Dry leaf: Raisin, prune, dried fruit. This tea is in cake form, medium compressed. Mixed green, brown, and dark brown leaves. The smell in the bag was very much like a white tea.
Taste: Sweet, honey, nice medium smooth mouthfeel. No bitterness.
Liquor: Rinse and first steep were distinctly dark yellow, to light orange, then after the 2nd or 3rd steep, a beautiful dark orange.
Spent leaf: Light brown to dark brown. Medium sized leaves, very little stem.
Vessel: 200ml glass teapot (actual water 100ml since I only fill it half full)
I had no idea what to expect from this tea. In the bag, it for sure smelled like a white. In a warm tea pot, it actually smelled like both a black and a white. After a quick 5 second rinse, is was all black. I started out at 212F thinking that’s what this tea needed. After a few steeps, I was disappointed. It was tasting like a black tea, but it was lacking any body and had a very flat mouthfeel, no white tea overtones.
So – I decided it was time to adjust the temp mid session to see if I was running too hot, which maybe was allowing the back tea to take over the cup. I dropped the kettle temp down to 190F and that did the trick. The body became fuller, and the white tea flavors were now showing up. Things were a little more balanced. I got 8 or so steepings before things dropped off.
Although I think the idea of mixing a white and a black tea is interesting, I wasn’t totally blow away by it. It was fun and a good learning experience, but for me, not the kind of tea I’d keep in my cupboard. If you feel like experimenting with an experimental tea, then toss a sample in your cart next time you shop at W2T and see what you think! (for science!) Who knows – maybe it will find a spot your cupboard.
Flavors: Dried Fruit, Honey, Raisins
