the_skua steeps

I’m finishing my tasting of silver needles with a tea that’s like a pair of old worn, comfortable moccasins to me now. I’ve had this tea at my desk for a month or so now and enjoy it at least once a week. It’s familiar, warm, and safe. While that certainly sways my opinion of the tea, I think it also gives me the opportunity to be less flash-in-the-pan about it.

Unlike the previous two Green Tea Lovers examples from Sri Lanka and Kenya, this tea does not outpour a majority of its aroma in the first steep. Instead, it takes some warming agony of the leaves to breathe. Once open, the aromas are delicate but full of warm dew, honeydew melon, steamed straw, and carrot juice. There are lots of savory herbal elements to the flavor, rosemary stalks and sweet mint. It has an impeccable body of natural sweetness balanced with dry, parched grasses. A long lingerer, this tea was giving solid infusions at the 7th steep. It could have continued on.

Compared to say the Rishi Fuding Grand Cru, I don’t think this tea carries as much complexity, nuance or detail, but its incredibly well rounded, soft, and approachable. Most importantly, it leaves me sitting at my desk with a calm, warm glow and pleasant thoughts bubbling through my head. A fitting end to a very enjoyable run of silver needles. Thanks for the organization, Chip! I’ll try to put together a summary of my experiences with the series tonight or tomorrow.

Tags: silver needle, white

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 10th, 2010 at 9:46 AM and is filed under group tastings, silver needle, white. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.