Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Samovar Tea Lounge
Tea Description:
Hand-picked, sun dried for three days, baked, then cured. Woody hints of roasted hazelnuts, and sweet corn. Lingering notes of hot cocoa. A golden infusion to soothe monkey mind. Explore the darkest of the white teas.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I really enjoy white tea in the summer evenings. White tea seems to have a natural cooling effect, and even when I drink it hot, it seems to make me feel a little more comfortable on these hot summer nights. And this Organic Bai Mudan White Tea from Samovar Tea Lounge is really lovely.
It’s very interesting to me that I’ve tried many different Bai Mu Dan teas from many different tea companies, but, even as many as I’ve tasted, I still notice different flavors. The tea may be the same “type” of white tea, but, the flavors that the tea leaves produce from one company to another are different. This particular Bai Mudan has a lovely chocolate-y finish that I don’t think I’ve tasted in other Bai Mu Dan teas.
There is a richness to this tea – even though it is a delicate white tea – a pleasing earthiness that has a slight toasty taste to it. It is as though I can taste the sun in this tea … I can taste a sun roasted flavor like warm hay that has been lightly baked in the summer sun.
The description above suggests woody notes, hazelnuts, and corn … and while I don’t taste a “sweet corn” taste exactly, I do taste a sweet, nutty flavor and I can see how someone might suggest a “sweet corn” flavor from that. It’s sweet, but not in a fruity or a floral tone … more like a sweet nutty tone with notes of vegetation.
A very enjoyable cuppa.
2012 Fu Ding Bai Cha Chinese White Tea from China Cha Dao
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: China Cha Dao
Tea Description:
Fuding Ba Cha is a really healthy tea, it has the effect of medicaltreatment, lower blood pressure, lower blood sugar, anti-oxidation, anti-radiation & anti-tumor. We have customer with high blood pressure and this tea works out really well for him, just have a small cup everyday or every two day, is healthy!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This white tea really took me by surprise! Usually when I brew a white tea, I expect it to be gentle and of subtle taste. Delicate. But this has a much stronger flavor than I expected! Yes, this 2012 Fu Ding Bai Cha Chinese White tea from China Cha Dao has a softer flavor than say, a Yunnan Black tea … but for a white tea – this tea boasts a whole lot of taste!
The flavor is vegetative, but not in the same way a green tea tastes vegetative. This is more like a crisp, light taste that reminds me of freshly cut hay … hay that isn’t quite dried through, still has a bit of that fresh, green-ness to it. There is also a taste that evokes thoughts of dew drops on new spring leaves. It has that kind of freshness to it.
There is a mild nutty flavor to this as well as a creamy note that is really quite enticing … it keeps me sipping. The tea is very beautifully complex … the kind of tea that you want to steep on a lazy afternoon when you just want to relax and contemplate the beauty of tea. (And when do you NOT want to do that? Sure, we don’t always have TIME to do that, but I think we always want to, don’t we?) It is a nice tea with which to unwind, and it is gently restorative.
A really nice tea – the first that I’ve tried from this company. If this is any indication of how wonderful the teas from this company are going to be, I’m really looking forward to tasting more!
Anji Bai Cha from Canton Tea Co.
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Canton Tea Co.
Company Description:
Anji Bai Cha is a beautiful tea in every sense. The leaves are long, delicate and a bright vivid green, the scent has notes of citrus and nuts, and the taste is a complex mix of tangy fresh and creamy soft. The liquor is a lively pale green with the bright clarity of a classic high-grown mountain tea.
Taster’s Review:
This tea was also noted as a white tea on the Canton Tea Co. website, although it is found listed as a green tea. Despite this minor confusion, I can see how it might be considered either a white tea or a green tea, because it does have qualities of both types of tea.
The liquor brews up so light in color, so in that respect it reminds me of a white tea. It also has a relatively delicate flavor which is also quite characteristic of a white tea.
However, the color of the leaves are so vibrant and green (they look like blades of grass!) with no real indication of the silvery color that is like other white teas. Also the flavor is much more in line with a green tea – it has a pleasant vegetative flavor that is not overly grassy. It tastes more like steamed broccoli than it does grass.
There is also a very delicious, juicy fruit note to this tea that is reminiscent of sweet apples. The crispness in the tea enhances this taste beautifully! It tastes very much like a high quality green tea to me.
Yes, I like this one very much… call it a white tea, call it a green tea… I call it GOOD tea!