Tea tasting: Adagio's Snowbud Tea

Adagio describes its Snowbud white tea as follows: "White tea from the Fujian province of China. An airy, light tea, which yields a cup worthy of its name: very delicate body, with a clean, barely sweet aroma and effervescent texture."   It is all of these things.  I also get a grassy flavor with a nice clean mouth feel.  It's a great palate-cleansing tea.

A little bit of good honey makes the brew light, sunny and golden.  Over-sweetening would kill the subtlety of flavor that makes this tea special.

Tea tasting: Adagio's Chocolate Chai

I am not a huge fan of either chocolate or chai, but +Kay White is, and I got a sample package to share with her the next time we were together.

Adagio's Chocolate Chai is a wonderfully aromatic brew.  It's spicy and rich.  You want to inhale deeply and roll around the scent in your lungs.  The cardamom, clove and cinnamon come out very strongly in the scent and in the flavor.  Unfortunately, the chocolate was somewhat muted by the lack of any milk to add to the tea.  I don't ever put milk in my tea and I didn't plan ahead.   Clearly I'm going to have to get another sample, and buy some milk while I'm at it.

Tea Tasting: Teavana's Youthberry White Tea

I'm not entirely sure why they call it "Youthberry."   It's a white tea with a lot of different mixed fruits -- red currants, açai berry, hibiscus, rose petals, candied pineapple, mango pieces and Fuji and golden delicious apples.  

The resulting tisane is sharp, bright and fruity.  The tart fruits come out more prominently than the sweet fruits, unless I add honey.   This is one of the few teas where I really want the sweetener to even out the flavors.  Also be very careful not to over-cook this one with a hotter water than is appropriate for white tea.  White teas are best at 175 degrees.  If you use hotter water, it makes the resulting tisane less flavorful.

Teavana recommends blending the Youthberry with its Wild Orange Blossom herbal tea and even sells it pre-blended.    I like the blended version better than the straight Youthberry.  It's a smoother flavor, with a better balance between the sweet and tart aspects.

Tea tasting: Dong Yang Dong Bei Green Tea

Dong Yang Dong Bei, sometimes called Dong Yang Dony Bei, is a type of green tea, rather than a particular brand.  It's a long-leaf tea grown in the Dong Bei mountains in northeast China.

I borrowed a sample from my co-worker, a fellow tea fan, who picked it up from a local shop.  It's a nice green tea, smooth and a little malty, not too bitter as long as it is brewed correctly.  Many people identify a strong floral note, but I'm not getting that in the tea I'm drinking.  I keep coming back to malty or leafy.  Above all it's a soothing tea.  There's no harshness to it.  It goes down like a warm hug.