This one was surprisingly different from the pure, unscented silver needles from Wegmans. I liked it much more. Compared to other jasmine silver needles I tried in the past but did not review, this one was much more aromatic.

The dry leaf smells very strongly like wintergreen, almost suggestive of bubblegum. I found the aroma somewhat cloying. Thankfully, the brewed cup was more pleasant. Very mild flavor, sweet and with very little bitterness or sourness, and little astringency.

Upon pouring water over the leaf, a more typical aroma of white tea comes out, with tones of melon and sweet rice, and the aroma seems more balanced. It still doesn't smell like jasmine at all, but it smells good.

I thought this tea was very good but expensive relative to how much I enjoyed it. It's the same exact price as Wegmans Tama Ryokucha and Ureshino Sencha, two teas I would prefer to this. I also prefer Wegmans pure jasmine tea and their white peony (bai mu dan) white tea, both of which are much cheaper.

When brewing as recommended, 180F water, 3 minute infusion, I found the second cup much more floral than the first, with tones of honeysuckle that were either absent, or overpowered by the wintergreen-like quality in the first cup. I normally like wintergreen in the aroma of teas, but in this tea it was too much--I think the tea was too thin-bodied which made that quality seem unpleasant to me.

I preferred making one long steeping. I tried upping the water temperature a bit and some off aromas came out...normally I find white teas aren't picky about brewing temperature, but this tea seemed more so.

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