As some of you might know, I make tea themed advent calenders each year for Christmas, it started as gifts to friends and has exploded into me selling them. I had to do pre-orders early since I will be in Pennsylvania for the holiday (really three months that also include holidays) and as of now, four days before pre-orders close, I am making ten calenders. I am so excited for all the folding of origami envelopes and awesome tea I am going to be introducing people to. I am like some sort holiday elf spreading tea joy to people, which is really fun.
Today’s tea is Kenyan Silver Needle White Tea by What-Cha, as you can tell by the name, this tea comes from the Mount Kenya region of Kenya, Africa. Usually when you see Silver Needle (Baihao Yinzhen) it comes from Fujian, China, but this fuzzy tea brings a unique twist since it is from a whole new terroir. The aroma of this particular silver needle is nothing short of mouthwatering, which is why I advise pouring the tea you wish to sniff out of the bag, don’t want to ruin tea by drooling. It is incredibly sweet with notes of peaches and sweet corn, this transitions to floral notes that very much so brings to mind blooming peony flowers. This tea is very fragrant and so very sweet!
I decided to go pseudo-gongfu for my first brewing of the leaves. I discovered (thanks to the power of books and experimentation) that if you brew a silver needle at 185 degrees for 15 minutes, it is fantastic. So I used my gaiwan and tiny cups (mainly for aesthetic reasons, I really like my auspicious gaiwan) and just used less leaf than I would for a usual gongfu session. The brewed leaves have a very strong aroma, even more floral with notes of peony being dominant with a touch of honeysuckle and hyacinth. There are also notes of sweet corn giving the tea leaves an extra sweetness and richness. The poured off liquid is very creamy and sweet with notes of sweet corn and honey.
After a slightly long wait (the only real problem with a 15 minute steep) the mouth feel is very smooth with just a hint of fuzz from the leaves. The taste, well it is fantastic, it manages to be delicate and very rich, it fills up the mouth while not overpowering. The tea starts out very sweet with notes of hay and sweet corn, this transitions to sweet sesame seed, like Halva. After the sweetness there is a strong peony blossom that that lingers into a nectar like aftertaste. The finish is surprisingly fuzzy, adding a delightful tickle to the back of the tongue.
I will admit, I have become mildly addicted to this tea, it Grandpa Styles wonderfully and I have found myself sipping on it for hours. As the tea loses its steam it becomes more floral and slightly vegetal with a lettuce tinge at the end. This tea has become one of my go-to teas to use in my travel steeper, especially on my Thursday game nights where everyone comments on the pretty leaves floating in water. For those wondering how it compares to Silver Needles from Fujian, I would say it is definitely sweeter and has a wonderful sweet corn note that the Chinese variety lacks, the Fujian Silver Needle is much milder and tastes more of fresh vegetation and sweet flowers. I still love the Chinese Silver Needle, but Kenyan Needle has stolen my heart.
For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/08/what-cha-kenyan-silver-needle-white-tea.html
I enjoy this one a great deal, too. Alistair never disappoints.
He really doesn’t. Even the sampler I got from him has lasted me a long time. Interestingly enough, one of the next major white teas I wanted to try were the Malawi Antlers lol. Unfortunately, the Discover Taiwan and Darjeeling samplers went bye-bye…which had all the teas I wanted to get from him. Though there are more things to try from him yet.
interestingly I have never had this one. I will order it next time
Daylon, I think Alistair carries the Malawi Antlers White by itself; however, I can understand being at a place in the discovery journey where the Discover sets fill more tasting needs. When I re-order from What-Cha and get the Antlers again, I’ll alert you and send you some. It’s an astonishing cup!
I have never seen malawi antlers before! That is totally up my street, I know im going to love it.
I’m placing an order tomorrow. One plus of living in the UK is next day delivery from what-cha
Rasseru, I am jealous of that one day delivery! What-Cha ships fast to the USA-usually I get my tea in less than 2 weeks-and it is always worth the wait. I’d be very surprised if you dislike the Antlers. Can’t wait to see your tasting notes.
Yeah iv read a few things about leaving the stems in increases the sweetness of the brew, using all stems must make it taste really different. I love teas like this
Wow, whiteantlers, that would be awesome! I was actually going to sample it. What-cha orders are always large for me, and usually are a giant batch of samples. At least the group buy and my first official purchase were lol. And Rasseru, that is interesting. The sweeter teas I like tend to be the stemmy ones.
with green oolong, they remove a lot of stem and trim the leaf edge, so greener brew. you can get one with red leaf edge and red stems, some of it is pretty amazing apparently. Its the same as the type LP uses in his. I think thats one reason I like his tea a lot. Sweetness from these parts of the plant
Rasseru, interesting comment about the leaf edge and stems in LP’s teas. I have not yet tried them but my wallet is nudging me now…
its in the oolberry, which has a lovely berry/oolong mixed aroma, quite perfumed, nice stuff.
I especially like his peachy elixir #9, that one is really good tasting, but ive just bought the last of it. I hope he makes it a staple, but I dont know if hes going to go over old recipes or make new ones.
I will add Oolberry to my “to buy” list. I am looking for good teas for cold brewing; this sounds like it could be quite nice for that. Thanks for the information.