate, distract from, or clash with the pure, delightful floral. Depending on the tea and my mood, I sometimes enjoy the interplay between sweet jasmine and savory grass and sometimes don’t. I think this tea will be a wonderful option for those times when I’m in the mood for something more one-note (in the best way possible).

This is a very old sample I received from Rie, who I don’t think is on Steepster anymore. But I’m very grateful for the chance to have sampled it! I’ll definitely be picking up some more of this whenever I (finally) get around to ordering from Teavivre.

Jasmine Silver Needle White Tea (Mi Lo Yin Zhen), hello. As soon as you open the bag you’re getting the jasmine. It’s a real perfume–no literally, it smells like a lady sweating out an incense store and for the love of whatever deity you find holy it’s coming out of every pore. Ma’am, why the hell are you trying so hard? What’s there to cover up? You’re a beautiful young white tea, there should be nothing to be ashamed of. This overwhelming odor tones down in the cup, thank god.

Boy, this is not a tea for floral haters. Or even floral dislikers. It is flower power hour here and kids, we’ve got no choice but buckle up and take it. Now, if you do like florals–you crazy cats, you–this tea will be divine. It is resoundingly petalriffic. The jasmine coats your mouth with every sip, imprinting the aftertaste on your palate, while the sip itself contains notes of melon–cantaloupe, to be precise–and honeysuckle. This isn’t a little girl of a tea. Jasmine Silver Needle is a full-fledged, D-cup woman. A real dame, in the slightly abrasive 40′s sense of the word. Any dudefolk drinking this tea may console themselves by thinking of the White Peony warrior in his manly pursuit of flowers, and thus preserve their masculinity.

Full review here: http://snooteablog.com/2013/07/05/snooty-tea-review-teavivre-round-2/

This tea is nicely balanced. I think jasmine whites are slightly higher on my favorites list than jasmine greens. It has such a pleasant sweetness, and the jasmine isn’t too heavy. I really think the white tea adds something extra. This tea is probably one of the more lightly fragranced jasmines I’ve had, so if you don’t have any experience with jasmine it may be a good choice!
Thank you again Teavivre for the delicious sample! The people at Teavivre really are exceptionally generous. I highly recommend their company!

Sample provided by Teavivre – muchos gracias

This is a really well-balanced tea. The silver needles are beautiful and large, not many broken pieces in this sample. I am not normally a fan of straight silver needles, but this tea is smooth and delicate with just a hint of jasmine. It really is quite subtle. I like jasmine teas to be strong and sweet with more jasmine than tea, but this makes me appreciate the nuances of both tea and flavoring. I found this to be most enjoyable when brewed gong-fu style with 80-85 degree water.