Tag: White Tea

Titanic Blossom by California Tea House
White Tea / Flavoured
$3.00USD for 1 ball

California Tea House has provided me with Titanic Blossom for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

I love blossoming teas. There’s just something really magical about the artistry that goes into these beautiful hand-tied works of art. If you’re not familiar with blossoming teas, they are these tea balls that open up when steeped to reveal beautiful flowers inside – and I personally think they’re a real treat. These are definitely not teas that you would pop into a travel mug – you’ll want to sit down and enjoy the full steeping process and watch these balls open up!

Titanic Blossom came to me as an individually packaged tea ball. For this particular blossoming tea, it consists of silver needle (white tea), globe amaranth, jasmine, and peony flowers. The aroma from this tea ball is very subtle – I mostly smell the jasmine.

Preparation

California Tea House recommends steeping Titanic Blossom in boiling water for 4 to 6 minutes, until the flowers have opened up. I steeped Titanic Blossom for 5 minutes.

First Taste

Titanic Blossom steeps to a reddish orange, with full blooms of the globe amaranth, jasmine, and peony – one of each. The aroma is very floral, and has a hint of sweetness. As you can see from the image below, the flowers open up and are in nest of the silver needle tea leaves.

The flavour of this tea is quite floral – there’s a touch of sweetness, and I can taste the white tea base as well – it lends a nice crispness to this tea. I like the smoothness to this tea, it has a great flavour to it. I really enjoy the sweetness in this tea though, I’m not sure if that is a quality from the flowers or the silver needle, either way it goes well with the floral notes. The jasmine is noticeable and can be picked out, but isn’t to the point where it overwhelms the other floral aromas and flavours.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Titanic Blossom twice, and found that the floral notes were considerably less compared to the initial steep. The silver needle flavours were still present, so it was less floral but still remained sweet. It makes for a nice cup of tea still, even with less floral notes.

My Overall Impression

I loved California Tea House’s Titanic Blossom. I love blossoming teas because it’s entertainment and a tea, all in one. I would definitely recommend steeping this tea in a clear glass teapot, so you can get the full experience. The flavours in this blend of silver needle and flowers is delicious and well balanced. I think it would make an excellent iced tea – and how appropriate would those flowers be in the summer? I understand that blossoming teas always seem to be on the more expensive side, but I think you do need to take into consideration that it is a hand-tied floral arrangement inside of tea. It’s obviously not really an ‘every day’ sort of tea, but more of a tea for a special occasion or a #treatyoself moment and $3USD for a fancy treat doesn’t sound too bad!

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.

Organic Silver Needle by California Tea House
White Tea / Straight
Price$18.00USD for 2oz

California Tea House has provided me with Organic Silver Needle for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

California Tea House got in contact with me regarding trying out a few of their teas, and this was the first one: Organic Silver Needle! This silver needle white tea came to me in a sealed (and resealable!) pouch – opaque on the front and clear on the back so I could see the tea before I even opened the packaging. There were no steeping instructions listed on the packaging, but the URL of the company is included for more information. California Tea House describes their Organic Silver Needle as coming from the Fuding and Zhenhe districts of Fujian Province, and says that this white tea is picked between March 15 and April 10 – so specific! As well, this tea is picked when it’s not raining – what a neat detail to include about the harvesting process (and it probably makes it a lot easier for the workers as well).

These tea leaves are beautiful! If you’ve never encountered a silver needle before, the tea leaves are long and narrow and covered with what feels like soft, downy feathers. I highly recommend touching silver needle the next time that you can because it’s kitten-soft. The dry leaf has a very subtle sweet, floral aroma to it. Organic Silver Needle is a straight Chinese white tea.

Preparation

There were no preparation instructions on the packaging. On California Tea House’s product page, they recommend steeping Organic Silver Needle in below boiling water for 3-5 minutes. My initial steep of Organic Silver Needle was in 85°C (185°F) water for 3 minutes.

First Taste

Organic Silver Needle steeps to a light golden yellow after the first three minutes. I found the aroma to be lightly floral. The taste of this white tea is floral and smooth – no bitterness or astringency at the length of time I steeped it for, or at the temperature of water. I found there to be a nice sweetness to this tea, it makes for a pleasant and tasty cup of tea.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Organic Silver Needle a total of seven times (eight steeps total with the same leaves). The colouring of this tea became a more golden yellow with each steep, peaking in colour at the fourth resteep. As the colour gets deeper, the flavour gets stronger. The balance of the flavours stays consistent with each steep.

My Overall Impression

I loved California Tea House’s Organic Silver Needle. This straight white tea has a beautiful flavour balance, with a nice sweetness to it. The tea itself resteeps well and the tea leaves are lovely to touch and look at. If you haven’t had the opportunity before to try a silver needle, I would recommending trying it. The nice thing about quality straight teas, such as this one, is the ability to resteep over and over again, so you can get a lot of value out of the tea leaves.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.