Yunnan White Jasmine is a jasmine silver needle white tea from Verdant Tea.
This tea came as a sample with my last Verdant Tea order. I almost ordered this one! It was in my cart, but I was in one of those annoying “I need to order more to hit free shipping, but I’m already spending too much” problems, so I dropped it and requested it as my free sample.
DRY LEAF: When I snipped open my sample package – holy moly! It was a blast of jasmine! Really good jasmine! Can I wear this as perfume?
The leaves are a lovely white, grey green that feel firm. The white tea is accented with yellow-orange petals.
STEEPED: Queuing the gaiwan! I followed the gongfu brewing instructions, 175F for 5 seconds, adding 3 seconds after the third infusion.
Gentle swirls of jasmine perfume coming from my cup! The smell attracted the green owl, Laoshan again.
And he brought reinforcements again.
Very light colour tea – a hint of creamy yellow!
First infusion: the floral is light, yet the dominate flavor here. 5/10 on the Floral-o-meter! The texture is silky and smooth, something I haven’t experienced in a jasmine white tea before! There is also a soft sweetness melded into the jasmine floral that makes this cup easy to drink. There is also another interesting flavor note. Verdant describes it as “linen”. I was going to describe the flavor as “The flavor of sucking on a wet cotton washcloth while in the bathtub when you were a baby” but “Linen” is less wordy. The linen is comforting (to me, the baby cloth sucker) and clean – this tea has NO elements of over-perfumed, artificial or chemicalness.
Second infusion: This cup has a bit more colour and the creamy silky texture goes up a notch. The jasmine is still going strong. The sweetness is really good here – it is very clean and bright.
Third Infusion: The flavor is changing – like the leaves took a breath from the ground. The floral jasmine has a bit of a earthy pine. The silky texture took a sharp drop, thus the tea has become crisp! Very interesting!
Fourth and Fifth Infusion: Yunnan White Jasmine changed again! Love it! The tea is much more crisp and the sweetness has jumped and that linen flavor is more accented. The earthy pine flavor is great, complimenting the jasmine. It’s like I can taste the flowers and the field they came from.
Hey, Oolong Owl! Fill up the gaiwan again!
YAY!
Sixth and Seventh Infusion: The jasmine is still going strong, sweet, earthy and crisp! I’m getting a teeny bit of astringency that hits my teeth, though is quite pleasant.
Eighth Infusion: The sweetness here has gotten kinda fruity, kinda like fresh melon. However, the tea has lightened significantly in flavor.
COLD STEEPED: You know I had to try Yunnan White Jasmine cold steeped. I found at the 2 and 3 hour mark, there was little flavor. I tried again at the 6 hour mark and the flavor was much better! Yunnan White Jasmine cold steeped is refreshing, clean and jasmine. The texture is a little different than hot – as it sips thin, sweet and floral, but end of sip, the tea is silky, which lingers, along with the jasmine flavor, in the throat. Very nice!
COMMENTS: If gorgeous was a taste, this tea would be it!
The floral in Yunnan White Jasmine is outstanding, like I’m drinking an amazing artwork of a flower. Uhh, wait, that doesn’t make any sense and sounds like I’m on Iron Chef Japan.
As a floral lover, I was quite blown away. So blown away, if I had more of this tea I wouldn’t drink my other jasmines. Gah, I hate saying that, but it’s true. If you tea owlpeeps can try this Verdant Tea white, I highly recommend it!
BONUS PIC:
Baby Mint Owl’s first tea
