Yunnan Silver Needle White Tea

Good but boring. Need to use a lot of tea to get flavor and have to steep a very short time or it’s very drying. Best unsweetened as any sweetener overwhelms the flavor.

(This is a very personal review unlikely to help another reader.) H’s note on the bag says, “Nope”. Mine says, “sour”. My first white tea and this wasn’t to my taste at all. It was woody and bitter and set off my stomach ulcer. I tried brewing a few ways and temperatures but it’s not for me.

Sipdown! Hot brewed I was pretty unimpressed with this tea but cold-brewed it’s wonderful! I find it best if you start with warm water (about 140-160F), up to 12oz per 5/6 g, then throw that baby in the fridge and let it age like a fine wine for up to a few days. The longer you cold steep it the fruitier and sweeter it gets, with a hint of ripe plum and rosehip notes, a pleasant slippery mouthfeel and absolutely no hint of bitterness. It’s almost hard to believe it isn’t just a little bit sweetened.

This is one of the best cold brewed teas I’ve ever had.

I love silver needles. This is my third try of a regional silver needle, and they are all so different it’s shocking.

The Yunnan Silver Needle has a delicate grassy smell, with light hints of something more leafy and green. Very savory, I would compare it to a vegetable soup broth.

It’s a sweeter silver needle, slightly fruity. There’s definitely a sweet corn-like taste that’s very appealing. Smooth mouthfeel, not as supple as the Kenyan Silver Needle, but definitely acres better than the Nepal Silver Needle. The smokiness at the end is very subtle, so don’t go comparing this to a lapsang souchong. I think the savory sweetness of this one might have won me over, though. This is such a friendly little white.

The first thing I notice with this tea is just how amazing the leaves look, they are nicely shaped and quite light and fuzzy. This tea has a nice woody aroma with a hint of sweetness. The tea brews up pretty light and has a really pleasant grassy flavor with a woody/sweet finish. Overall I really enjoyed this tea but perhaps I could of brewed it for longer as it was a tad light for my taste.

Silver needle. I’ve heard a little about you.

I’m been into this tea thing for around two months, constantly seeing ‘silver needle’ whispers between the roars of ‘PU ERH!’. I decided to check it out, since the leaf looks like cute baby caterpillars. I made an order with What-Cha and the bag is so satisfying to press, it’s like a cushion.

The leaves smelled weirdly like Carmex lip balm and grass. I brewed the tea in my new Yixing 100ml teapot for a quick flash brew as previous brewings had been very strong. It produced a lovely light brew with a slight yellow tint. As soon as I tasted the brew I fell in love with white teas. It had such a delicate citrus taste with notes of grass.

I left my second steeping for around 3 minutes to see if it improved the flavour. This time the citrus and grass notes were much stronger and it also had a strong lavender finish.

I decided to leave my third steeping in for 7 minutes. I forgot about it, meaning I left it in for 12 minutes instead. I was worried it was going to be super bitter, but it wasn’t. It was a tiny bit bitter but not enough to stop me drinking the tea. It is lovely on long steeps and I will probably try and steep it for 5-10 minutes for my first steeping next time. This tea also has a lovely lasting finish, perfect for an after-dinner treat.

Overall, I’m very happy I made this purchase and finally experienced the joys of white tea.

Fish and I just made the best Chicken Soup! We decided to combine our different styles of soup and specialties, he sauteed the chicken and onion garlic blend, and cooked the beans, I was in charge of the root veggies (the store was out of ruttabagas, and sadly we ran out of carrots) the broth, spice blend, and the surprise. I call it a surprise because at the last minute I wanted dumplings (not dumplings really, but dumplin’s) but have never made them gluten free, so I winged it and they turned out awesome! Not to toot my own horn, but I seem to be really getting the hang of baking gluten free and adapting recipes, there is a lot of trial and error, but the ratio of edible to utterly gross baking creations is mostly edible. Man, this soup is good, I am on my third bowl!

It is Wednesday (I think, my sleep schedule has gotten weird, I ended up staying up 24 hours again and sleeping for a couple hours…hmmm) which means it is a What-Cha day! Making my way through my notebook and the adventure of trying to taste all their teas brings us to Yunnan Silver Needle White Tea. Good old Dian Yin Zhen, like Fujian silver needles, but with a distinctly Yunnan quality and smokiness. The aroma is not really sweet, it is a savory tea with notes of smoke, tomato leaves, lettuce, sauteed bok choy, and a touch of fresh tomato as well. At the finish there is a tiny touch of smoked peaches that adds a hint of sweetness, but only a hint.

I decided to do a psuedo-western bowl steeping kinda thing for this tea, brewing it in my green gaiwan for a long time (7 minutes if you are curious) because I kinda love the way silver needle really shows off with longer steeps. The aroma of the leaves is very savory, bok choy and tomato, smoke and mineral, cedar and a touch of peach at the finish. The liquid is lightly smoked peach (think a grilled peach) with a touch of tomato leaves and lettuce and a tiny finish of distant floral.

The tea is very smooth and smoky, it starts out with sauteed bok choy and hay with a touch of tomato leaf. This moves on to delicate cedar notes that start off mild and build to a sharp cooling sensation that feels like it goes all the way to the tips of my fingers, gotta love that distinct Yunnan cooling sensation. The finish is mild peach and honey sweetness that mixes with the cooling cedar for a very refreshing end.

I went for a second much longer steep, the aroma is much sweeter, less smoke and more peach. The taste can be summed up the same way, but with an extra boom of cedar and now camphor for a peachy resinous cooling tea with a slight smokiness to it. The finish is delicate honey and distant flowers. Yunnan silver needle is a unique tea, if you were expecting the more familiar taste profile of a Fujian silver needle, you will be a bit shocked, but pleasantly so, especially if you are a fan of Sheng Puerhs and Yabao.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/07/what-cha-yunnan-silver-needle-white-tea.html