Tea Type: White Tea
Where To Buy: eTeaket
Product Description:
Silver Needle is the most famous of all white teas, and for good reason. The delicate downy buds (packed with antioxidants and very low in caffeine) give a delicate but complex flavour with a hint of melon, fresh citrus notes and a lingering finish. Forget silver, this tea deserves a gold medal.
Tasters Review:
I can smell the melon in this prior to infusing! Sliver Needle White Tea from eTeaket is very clean and pretty smelling! Once it has time to infuse a little I can pick up more of the floral and sweet grass aromas underneath too!
It’s also VERY Clean and Smooth on the tongue. The aftertaste is sweet-grass, citrus-melon, and fresh spring bouquet all wrapped up into one! This is Nice! One of the better and more memorable Sliver Needles I have tried!
Product Review: Three Strand Tea Timer from Eteaket … and a NEW Contest!
Product Information:
Where to Buy: Eteaket
Company Description:
A tea timer is a must for any self-respecting tea drinker. This specially designed tea timer will not only look the part in your kitchen, it will ensure you get perfect results every time. It has 3 separate, colour-coded hour-glasses: 3 mins for green tea; 4 mins for black tea and 5 mins for white tea.
Product Review:
This is a classic sand hour-glass tea timer, but with a neat twist. Instead of just one hour-glass, this one has three… with three different colors of sand: green, black and yellow.
The hour-glass with the green sand is a 3-minute timer, which is perfect for most green teas or lighter infusions of black teas. The hour-glass with the black sand is a 4-minute timer, which is a medium infusion for black teas. The hour-glass with the yellow sand is a 5-minute timer which is perfect for white teas.
The three hour-glasses are housed in a beautiful brushed stainless steel frame that is very durable. It is something that will last for years, is easy to clean and keep clean, and will also look nice on a counter top or desk.
I like this nifty little gadget. It’s handy to have by the computer so that you can watch the time without standing over your teapot. And… let’s face it, you COULD use the timer on your oven, but, what if you need to time the au gratin potatoes? This lets you have your tea and your potatoes too!
CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT!
Hey! How’d you like to win one of these nifty little timers of your very own? We’re giving one away this week to one lucky reader! In addition, I’m going to give away a 2 ounce tin of my (err… LiberTEAS, that is) Potpourri Tea. To read a review of this tea, click here.
That’s right – a Three Strand Tea Timer (from Eteaket – a USD value of $20.25) and a 2 ounce tin of tea (from LiberTEAS – a USD value of $7.50) – all for one lucky winner (total USD value: $27.75)
To enter, simply comment ON THIS review any time between now and August 21. The winner will be drawn via random draw (using random.org) on August 22. Be sure to include contact information so that I can get a hold of you if you’re the winner.
To earn extra entries in the contest (and increase your chances of winning!) you can do any of the following (one extra entry per item, up to 4 extra entries!):
1. Are you on facebook? Then, please “Like” our facebook page. Just click on the box to the right of the screen, log in, and click on the “like” button to become a fan.
2. Post a link of this contest on your Facebook page to tell your friends about it.
3. Publish a blog post on your blog. Be sure to include a link to our blog so that your readers can easily visit us here and enter too.
4. Twitter about this contest, including a link to this contest. While you’re at it, please follow Anne & Jennifer on Twitter.
If you choose to do any or all of these four things to earn extra entries, please do let us know by including the information in the comment section of this review, and include links for us so that we can check out your handiwork.
Thanks for reading, and GOOD LUCK!
Bouteaque Blue Mist from Eteaket
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Eteaket
Company Description:
The production of our Bouteaque Blue Mist tea from India is unique and therefore top secret. The resulting cup has complex and competing flavours that pull together to produce a refined and distinguished tea unlike anything else we have tasted. Like a private members club in Mayfair or an invite to the Playboy Mansion to party with Hugh Hefner, this tea is uber-exclusive and uber-good. Strictly for the A-list fashionista.
Taster’s Review:
Now, I don’t know that I would consider myself a fashionista, nor am I an A-lister, for that matter. But, what I do know is that this is an exquisite black tea – certainly one of my favorite unflavored black teas.
The flavor is so unique and complex. I do not brew it according to Eteaket’s brewing parameters (5 minutes in boiling water); however, because I found that this made the tea just a little too bitter for my liking. But when I reduce the brewing time to just 2 to 2 ½ minutes, this reduced the bitterness to a pleasing level and produced a beautiful cup of tea that is full of flavor.
There is sweetness to this tea that is almost honey-esque, and to counteract that sweetness, there is a slight bitter note. This bitterness is not off-putting – in fact, it’s actually a good bitterness because without it, I think that the tea might be so sweet that it overwhelms some of the more delicate features of this tea. But because the bitterness cuts through some of the sweetness, it creates a sense of interest for the palate and allows the palate the opportunity to explore the many flavors that are at play in this tea.
In one sip, I can taste a deep, fruity note to this tea that intermingles with a faint, savory chocolate-y note. There are also whispers of flower in the sip, as well as the honey-nectar note. A hint of chewy, baked flavor also presents itself on the tongue, followed by astringency that seems to clear the palate to ready it for another taste.
Drinking this tea is truly a delightful experience. I highly recommend it.