Riesling

So tonight I’m doing a comparison of this tea and a 2011 Noble House Riesling. I steeped this tea at 180 degrees this time and it came out even better than before! It brings out the creaminess of the tea and the grapes. The best thing is that it does taste like the riesling! They both are light, sweet, fruity, a tad tart, and a little dry in the aftertaste. They both hit smoothly in the middle of the mouth.

The biggest difference is that the tea is creamy, while the wine of course is not. Also the riesling has that alcohol flavor, which I probably wouldn’t want to try to copy in a tea anyway because it would probably taste artificial.
The grape taste in the tea is made fuller by the berries. If I hold it in my mouth I can differentiate between the grape and berries, but only slightly. The base is amazingly creamy, just the teensiest bit astringent, which frankly works here because it gives it that slight wine-like dryness.

I’m quite enjoying this comparison! Too bad I don’t have any more of this tea!

Thanks to the lovely Naomi at Joy’s Teaspoon for my free sample. I never thought I would find a tea that could claim a 100 rating spot next to my beloved Awakening and Shanghai Orchid, but Riesling stole my heart from the very first sip!
First off the aroma is so pleasant and calming – just like a glass of chilled wine. I’m more of a beer girl myself, but Riesling is a wine I enjoy. And this tea matches the taste of Riesling to a TEA! (couldn’t resist the pun)
The flavor profile is fruity, flirty and utterly smooth. I imagine this would taste delish chilled too, but I never even got to enjoy it warm, let alone cool. I gulped this hot and went back for more. The second steeping was just as delicious.
I love the aftertaste too – the light sugary grape flavor stays with you.
This is a new cupboard essential. I have a friend who loves wine and is skeptical about tea; I’m getting her this so she can enjoy the best of both worlds.
This is a new favorite, a Friday tea. Absolutely divine and utterly luxe! I’m in LOVE!

This is another sample that I received from the very nice people at Joy’s Teaspoon. I chose this one because I absolutely love wine and riesling is a favorite of my husband and I. I was skeptical that this would work out as riesling is a fairly light flavored wine and white tea is obviously a light flavor also…but I was very hopeful that this would be great.

I wasn’t disappointed. The tea is smooth, lightly sweet grape with a floral aftertaste. There was even a hint of the “bite” of wine, but don’t get me wrong, this tea is anything but astringent. I added a very scant pinch of sugar to bring out the natural sweetness, but honestly the tea would have been just fine without it.

It is rare to find a white tea that tastes like I want it to, but this one delivers. If you enjoy wine, even a little bit, you should definitely check out this tea.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t taste this at all, so I’m not going to rate it. Have a cold and my taste buds are all out of whack. Sad. . .. .

So far, I think this is my favorite of the three free samples from Joy’s Teaspoon. I’ve been intrigued by these ‘wine’ teas so I had to try this one.

I’m actually not sure I brewed it long enough, so any advice would be welcome on that. I brewed ~3 tsp in 12 oz of 185 degree water for 2 min. I read on some sites to brew white tea for up to 15 min, but previous teas I’ve had said 1-2 min on the package. confused

Even being unsure about whether I brewed it long enough, it still tastes great. I’m thinking that it has more flavor to be extracted though. It’s a beautiful golden color, just like a riesling. It’s fruity and floral. The fruity flavor is a bit like grapes and a bit like strawberries. The floral flavor leans towards a jasmine flavor. The smell is somewhat candy-like. I added a tiny tiny smidge of agave nectar to bring out the riesling-like sweetness.

This is definitely an interesting one that you should try.

Update – as it cools the floral flavors are becoming stronger, so maybe I did steep it long enough.

I was so anxious about brewing this tea. I don’t brew loose leaf white tea very often. If you get the water too hot it’ll scorch the leaves, but of course you don’t want a bunch of leaves floating in lukewarm water. The Joy’s Teaspoon website recommended a 2-3 minute brewing time, but I’ve usually read that white tea needs a longer than average steeping time, so I let it go for around 8.

I’ll never really know whether I butchered it, because I found it very enjoyable. It gets better as it cools. A bit of sweet grape with some very lovely floral notes on a white tea base. Smooth, light, and lovely to sip. I’m very curious as to how this would taste iced, even though I almost always prefer hot tea.

I will also add that the dry leaves smell like candied grapes (not artificial grape flavor, but like real grapes covered in sugar). I’m glad that the super sweetness of the smell wasn’t in the taste, but I have to admit that I enjoyed sniffing it.