Jingmai Sun-Dried “Three Aroma” Bai Mu Dan White Tea

Jingmai Sun-Dried “Three Aroma” Bai Mu Dan White Tea, Spring 2018 via @yunnan_sourcing.

Another White tea which mixes leaf and buds. One that even more than yesterday’s illustrates the fragile nature of white tea. And why, when you see it in the bulk bin at rainbow grocery, it’s just a pile of broken leaves.

According to the Yunnan Sourcing site, this is called “Three Aroma” because the smell of the dry leaves, the wet leaves, and the tea in the cup are very distinct and different. The smell of the leaves is tobacco/dried fruit. The wet leaves are grassy/vegetal. And the tea itself a bit minty/floral.

It’s funny, because just yesterday I was thinking how white tea was so very much about aroma, and what you got in the cup was indicated by the smell of the leaves. Live and learn.

This is a more assertive tea than the bud-only white teas, with a pleasant and lightening buzz. Subtle sweetness and good length of flavor. The dried fruit flavors show again in the after taste. Really haunting, finding myself thinking about it long after I finished the last of the tea.

Though, I think I steeped it a bit too hot.

Fine, another tea accessory you need is an accurate thermometer, so you don’t overcook your white and green teas. Or get one of them fancy water boilers that allow you to pick the temperature your water is heated to.

#YunnanSourcing #YunnanTea #WhiteTea #tasseography #Tea #Cha

Sun Dried Buds

Yunnan Sourcing Early Spring 2018 “Sun Dried Buds” Wild Pu-Erh Tea Varietal.

Seriously, how can you NOT want to brew a tea from these fuzzy little buds?

Heh, I don’t think I’ve drunk a tea before which made the physical connection between the tea tree leaves/buds and the beverage so apparent.

The FlavorScent is described on the Yunnan Sourcing web site as evocative of Pine forest, but it reminds me more of scents I associate with spicy green chile. Good body, a slight sweet taste, and some floral/perfume notes that linger on the palate after you are done sipping. Tea liquid is nearly perfectly clear.

Overall, a very subtle tea drinking experience.

#Tea #Cha #WhiteTea #YunnanSourcing #tasseography #Gaiwan #gongfucha #gongfu

White Tea of Feng Qing

Yunnan Sourcing Spring 2018 Silver Needles White Tea of Feng Qing.

A straight infusion of the Jade Needles in a teapot last week proved to be a bit intense. Showing too much of the vegetal character of the tea. So, I decided I would give today’s tea a better chance to shine by brewing with a gaiwan.

Brewed in this manner, the White Tea of Feng Qing proves to be a subtle and ghostly tea. Floral and spice aromas are almost more implied than present. The vegetal character which dominated the Jade Needles is only detectable as an after taste, more present in the smell of the leaves than the tea itself.

An interesting bit of trivia, while Americans and the British tend to classify teas by the color of the leaves, in China, teas tend to be named after the color of the brewed tea liquid. That’s why we call oxidized teas “black” and the Chinese tend to call them “red”. With white teas, we call them white because of the white hairs on the leaves and the Chinese because the brewed tea liquid is nearly indistinguishable in color from plain water. In fact, while it is not uncommon for plain hot water to be served as a beverage in China, (almost all water is boiled before drinking,) sometimes this plain hot water is called “white tea”.

#WhiteTea #YunnanSourcing #Cha #Tea #tasseography

Ai Lao Mountain Jade Needle White Tea

Spring 2018 Yunnan Sourcing Ai Lao Mountain Jade Needle White Tea.

Today’s white tea is much closer to a green tea in character than yesterday’s Silver Needles. Strong green vegetal character, reminding me a bit of the smell of cooked mild green chiles or raw potatoes. But not in a bad way.

A pleasant lightening buzz centered in the upper chest and behind the eyes.

Which brings me to another tea myth, that green and white teas have significantly less caffeine than black teas. All tea categories are made from pretty much the same source material, so all have caffeine. White tea, Green Tea, Black Tea, etc. By weight, the caffeine content is, more or less, the same across tea categories. However, with broken leaf teas, the caffeine is much more available to be immediately dissolved than with whole leaf teas. One steep of broken leaf tea will have more caffeine than one steep of whole leaf tea. However, multiple steeps of whole leaf tea may express more caffeine, (and the other substances in the tea leaves,) than a single steep of broken leaf. Final trivia, since with powdered teas, like matcha, you actually drink the leaf with the tea, those tea drinks can have more caffeine than steeped teas!

The Chinese talk about the feelings and energy they get from different teas using the term “cha qi”. “Tea Energy” or “Tea Power”. It is related to caffeine rush, but not entirely the same.

Different teas can give you different sensations, some pleasant, some not so pleasant. Pay attention to how you feel after drinking a particular tea. If it isn’t a nice feeling, maybe it isn’t a tea for you.

#WhiteTea #YunnanSourcing #YunnanTea #Cha #Tea #tasseography

White Tea

Organic Silver Needle White Tea, Two Hills Tea, Yunnan, China, via the Rainbow Grocery bulk section.

All tea is made from the young leaf buds and leaves of the Cammelia sinensis plant.

The major differences between the categories of tea, (white, green, yellow, black/red, and dark/Pu-Erh,) are due to the methods in which the leaves are processed after picking.

White Tea is the most simply processed of all teas. Tea buds are picked, allowed to wither in the sun and slightly oxidized, then dried quickly with low heat.

The fact that white tea leaves aren’t rolled or formed, means the dried leaves are fragile and prone to breaking. Avoid broken tea. Broken tea leaves tend to make a harsher steeped beverage.

A good general rule is, the darker the tea, the hotter the water. The water for the very dark Pu-Erh should be just off the boil. For white tea, let your water sit for a good few minutes after boiling to cool before steeping your tea. (If you like to measure, the water for white tea should be around 180F or 80C.)

Like with high quality green tea, you can fudge the brewing process a bit with white tea. You don’t really need a separate brewing vessel. You can either brew it right in your glass or in a share pitcher.

Add a generous pinch of leaves to the pitcher or glass, cover with water, wait a few minutes. When you’ve drunk it down half way, add some more appropriately heated water. Continue until it tastes more like water than tea.

White tea is subtly colored and flavored. It should have a lingering sweet flavor with overtones of fruit, herbs, or grass.

This tea is on the grassy/briny side, with some fruit-ish and perfume-like overtones. Sandalwood, maybe? Pleasant, but I can’t quite decide if it is more compelling or interesting. Nice length of flavor, though.

#WhiteTea #SilverNeedles #Cha #Tea #tasseography