Teavivre, Chamomile Rose Silver Needle White Tea

Sample Bag

Teavivre Description:
Chamomile rose needle white tea is made of Fuding white tea, mixed with rose and chamomile. It is a floral fragrant tea, combining the flavor of white tea and flowers. With the strong floral fragrance, and rich aroma and taste, this tea is enjoyable for both tea lovers and people cares about health.

My Review:
I selected this sample with a recent order. I am a guy, so rose teas didn't always appeal to me. They are growing on me. Much like I learned with jasmine tea, the quality really does make a difference. One thing Teavivre consistently does well is quality. Their Silver Needle white tea is among the very best that I have had the pleasure to experience.

A Fragrant Bouquet 

Upon opening the sample bag the fragrance of rose drifts out and fills your senses. Along with it is a slightly sweet, slightly sour, apple like scent of chamomile. The leaf is an absolutely beautiful bouquet of rose buds and chamomile flowers, surrounded by the silvery haired buds of the Fuding white tea.

The leaf was placed in the press with enough 185 F water added to steep a 5 oz cup of tea. The steep time was about 2 minutes. For this first cup I used half the sample.

The aroma of the wet leaf is very similar to the dry. It is a little powerful, however, I have enough experience with Teavivre to expect the taste to be refined and not perfume water. The tea leaf itself is revitalized, plump, and green.

The brew, prepared in my western style, is a lot darker than the yellow liquor from the gong fu prepared cup on Teavivre's website. It is kind of a light greyish brown.

The Wet Leaf

As I taste, I first catch the rose. It is soft, delicate, and altogether natural. As the rose fades a little I pick up on the apple, honey, notes of the chamomile. There is a spice taste that kind of reminds me of allspice maybe. To me, it is kind of cinnamon, kind of clove. I asked my wife to taste it without telling her what I tasted. Her reaction was 'minty'. Not sure how to explain it except it is the interaction of white tea, rose, and chamomile, as that is all the ingredients found in this cup.

Because my first cup, while good, did not match the comments I recall others making, I decided to add the rest of the sample for cup two. The color was similar. The taste is not. Cup two starts out strongly of apple with edges of honey. The chamomile is leading the way on this cup. The change to rose is not sudden but glides into it, though never completely, as the chamomile steps sideways to travel along side the rose.

A Dark Cup For A White

I can catch only hints of the white tea at this early stage in the steepings. There is an underlying touch of hay and cucumber but they are not nearly as obvious as in a straight cup of Silver Needle. Teavivre could cut a corner and use a lesser grade of leaf but they choose not to lessen the quality. Thank you for that.

The taste you get from the cup appears to depend on the amount of leaf you choose to steep. Whether predominantly rose or chamomile, this makes an excellent cup of beautiful liquid relaxation. I am not sure how many times this can be resteeped. I do intend to keep going a good while longer.

You can find Chamomile Rose Silver Needle White Tea here.