Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Imperial Tea Garden
Tea Description:
First planted with tea in 1903, the majority of Kenya’s tea gardens are clustered on the slopes of the Great Rift Valley which produces 22% of the worlds tea exports. Unlike most of the tea produced in the Nandi region, Kenya Silverback is one of the rarest teas in the world with only 600 kgs produced annually. The tea is only made from the choicest white tips harvested from select plants 5600 ft – 6500 ft above sea level. The fresh leaf is hand plucked, hand rolled and naturally dried resulting in a white tea with a lot of character. The cup opens with notes of honey, roasted nuts and Madagascar vanilla that lead the way to a long smooth finish. A lot of mouth feel for most white tea connoisseurs.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I drink a lot of tea. I’m sure that comes as no surprise to those who read this blog regularly. Every day, I drink at least one type of black tea and one type of green tea, and I try to find time for Oolong daily too. White teas, I don’t drink as often as I drink other tea types, because while I do adore white teas, I find myself tiring of them faster than I do other types of tea. I like them, but, I just prefer green, black and Oolongs.
But I don’t think I could ever grow tired of this Kenya Silverback White Tea from Imperial Tea Garden. The aroma is gentle and sweet, and the mouthfeel is velvet-y smooth.
And the flavor! It’s amazing! So many nuanced layers of flavor within each sip! The above description suggests notes of honey, nuts and vanilla, and I taste those. They sit right at the forefront of the sip, tantalizing the palate with sweet, creamy, toasty flavor.
But then, off in the distance, I notice the distinct flavor of freshly cut hay. If you’ve ever been out in a hayfield just after the hay has been cut, you know what I’m talking about here: I taste the air of the hayfield just after harvest. It is a light, airy kind of taste with distinct hay-like notes. Slightly vegetative and warm, sun-ripened notes. I taste crispness and even hints of flower.
This white tea is truly remarkable! Sweet, but not too sweet. Juicy and refreshing and absolutely delightful. I love it, and highly recommend it to all tea enthusiasts out there.
White Rose Tea from The Spice & Tea Exchange
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: The Spice & Tea Exchange
Tea Description:
This fragrant white tea blend consists of all organic ingredients. Roses, jasmine, and lavender are combined with rejuvenating peppermint for a delicious and scented cup. Great for morning or evening enjoyment. Contains: green tea, rose petals, jasmine flowers, lavender flowers, peppermint leaves. Moderate Caffeine.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The aroma of the dry leaf is enchanting! It has a strong peppermint scent, but, because the rose is also quite strong, these two seem to contrast each other enough to offer a bouquet that is beautifully floral and yet, deliciously minty at the same time. In the background, I also smell notes of jasmine and lavender. It’s a very pleasing fragrance.
The infusion is also nicely fragrant, smelling a bit more of the rose than of the peppermint, which was what I was hoping for. But I purchased this tea based on the promise of a “White Rose Tea” … and not a peppermint one. I am glad that the rose is prominent, with notes of lavender and jasmine accenting the rose and a hint of peppermint in the background. It smells fresh and romantic, and evokes thoughts of summer when roses are in bloom.
With all these strong floral and peppermint notes, I expected the flavor of the white tea to be absent. But it is not. On the contrary, the flavor of the white tea is very well-defined with its sweet, slightly creamy attributes. It is a very nice base for the flavors of rose, lavender and jasmine – as well as the peppermint – to express themselves.
Not surprisingly, the rose is the strongest component of the cup. It actually starts out rather perfume-y, to the point of numbing the tip of the tongue with its sharp, perfumed quality. That being said, somehow, it is not an off-putting perfume-y taste. It doesn’t taste soapy, it is more reminiscent of rose water than of Aunt Bertha’s perfume. And once the tea has cooled slightly, the flavor tends to settle in, and allows the palate to explore the other notes with ease.
The jasmine and lavender are softer flavors, and I find they serve more as an accent to the rose rather than as individual floral notes. It becomes more of a medley of floral flavor with the rose as the main focus of that medley. The peppermint is also a softer flavor, and I found myself actually looking for it with the first few sips, it was that soft. Now that I am halfway through the cup, the peppermint is more apparent, although it is still not what I’d consider to be a strong flavor. This sometimes aggressive herb seems rather content to be a background note here, and allow the flowers to take center stage.
I find this to be a very enjoyable cup of tea. It offers a delightful sense of tranquility as well as romance, so pour two cups of this tea and sip it with someone special.
Assam Mothola White (White Assam) from Grey’s Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Grey’s Tea
Tea Description:
Recognisably malty, this is a beautiful tea not only to drink but to look at. The long white velvety buds of White Assam have a rich floral aroma and produce a rich flowery liquor that has good definition but without astringency. This is a lovely, highly exclusive and most beautifully made tea from the Methola Estate, located on the south bank of the great Brahamaputra river in eastern Assam. It is one that matches the very best white teas from China but with the rich maltiness that is exclusive to Assam. No other white teas are known to be produced in Assam. The buds are meticulously hand picked in early spring and are then air dried. Brew for fifteen minutes. This is a highly prized and unique white tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh goodness, this is delicious.
I (again) did not follow the suggested steeping parameters. I did not steep this for fifteen minutes. Something inside me was not able to steep an Assam that long – regardless of the leaf type, so I steeped this for four minutes. I’ve had one too many bitter Assam teas (yes, they were black, but they were bitter nonetheless) after steeping just seconds beyond three minutes, so steeping this one for four minutes was difficult for me to do.
But it turned out amazing with a brew time of four minutes. It is sweet, creamy and delicious. It has that malty note that I’ve come to expect from a high quality Assam tea, and the way the malty note melds with the creaminess of this tea … it becomes absolutely decadent. So smooth and rich, with virtually no astringency … and nope, no bitterness.
Perhaps this would be alright to steep a little longer. However, I must say that I’m really enjoying it at four minutes, and it’s hard to believe that I could enjoy it more if it were steeped longer. I’d just have to wait longer to enjoy it!
This tea is good for at least two infusions, as well … perhaps more! I found the second infusion (I steeped it for six minutes the second time) to be still malty and creamy, although these two notes seem to have softened somewhat to make way for the emerging fruit and flower notes that I tasted. Not overly floral, but pleasantly so, I found the fruit notes to give this a delicious, juicy quality that was positively thirst-quenching.
This is a tea I’d recommend to all tea drinkers out there. It’s one of the most unique teas I’ve yet to taste. It is different from a typical white tea, it is different than a typical Assam tea. It is in a league all its own: it’s absolutely wonderful!
Concord Grape Bai Mu Dan from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
So, I’m a little extra excited about our new freeze-dried grapes. I can’t help it, they are just too much fun to blend with. I’m hoping our customers will forgive me and enjoy this deliciousness.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Grape is not my favorite flavor. I like the fruit alright when eaten fresh (and I like to freeze grapes and eat them like that), but when it comes to grape flavored foods, I tend to steer clear of them. I don’t like grape candy or gum or soda or ice pops. I don’t even really like grape juice, jelly or jam. So, when 52Teas announced this tea as their tea of the week for the week of May 7, 2012, I was less than overjoyed. In fact, it would be more accurate to say I was a wee bit disappointed.
But that was before I tried it.
And as I sit here, sipping this Concord Grape Bai Mu Dan, I’m quite enjoying it, despite the fact that I usually don’t care for grape flavored drinks. This is actually quite good!
The flavor is sweet, but there is enough tartness to the grape flavor to keep it from tasting like the icky-grape-ness that I dislike so much in the soda and other grape flavored foods. This tastes a bit more like grape juice to me, but the delicious, light Bai Mu Dan offers a balance so that I’m not drinking that sickeningly thick, sweet-tart juice.
What I’m trying to say here is that the Bai Mu Dan saves this tea from being something that I’d probably otherwise dislike, and turned it into something that I’m actually enjoying. And the flavor gets better as it cools, which means this will be my next pitcher of iced tea!
There are those (I’ll call them “purists”) who think that the reason tea artists flavor teas is because the teas aren’t of good enough quality to enjoy on their own… so the teas are “masked” by the flavors to make them consumable. I don’t really agree with this viewpoint, as I have found many tea artists (like Frank at 52Teas) who use very high quality teas in their flavored teas. But, if it were the case, I’d have to argue that with this particular tea, I think that the opposite is closer to the truth. The tea actually makes the Concord Grape drinkable!
White Pear Tea from Tealicious Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Tealicious Tea Company
Tea Description:
Our White Pear Tea is our best seller, it is a sweet and aromatic tea with the delicate flavors of roses and chunks of pears gently blended with Pai Mu Dan. It offers the perfect flavor and taste in every cup.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This tea smells incredible. I’d never think of combining the aromas of pear and rose together to create something so pleasing to the nose, but, it really is delightful … inspiring me to imagine walking through a pear orchard that is “fenced in” by rows of rose bushes, with the breeze gently picking up the fragrance of the rose and the pear and swirling them around in the air as I stroll.
What I really like, though, is the fact that I not only smell the pear, but I taste it too. It seems that pear is a difficult flavor to nail for some tea artists, because more often than not, it seems, when I encounter a pear flavored tea, I taste tea but I don’t a lot of pear. Pear is one of those delicate, sumptuous fruits that need to be expressed “just so” … and all too often, tea artists aren’t able to capture the flavor.
But I taste the pear here. And I taste the rose! And what an interesting flavor these two ingredients create together. The rose tastes sweet and floral and exotic, while the pear has a deliciously sweet taste – a distinct pear taste!
And amidst all this excitement over the flavors, you might think that the Pai Mu Dan has been forgotten, or worse, not even noticed because its flavor had been obscured by the pear and rose … but that certainly is not the case. The white tea is fresh, light and delicately vegetative. It melds beautifully with the pear and the rose to create a very lush, relaxing cup of tea … this is a lovely tea, indeed.