Snow Sprout

Confusing! I am pretty sure that the sample packet said ‘green tea’ on it and this page says it is classified as white tea. From reading the previous notes, it seems like Golden Moon are not sure themselves how to classify it. Oh well! It is sure very subtle for a green tea. Slightly similar to Adagio’s Green Needle – except that one actually DOES taste like a green. There is nothing particularly special about Snow Sprout. Pretty decent minty-flowery aftertaste that I love so much about whites. I think I have yet another sample of it and I am sure I will enjoy it, but I don’t think I will be buying a greater amount of it any time soon.

Super light, super fresh tasting! (Even for an old sample like mine is!) I think I may have oversteeped it a little, I got distracted by something shiny. But it was still clean and fresh tasting, a hint of greenness, a hint of sweet. Really nice!

The dry leaves are gorgeous – the long twisted strands are a delight to look at.
I brewed as directed, but the tea came out light. Even too light to actually get flavor. Not more than very slightly flavored hot water. I tried for a second steep, this time much much longer. This second cup was good. It’s gentle sweetness was more like white than green. All in all a nice cuppa.

Experience buying from Golden Moon Tea < More later, but fairly positive overall >

Age of leaf: I purchased this as a sample; no information provided on the date of harvest.

Packaging: I really like the packaging for their samples: a simple long thin silver bag with a stylish looking label displaying their company logo, the name of the tea, brewing instructions and what the package actually contains (the tea and any flavoring).

Appearance and aroma of dry leaf: twisted white and green buds; very light fragrance.

Brewing guidelines 1.5 tsp, 1.5 cups water. Loose in glass Bodum; Stevia added.
……….1st: 165; 2’
……….2nd: 170; 3.5’
……….3rd: 172 5’
……….4th: 180; 7’

Color and aroma of tea liquor: Very light color, very sweet smell.

Flavor of tea liquor: What I remember another Silver Needles to taste like: light, sweet, fruity or floral, and buoyant (this seems to be an awkward word to use here, but it seems to be the best word I can think of for now to describe how it lifts me up, in a way); held up flavor through the fourth steeping (mild flavor, though).

Appearance and aroma of wet leaf: very nice looking buds (only a few stems);they were hanging vertically in my glass Bodum while steeping: very cool!

Value: Way beyond my budget when buying by the ounce, but worth buying and trying once as a sample ($0.99).

Overall: I expect that this is their version of Silver Needles, as it looks, smells and tastes like one sample of Silver Needles I tried last year. I like how the buds are twisted, as I have never seen this before. This one is as good as the one I remember having had before: it is light, and mellow; yet, it is not a tea I would want to drink (or could afford to drink) every day. As I have read in many books about tea, it is good to try this tea at least once.

Light, slightly sweet as it cools with vegetal and hay-light notes. Not a lot of substance over all, but this is an older sample. It’s nothing special really, just a rather light and delicate silver needle white tea.

I picked this up from Dinosara.

It’s a very light tea, but quite lovely. The leave is pale and silvery, and smells very roasted and nutty, with a bit of smoke.

Liquor is very pale yellow, but with good flavour.

My first steep was 20 seconds after a quick rinse. The colour of the liquor belies how flavourful this steep is. The opening of the sip is full of nutty, roasted, grain flavours. In the middle a fruitiness blossoms and then fades out to a bit of a vegetal tang. The finish is very delicate but leaves a hint of corn on the palate.

Second steep 25 seconds. The liquor is a more intense yellow this time, and slightly cloudy. This cup came out very astringent. There’s a touch of floral on the nose.

Third steep, 15 seconds, lower water temp. Still a touch astringent, but much better. The flavour has gotten quite delicate, but still has most of the same notes.

I think I will switch it up after this. This is pleasant and I really enjoyed my first steep, but I’m not wowwed.

I wanted to try this one from Rachel’s sale a while back when I saw Dinosara was selling some… to make sure I didn’t love it and needed to buy it. :D It’s difficult to taste anything in this first cup. But it seems like a white tea to me. The leaves are long and spikey, almost like another tea I had the other day I hadn’t seen before. I love the name! I dropped the sample pouch on the floor and lost a few of the leaves, but it was right before I vacuumed anyway. I hate dropping tea on the floor, but it was a one cup sample anyway… germs gone and not back in my tea collection! The second steep wasn’t much better than the first. Kind of boring, this one.

Overall, this is an amazing tea. It is delicate, mild, and I highly recommend it. This is a white, or, technically, yellow tea. The flavor of this tea is not assertive, but I find myself wanting more every time I have some. You can steep these teas over and over, like pretty much every tea I have gotten from Golden Moon.

I’m really tired so I think this will be short. So this surprised me with the light color. I also felt that the scent was extremely mild. Initially, I didn’t taste much. As I drank though, a light taste of tea began. This tea wasn’t bad but it also wasn’t good. I think it’s just too subtle for me right now.

Although the tea is a very pretty pale gold, the flavor was just not there for me. Some hint of sweetness in the finish, but I really had to concentrate to find it.