I now understand what people mean when they say that white tea takes up a lot of space. The five samples I got from the Jade Teapot are all in bags the same size, but this one is a white whereas the other three I’ve tried so far are greens. The samples are easily two cups worth for the green. For the white, I have about enough left after weighing this out for another half cup. The grandeur of white leaves is something to behold. In general I think they tend to be the prettiest dry leaves, though there are always exceptions; the curliness of oolongs, the various geometries of greens and even the classic look of plain black leaves can be quite becoming.
These are pretty — though in color they’re not all white. They range from silvery to brown to green, with some light brown which I suppose is the osthmanthus. The smell in the little sample bag is, interestingly, pretty similar to the smells of the others from Jade Teapot. Cough syrup. It must be something about how the aromatic oils used for flavoring interact with the plastic of the little bags.
The steeped tea smells peachy, sweet, and a little creamy. It’s not a full, deep smell, but I hesitate to call it light as that seems to connote weak. And that doesn’t seem appropriate as this tea is a water color, not an oil painting. At least that’s the difference that occurs to me between this, and, for example, the Blood Orange Pu Erh that I had earlier. This is painted with a much more translucent palette. There’s a very slight “planty” smell, a little floral, a little green. The color of the liquor is yellow, with a tinge of pinky peach. And it tastes pretty much exactly as it smells.
It must be my current mood. Perhaps I’m in need of comforting. But I’m finding oils more satisfying than water colors these days. I might order some of this, though. I can see it being a nice spring time tea.
Wonderful imagery! “Oils more satisfying than watercolors”—is so true for me too these days.
Great description! It’s so hard to compare different types of tea sometimes, so I (too) love that watercolor/oil analogy.
Thanks! I was struggling for a way to capture what I was thinking. It is so difficult to use a single scale to compare the range of teas. I suppose another way of looking at it is like comparing a comedy to a drama, or journalism to fiction. It’s much easier to compare apples to apples than apples to oranges.
I also love your comment that “oils are more satisfying than watercolors”. I am that kind of tea-drinker (as well as that kind of art-viewer). I like the big bang, the grand thing, the epic reach of some teas. It’s a great analogy.
I’m sold on this one =]