A Tea Addict's Journal

Kashanganj snow bud

August 5, 2007 · 4 Comments

Today’s tea is also another sample from T Ching, just as yesterday’s. This one is a white tea, rather than an oolong. The leaves looks somewhat similar to some yinzhen one might find.

I asked Mr. Lochan yesterday how I should make this tea — whether I should use hotter or colder water to make it. He said hotter, so hotter it is. The water used was off boil, probably somewhere in the 90-95 degrees vicinity, rather than a cooler temperature. The tea yields a yellowish green liquor

The taste is not too different from some of the other white teas I’ve had that look similar to this one, I must say. There’s a decent amount of qi in this one, although perhaps because of the higher temperature, it was a little rough on the tongue. There’s a bit more lingering aftertaste here, but not a whole lot more than yesterday. I think personally I prefer white teas that are a little redder with a little more oxidation — a baimudan suits my taste better. This one is a touch green, although I think, by sniffing the lid of the gaiwan, it was processed at a relatively low temperature. It is sweet, and in the undertones one can detect the Darjeeling region origins of this tea.

Wet leaves of a tea like this, as one would expect, doesn’t look very different from the dried leaves

It’s a fine tea, and I should probably experiment with it a little more as I was a little distracted today. After all, I’m flying out tomorrow morning to Taiwan for the next leg of my research, so today’s been spent (and still spending…) on packing.

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4 responses so far ↓

  • kibi_kibi // August 6, 2007 at 12:28 am | Reply

    Qi and white tea? I too prefer white teas that have a bit more oxidation done to them and use generally lower grades of leaf, the fuller taste suits me more… Good luck on your trip to Taiwan, by the way. šŸ™‚

    As you can see I am a bit reluctant to part with my keyboard…

    -vl.

  • juliantai // August 6, 2007 at 1:14 pm | Reply

    When you mean Qi, do you mean the sizzling feeling in the mouth as if something is moving?

    The buds look quite green in the photo, can you see the white hairs?

    Tea liquor looks more orangy than the Fujian stuff I normally have …

    Have a safe journey and enjoy your trip to Taiwan šŸ™‚

  • Phyllo // August 6, 2007 at 2:52 pm | Reply

    I also think it’s a fine tea.  I used about 85′ C water to brew this tea with.  I thought it’s smooth, lightly grassy, floral, almost creamy and that unmistakable Darjeeling nose and taste…light muscatel.  This is the first Darjeeling tea that I have that is entirely made of buds (1-spear-1-flag mostly).  There are a lot of red streaks on the buds…which indicates higher oxidation.  Good stuff from Doke.

    All the best on your travels and research.

  • MarshalN // August 7, 2007 at 4:01 am | Reply

    No, qi is basically… a feeling of warmth or energy going down my back, at least that’s what I feel.

    Phyll – I’d prefer something a little higher in oxidation — something positively reddish. This tea is still a bit green for me…

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