Even if you don't like the taste according to the site you'll have gotten an awful lot of anti-oxidants for your money, yeah!Space Samurai wrote:I think I'll waste a week's worth of tea money on it; I'm simply too curious. Its the "what if..." If matcha can taste so amazing and unique, could this be just as good...
Mar 1st, '08, 15:10
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Mar 1st, '08, 15:36
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Apr 17th, '08, 23:54
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I just tried powdering some silver needles... and it did not come out well. Took forever, and I hardly got any tea. Plus, it just tasted like tea flavored hairballs. I'll post pictures soon.
However, I would still be open to trying their powdered tea, because it is much more finely powdered than my homemade stuff.
However, I would still be open to trying their powdered tea, because it is much more finely powdered than my homemade stuff.
I have yet to try this but I did ask them for more info about it.
Here is the response I got.
"Thank you for your interest in our tea products.
I believe the granite ground white tea is made by grinding Mao Feng leaves.
These, like the leaves used for matcha, are quality leaves--not left overs
from normal production. The teas that we ship out have an expiry date of
about 1 year."
"The white tea used in the granite ground white tea is technically a type of
white tea similar to bai mu tan, but not quite exactly.
There are more downy tips than traditional bai mu tan teas, yet the leaves
are more even, which seems to be the reason why the industry is referring to
it as a mao feng.
The tea is from Fujian province, and was harvested last year in the spring.
It was processed several months after in our facility in Japan.
As for the harvesting, we cannot give a precise date, as this grade of white
tea is a blend and has multiple (50 +) origins.
We chose to use this variety of white tea rather than Yin Zhen primarily
because of production reasons. The standard shou mei and bai mu tan
varieties worked well but tasted pretty abrasive to say the least, while the
yin zhen fibers were so fine that it did not pulverize and smoothly go
through our sifter (sifter is 100 mesh). We thus chose a blended happy
medium to ensure consistency.
Also, all teas were tested for herbicides, pesticides, and other
agricultural residues according to European regulation standards before
processing."
Here is the response I got.
"Thank you for your interest in our tea products.
I believe the granite ground white tea is made by grinding Mao Feng leaves.
These, like the leaves used for matcha, are quality leaves--not left overs
from normal production. The teas that we ship out have an expiry date of
about 1 year."
"The white tea used in the granite ground white tea is technically a type of
white tea similar to bai mu tan, but not quite exactly.
There are more downy tips than traditional bai mu tan teas, yet the leaves
are more even, which seems to be the reason why the industry is referring to
it as a mao feng.
The tea is from Fujian province, and was harvested last year in the spring.
It was processed several months after in our facility in Japan.
As for the harvesting, we cannot give a precise date, as this grade of white
tea is a blend and has multiple (50 +) origins.
We chose to use this variety of white tea rather than Yin Zhen primarily
because of production reasons. The standard shou mei and bai mu tan
varieties worked well but tasted pretty abrasive to say the least, while the
yin zhen fibers were so fine that it did not pulverize and smoothly go
through our sifter (sifter is 100 mesh). We thus chose a blended happy
medium to ensure consistency.
Also, all teas were tested for herbicides, pesticides, and other
agricultural residues according to European regulation standards before
processing."
Ok People I bit the bullet on this one!
I could not get it to froth up as regular Matcha, but the instructions are to use a chasen and chashaku. I went a step further and also sifted. So I'm not sure it is even supposed to have a froth on top since there are no pictures on the site.
And maybe there are no pictures on the site, because this is some nasty looking brew. The first time I think I used too much powder and it was brown as mud. The second time I might say it's breen. You know that deep khaki that is almost brown? There is no translucency. It's as solid as coffee. As you can see in my pictures the powder is a khaki color, but it turns deep brown.
The aroma is very pleasant from both the powder and the brew. Smelling quite normally green and fresh. The taste is hard to describe, It is astringent with maybe a hint of a over-brewed Darjeeling taste. Not white and not the vegetal flavor of green. Now it could be I did something wrong, however I've tried it twice the flavor is still pretty much the same.
It is intriguing, and I'm up for trying new things, but I don't think this one will be finding a permanent place in my tea pantry.
I could not get it to froth up as regular Matcha, but the instructions are to use a chasen and chashaku. I went a step further and also sifted. So I'm not sure it is even supposed to have a froth on top since there are no pictures on the site.
And maybe there are no pictures on the site, because this is some nasty looking brew. The first time I think I used too much powder and it was brown as mud. The second time I might say it's breen. You know that deep khaki that is almost brown? There is no translucency. It's as solid as coffee. As you can see in my pictures the powder is a khaki color, but it turns deep brown.
The aroma is very pleasant from both the powder and the brew. Smelling quite normally green and fresh. The taste is hard to describe, It is astringent with maybe a hint of a over-brewed Darjeeling taste. Not white and not the vegetal flavor of green. Now it could be I did something wrong, however I've tried it twice the flavor is still pretty much the same.
It is intriguing, and I'm up for trying new things, but I don't think this one will be finding a permanent place in my tea pantry.
I thought about baking, but I'd much rather share my lovely experience withCynTEAa wrote:Eeeek! That's scary looking, Vic! Do you think it could be used in baking or is it too far away from a white tea taste?
a fellow teachatter.
Agreed. And you should see how the silt in the bottom looks near the end.LavenderPekoe wrote:That is really, icky looking.
Double Eeeek!
.