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What does white tea taste like?

Posted: Oct 10th, '10, 21:17
by nichm
I've never had white tea but I'm looking forward going to go to my local tea store and try a cup sometime next week.

How would you guys (and girls!) describe the taste of white tea though?

Re: What does white tea taste like?

Posted: Oct 10th, '10, 21:26
by Kunkali
It really depends on the type and what country it's harvested in....but generally I would say fruity and slightly floral....sometimes green beany but I find that more with silver needles than bai mudan

Re: What does white tea taste like?

Posted: Oct 10th, '10, 21:27
by debunix
Floral, fruity, sometimes a little delicately vegetal--that is, like a tender young snow pea pod, maybe. The most interesting even manages a little spiciness in there too, but that's pretty rare.

Re: What does white tea taste like?

Posted: Oct 10th, '10, 22:09
by bsteele
It reminds me of green tea... just more white tasting ;)

But yeah, taste like light green tea to me.

Re: What does white tea taste like?

Posted: Oct 11th, '10, 09:15
by nichm
Ooo spicy and fruity? I would've never thought that, I kinda had an idea that it tasty light and a bit like vanilla for some reason but never spicy or fruity.

Thanks for sharing guys

Re: What does white tea taste like?

Posted: Oct 12th, '10, 00:39
by debunix
nichm wrote:Ooo spicy and fruity?
Bai Mu Dan (or Pai Mu Tan) certainly is peachy; and I've had some silver needle and some Anji white tea that have managed a bit of spicy, sort of a tingle at the taste buds that normally respond to ginger/cloves/pepper--just a hint of it.

Re: What does white tea taste like?

Posted: Oct 12th, '10, 13:44
by TwoPynts
I had some Yunnan Silver Needle today that was anything but light and fruity. More spicy and vegetal, though not in a spinachy/seaweed way. More like squash or pumpkin. Very full mouth feel, lots of character.

Re: What does white tea taste like?

Posted: Oct 12th, '10, 16:30
by debunix
TwoPynts wrote:I had some Yunnan Silver Needle today that was anything but light and fruity. More spicy and vegetal, though not in a spinachy/seaweed way. More like squash or pumpkin. Very full mouth feel, lots of character.
"White tea" covers a lot of ground, and a lot of different teas with very different characters. But as a class, trying to figure out what their common element of being minimally processed creates, that distinguishes them from green or oolong teas, I think of more delicate flavors.

Re: What does white tea taste like?

Posted: Oct 13th, '10, 14:55
by entropyembrace
Yunnan silver needle...if it was made from a large leaf Yunnan varietal I can definitely see having a more robust flavour than is typical :)

Bai Mu Dan and Shou Mei can get quite dark and rich flavours...especially the Shou Mei. I think it´s more the silver needles tends to be very delicate because it´s made entirely from the leaf buds rather than because of the minimal white tea processing.

Re: What does white tea taste like?

Posted: Oct 13th, '10, 15:41
by teaisme
the silver needles from jing has a nice eggy touch too, finicky to extract it but when you do its delicious.
but yeah fruity is deff a stand out characteristic of many whites I have tried esp baimudan.

Delicate is not usually what I get because I brew cooler water longer steeps, so it comes out extremely fruity/sweet in your face

Re: What does white tea taste like?

Posted: Oct 14th, '10, 20:49
by nichm
Hmm... I still haven't had a cup yet but I'm really looking forward to it now! thanks for the answers.

Re: What does white tea taste like?

Posted: Oct 15th, '10, 10:03
by Alex
Most whites like peony and silver needle have a sort of cucumber / melon like freshness. Someone mentioned an almost slight pepper taste which I find in a lot of whites as well. Very pleasant.

Re: What does white tea taste like?

Posted: Oct 15th, '10, 20:52
by bagua7
Silver needles (Fujian variety...haven't tried the ones from other provinces) is an awesome tea and love to get drunk with it. Very pleasant and "nirvanic" feel to it. The flavour I found was sweet but subtle, fresh, fruity melon-like and definitively long lasting.

IMO, what characterises this tea is all the subtleties involved which are many plus that one brew will last you easily over 20 runs.

Re: What does white tea taste like?

Posted: Nov 1st, '10, 21:09
by verus
I have two white teas that I drink regularly, a white Darjeeling and a Bai Mu Dan (White Peony). They're both quite "dark" for a white tea, so not like Silver Needles which I have yet to try.

They're quite similar, with fruity tones, the Darjeeling more apricot and the Bai Mu Dan a bit sweeter, almost biscuit-y, with lots of impressions of vanilla and honey . The Bai Mu Dan is definitely very pleasant, almost a "festive" tea, but overall I prefer the Darjeeling because it has more depth and character.