Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White & Green Teas
Where to Buy: Simple Loose Leaf
Tea Description:
A unique blend of Chinese white and green teas scented with Jasmine and lightly flavored with plum create a delicately fruity and floral delight. Great for anyone who loves jasmine green tea but is ready to step outside of the box, this tea is delicious either hot or over ice.
Shou Mei White Tea, Jasmine Special Grade Green Tea, Safflowers, Sunflowers, Plum flavor, Jasmine Flowers
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about Simple Loose Leaf’s Selection Club subscription program here.
Taster’s Review:
The aroma wafting out of my teacup right now is quite lovely. I smell the jasmine and the plum and these are two scents that I don’t think I’ve ever imagined together before today, but, they smell rather beautiful together! It smells fresh and flowery, with mouth-watering fruit notes dancing in the background.
And it tastes – wow! Just as I would not have imagined the two scents together, these are two flavors I wouldn’t have imagined together either. But it works!
The first note I taste is that of the Shou Mei. It’s light and airy, with a subtle earthiness and a hint of hay-like flavor. The green tea notes seem to marry seamlessly with the white tea notes, becoming more of a unified flavor than two individual flavors. Like green tea, only lighter and crisper … or perhaps, like white tea only with more of a grassy intonation.
Then I can taste the notes of jasmine. Delicate and floral. The floral notes are sharpened slightly with the presence of the sunflower petals. The soft jasmine flavor stays with me throughout the sip and lingers into the aftertaste.
Just before mid-sip, I start to pick up on the plum note. It starts out subtle and as I continue to drink the tea – about four or five sips into the cup – I notice the plum notes starting to become more defined. Sweet with just a hint of tartness. I am really enjoying the contrast between the sharpness of the sunflower and the sweeter elements of this cup, like the plum and the sweet notes of green and white tea.
I’ve tasted so many wonderful teas since I’ve joined Simple Loose Leaf’s Selection Club subscription service! This one may just be my newest favorite (although I don’t think it will “replace” any others that have been favorites … this is just a new one to add to my list of favorites!) It’s such a lovely tea. It’s nice served hot, and I like it iced too.
Now, I know I’ve told you about the savings that Simple Loose Leaf offers our readers, but I’ll tell you again: use this code: SISTERSELECTION25 and you’ll save 25% off when you sign up for the Selection Club.
This discount is not applicable on the retail selection of teas, and is only good for the selection club subscription.
Jin Jun Mei Black Tea from Yezi Tea
Tea Type:
Black Tea (Red Tea)
Where To Buy:
Yezi Tea
Product Description:
If Arthur Conan Doyle had wanted to pen a mystery set in China, he would have sent Sherlock Holmes to find some Jin Jun Mei tea. And Holmes likely would have failed. For Jin Jun Mei is an extremely rare tea. However, due to a collaboration between Yezi Tea and tea farmer Wu Qiong, we are able to bring you the finest Jin Jun Mei from the Tan Yang Mountains of China.
Jin Jun Mei grows at 4,500 feet above sea level, at which altitude there is very little agricultural land available to grow tea. This in large part explains why there is so little Jin Jun Mei to go around. But we can be thankful for the little Jin Jun Mei that is available every year. This loose-leaf tea, like no other, engages your senses at multiples levels: with its complex taste, whose body and rhythm evolve for as many as fifteen brews; its fragrance, which evokes a world of faraway orchids; and the tea leaves themselves, which are shaped like eyebrows perched neatly over dove-shaped eyes.
Even More Info about this tea.
Tasters Review:
Anytime I hear of a tea that could possibly stand up to 15 infusions I’m ‘game’. Especially when it’s a black tea. This Jin Jun Mei Black Tea from Yezi Tea lives up to the product description of being complex – having multiple levels – and engaging senses. Over time I have found that I have a special place in my heart for black tea with leaves like these…shaped like eyebrows…multi-colored…two or three toned when dry and then melting into a muddy brown colored leaf when wet. With this tea – there is no real way to ‘screw it up’. It’s tasty if over infused, under infused, while using too little or too much loose leaf…you name it. It doesn’t get bitter. It has a very pleasing flavor but also a very versatile flavor depending on how much or how little you use, how long you infuse, or depending on the temperature of your water. It’s fantastic hot or cold. This could easily be considered one of my go-to black teas.
Hindbaersnitter Shou Mei from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
Yeah, it’s a mouthful. A mouthful of DELICIOUS.
Now having never had hindbaersnitter (and yes, I have to double-check my spelling EVERY time I type that), I had to sort of imagine what it would be like. I imagined the sweet hay-like shou mei blended with freeze-dried raspberries and pastry notes along with a touch of sweetness, and I think I’ve struck on something delicious, but I’ll let you be the judge.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
The dry leaf of this tea smells strongly of raspberry and there is a sweetness to it too. I can smell the sweet pastry notes of the hindbaersnitter.
I have never tried hindbaersnitter, at least, not to my knowledge. I have had pop tarts, though, and I’m told that they’re similar to, only much much better than pop tarts. Imagine a thin layer of thick raspberry jam sandwiched between two very thin shortbread cookies and a sweet glaze on top. It sounds like something I need to try. Mmm!
Well, I probably won’t be trying hindbaersnitter any time soon unless I happen to find a Danish sweet shop somewhere in Portland (and Portland’s weird enough to where it’s not completely implausible that I would not find one.) So in the meantime, I think I will have to be content with trying the tea version of this Danish treat.
And it won’t be hard to be content with this, because it’s yummy! The white tea is the perfect base for the flavors of the tart, because the delicate notes of the Shou Mei allow for the sweet notes of the buttery shortbread to come through nicely. I can taste that sweet, buttery pastry and it’s so yummy.
The raspberry is sweet-tart and a really bright note to this cup. I can even taste the sweetness of the glaze in this! The raspberry notes really POP in the aftertaste. My tongue feels that berry tingle.
And I like that even though the flavors are well-defined in this blend, that they don’t overpower the Shou Mei. I still taste those crisp, hay-like notes and the fresh, airy sort of taste to the white tea. This is a really refreshing beverage!
This reminds me a bit of the raspberry thumbprint cookies that my grandmother used to make: shortbread cookies that she’d drop onto the sheet pan in rounds, and then she’d dent the rounds with her thumb, and then bake them. Then when they came out of the oven, she’d fill the little thumbprints with a raspberry filling and then she’d drizzle them with a glaze. I guess I was eating a sort of hindbaersnitter without even realizing it?
I really liked this, and I’m thinking that I need to try this one iced. I think it’s going to be amazing!
Passion Fruit Banana Shou Mei Tea from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
Wow! I just have to say: passion fruit is some ugly fruit. I mean, it’s just not attractive at all. I was looking for a picture of it to incorporate into my label and all I can say is that it’s a good thing it tastes better than it looks.Bananas, on the other hand, are much more appeeling. So, I decided to marry the two in our new Tea of the Week with some nice shou mei white tea. This is a tea that will make your mouth happy. Like not just pleased, but happy.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh yum! I agree with the above statement: this Passion Fruit Banana Shou Mei Tea from 52Teas is really making my mouth happy! The flavors of banana and passion fruit taste AMAZING together.
The Shou Mei white tea base is ideal for these fruit flavors – it’s delicate enough to allow the flavors really shine, however the flavor is not so soft that it gets pummeled by the strong fruit notes. I taste the light, sweet notes of the white tea. It’s soft, a little bit earthy and I taste a hint of creaminess from the tea too.
The real stars of this blend, though, are the fruit flavors. These two tropical flavors are made for each other. The taste is sweet and fruity (well, obviously, right?) and with the smooth, fresh, creamy taste of the white tea, it’s almost “smoothie-like.”
It tastes great hot, but I think this one is best iced: it becomes a really refreshing treat! Yeah, I know that I’ve often sang praises to 52Teas blends, but trust me when I say that for this tea, the praises are well deserved. It’s really, really YUM!
Winter White Chai from Simple Loose Leaf
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Simple Loose Leaf
Tea Description:
A soft, delicate version of traditional Indian chai, Winter White Chai features our fine Shou Mei white tea amongst the backdrop of customary chai spices, with one surprising addition: coconut. Delicious served in the traditional chai manner with milk and sugar or untouched for a more simplistic and delicate cup.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about Simple Loose Leaf’s NEW Selection Club subscription program here.
Taster’s Review:
I love the aroma of the dry leaf of this Winter White Chai from Simple Loose Leaf. It smells so delightfully spicy with notes of cinnamon, clove and pepper with a high note of coconut. My mouth began to water when I smelled it.
The brewed tea doesn’t have an overpoweringly spicy fragrance, instead, it smells warm and mildly spiced, like spice cake baking in the oven. And that’s the first thing I thought of when I took my first sip: spice cake! The spices come together in a very pleasing way in this chai – they’re warm and comforting.
Of the spices represented in this blend, the cinnamon and cloves are the most prominent. I taste a light kick of pepper from the ginger and the pink peppercorns, and there is a very gentle cardamom flavor to this too. I think that these spices were very thoughtfully blended: it’s a well-balanced masala chai blend that pairs well with the light Shou Mei base.
And I do taste the Shou Mei. When it comes to white teas, I think that Shou Mei is the least delicate tasting, and I think that it was the right choice for this particular blend because it needed something that could be tasted beneath the spices and other components of this blend. It has a subtle earthy tone, but the biggest contribution that I’m getting from the tea base is a refreshingly crisp note that enlivens the palate.
The coconut and vanilla notes work in unison to offer a soft, creamy note. I don’t taste a really obvious “coconut” flavor, but I taste more coconut in the aftertaste than in the actual sip. I find my thoughts debating among themselves as I’m trying to decide if I’d want more distinct coconut flavor to this tea. On the one hand, I do like the creaminess from the coconut and vanilla; it sort of gives a “latte-ish” taste to the cup without adding milk or cream to the tea (milk in white tea? No, that just seems wrong!) and I think that a stronger coconut presence might shift the focus off the lovely spices of this blend. I really like the blend as it is … then again, I really like coconut and there’s that part of me thinking “more coconut might be nice.”
The lemongrass adds a very light citrus-y note to the cup. It isn’t a strong presence, but it brings a little brightness to the overall flavor.
I really liked this Chai. It’s light and crisp, but still pleasantly spiced.