Silver Needle - Organic
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Commercial Description
Harvested only a few days each spring, Silver Needle is the highest grade of white tea and one of the rarest teas in the world. Silver Needle’s clear, delicate, nectar-like infusion has an evanescent sweetness and a mellow, lingering finish...
Ratings & Reviews
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63 Aroma: 6/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 3/5Alex Zorach (1453 reviews) on Feb. 12th, 2014
To be fair, I'm not a huge fan of silver needle white tea, so this wasn't among my all-time favorite teas, but but I thought this was a good example of this style, and very enjoyable to drink. Served in Velvet Sky Bakery in Jenkintown--an ongoing thank-you to Velvet Sky for ordering numerous small samples to allow me to continue sampling Octavia's catalogue of teas. I have been really enjoying it!
Brews a very pale-colored cup, like I expect for Silver Needle. Very clean, but relatively full-bodied for a silver needle.
Aroma mild, melony, with a hint of spice...mostly cinnamon but almost suggests dried ginger as well. Flavor is mild There's also a delicate, floral finish, with notes of fresh straw or hay, but leaving a muted bitter aftertaste. It almost suggests chamomile in this regard
I brewed with boiling water, using more than a teaspoon of leaf, and steeping for about five minutes.
Silver needle tea can be very high in caffeine; sometimes I feel wired after drinking it, especially when I brew it strongly. I found this tea seemed a little less caffeinated than most silver needles though--and I had brewed it pretty strongly. I also found that it performed better under multiple infusions. It's quite slow to infuse: after a minute or two it didn't have much flavor, but I found after about a 4 minute steep, it still had enough flavor left for a second 10 minute steep.
Even considering how it can make multiple infusions, this is an expensive tea: $136 a pound when bought in bulk. It's definitely good quality relative to other silver needle in its price range, but I tend to think that this style of tea is overpriced and overrated. I personally prefer white peony and I can't see paying the premium for this mild-flavored tea when I prefer the darker, more full-bodied ones which are cheaper anyway. For comparison, Octavia's white peony is $50 a pound, less than half the price.
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