Teakan’s Rare Willow White

Rare Willow White by Teakan
White Tea / Straight
$30.00 for 60g

Rare Willow White is part of Teakan’s Volume 4 Exploration Kit, a collection of five single origin teas. Rare Willow White makes up 10g of the 60g kit.

First Impressions

Rare Willow White comes in a sealed, resealable kraft paper pouch with a very familiar label. Unsurprisingly, Rare Willow White is a white tea. This particular one comes from Maipokhari, Ilam, Nepal. Fun fact, the tea industry began in that region back in 1863 and Nepal is responsible for producing 16.23 million kilograms of tea every year – with the majority being grown in Ilam. Rare Willow White is a 2nd flush tea harvested in 2020.

The leaves are long, wiry, with a great mix of colorus from cream, spring green, olive, brown, and a deep brown that’s almost black. There’s a great range in colours here, which makes it a such joy to look at. There’s a light floral sweetness to it, which makes it kind of enticing.

Preparation

Teakan recommends two different steeping temperatures for Rare Willow White. For those steeping western style, Teakan recommends 75°C (167°F) water for 1 minute. For those opting to go the gongfu route, they recommend 80°C (176°F) water for 15 seconds.

I opted to go the western style as it’s easier for me to pour and steep for 1 minute versus 15 seconds.

First Taste

Rare Willow White steeps to a light yellow. The aroma is lightly floral. This white tea steeps smooth – it has a nice mouthfeel to it with zero astringency or bitterness when steeped for 1 minute. The flavour is floral, with a hint of fruitiness and just a touch of sweetness. Nothing too overwhelming, but it helps accent the floral notes. It has a bit of a crispness to it, and it’s just a very easy tea to drink.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Rare Willow White six times (seven steeps total with the same leaves). The tea itself became a darker golden yellow as I went, and the floral notes got stronger, with a heavier fruity undertone as I steeped. It was still very easy to drink, and I liked tasting the very subtle differences between each steep. I found that the flavour began to wane by the third resteep (fourth steep total), but it was still palatable by the sixth resteep.

My Overall Impression

I loved Teakan’s Rare Willow White. Honestly, what a treat to try a white tea from Nepal – especially one that just resteeps so well and has a great flavour to it. I love the light sweetness that mingles well with the floral and fruity notes. Rare Willow White certainly has a great flavour, aroma, and the leaves are pretty to look at as well. I definitely enjoyed this one hot, but also had a cup of it cooled down with ice and it does well as an iced tea as well.

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Masters Teas’ Bai Hao Yin Zhen

Bai Hao Yin Zhen by Masters Teas
White Tea / Straight
$29.00USD for 1.5oz

Masters Teas has provided me with Bai Hao Yin Zhen for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Bai Hao Yin Zhen came in a sealed, resealable pouch. I’m tickled at the opportunity to try the April 2021 harvest of this tea, after having had the April 2020 harvest. The leaves come from Fujian, China, and were harvested in this year. As with most of the teas from Masters Teas, the teas are single origin and description of the farmers and location – which is a nice little touch that you don’t get with a tea that isn’t single origin.

Bai Hao Yin Zhen is also known as Silver Needle, and one of the trademark characteristics for a good Silver Needle is to be covered with those fuzzy feathery parts on the leaves. These leaves are green or fuzzy white. The leaves are soft and have a very faint, sweet and floral aroma and are just really pretty to look at. I do wish that the aroma was stronger, to give me a better idea of what’s to come, but I’m still eager to taste it.

Preparation

Masters Teas recommends steeping Bai Hao Yin Zhen in 170°F (77°C) water for 2 to 3 minutes. I opted to do an initial steep of Bai Hao Yin Zhen for 2 minutes.

First Taste

Bai Hao Yin Zhen steeps to a pale yellow. It has a sweet floral aroma. It’s a faint colour, but the flavour is interesting. I find it to be a blend of light floral sweetness, with a hint of hay or grass. It makes for a complex blend, as I find it difficult to determine where one flavour ends and the other begins – it’s so well blended with a nice hint of sweetness to round it all out.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Bai Hao Yin Zhen seven times (eight steeps total with the same leaves), adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. The flavour deepened – more grassy and straw and less floral as I steeped. It lacked sweetness by the end of my steeping session of the leaves.

My Overall Impression

I loved Masters Teas’ Bai Hao Yin Zhen. This was definitely pleasant to drink and experience from the dry leaf to steeped tea. I admired the beauty in the dry leaf, and then getting to taste the tea as I went through the steeps was a real treat. I would definitely recommend resteeping these leaves, and enjoy having it hot or perhaps cold steeped or iced – it certainly has a pleasant flavour to it with the grassy notes throughout.

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Teakan’s Moonlight White

Moonlight White by Teakan
White Tea / Straight
$30.00 for 66g

Moonlight White is part of Teakan’s Volume 3 Exploration Kit, a collection of five single origin teas. Moonlight White makes up 10g of the 66g kit.

First Impressions

A good white tea is occasionally hard to come by. There’s just something lovely about a minimally processed tea – something as close to being freshly plucked off of the plant as you can get… And then there’s Teakan with their Moonlight White as part of their 3rd Exploration Kit. Moonlight White was harvested in spring 2020, so it’s pretty new to the world. It is from Simao, Yunnan, China. It comes in the very familiar kraft paper pouch that is sealed and resealable with the minimalistic labeling design that Teakan uses – white with plain black lettering. Just something about it that I love. While this pouch only contains 10g of tea (it is part of a sampler, after all), 10g can go along way when it comes to a straight tea. Plus,  I feel like the leaves just take up so much space and it definitely feels like more than 10g of tea.

The leaves are wildly diverse in colour – ranging from pale cream to dark brown. There’s lots of feathery bits visible in the leaves, it’s quite amazing how detailed the leaves are after going through the drying process to become tea. There’s minimal to no twist in the leaves and they honestly look like someone plucked them and just dropped them onto a tray to dry. But look! They just take up so much space, so you really get quite an airy tea for 10g. The aroma of Moonlight White is honey sweet and floral – it reminds me of spring and taking walks in the forest after a rain – it just has a freshness about it.

Preparation

Teakan recommends steeping Moonlight White in 90°C (194°F) water for 2-3 minutes if steeping western style and 25-30 seconds if steeping gongfu style. For my own personal preference, I opted to steep Moonlight White in the western style for an initial steep of 2 minutes.

First Taste

As you can see, Moonlight White steeps quite a pale yellow in the initial steep. The aroma of the steeped tea is very similar to the dry leaf – sweet and floral. The floral is really light, but doesn’t taste as being like a floral perfume which is a huge plus. I enjoy the gentle sweetness in each sip and it has a great mouthfeel to it, just a lightly thickened texture to it. A pleasant and smooth cup of tea to drink.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Moonlight White a total of seven times (eight steeps total with the same leaves). The tea itself got darker and more golden yellow as I did more resteeps, and the flavour skewed more towards floral while I think the level of sweetness remained fairly similar to the initial steep. There was also more fruity notes as I continued steeping, but it remains floral-forward. It reminds of the fruity flavours of lychee if I needed to give it a label.

My Overall Impression

I loved Teakan’s Moonlight White. This is such a pleasant white tea and I feel like it was just so giving – so good to resteep, a great flavour with a natural sweetness, and just makes for a nice cup of tea. I would highly recommend resteeping this if you have the time for it because it’s well worth it. Beautiful leaves with a beautiful flavour. This is the type of tea that just makes me really appreciate the tea plant in its purest form.

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