Boo

Today I’m moving on to my Luhse white tea samples, and I decided to go with the plain one first – Boo. Boo looks to be a blend of silver needle and white peony; predominantly more white peony than silver needle. Most of the leaves are black or dark brown, and fairly twisted, but there are some that are silvery-white or slightly yellowy. It’s not the best looking white tea I’ve ever seen, but it does put me in mind of a dark, rickety haunted house. If we’re going with a ghostly, halloweeny theme, then it kinda fits. I used 1 tsp of leaf for my cup, and gave it 2.5 minutes in water cooled to around 170 degrees. The resulting liquor is a very pale golden colour, but the scent is sadly not that appealing. It smells a little like a ripe pu’erh, strangely.

Sadly, I’m not especially struck by the flavour either. There are elements that remind me of white tea – a mild, orchid-like floral, a touch of grass and hay. These are somewhat offset by an undertone of what I can only describe as manure. Not really strong manure, like some pu’erhs, but strong enough to be distracting. It’s an odd combination.

I had hoped that I’d enjoy this one, but I suppose you can’t win them all. I don’t tend to drink too many plain white teas these days, so it’s not a terrible loss, but I’m a little disappointed all the same. Perhaps Luhse’s flavoured blacks are the only thing for me.