Rishi: Ancient Moonlight White Tea (2009)
Rishi Ancient Moon White Tea (2009)
What makes white tea special? To me, it’s the pure and subtle flavors derived from the tea. Primarily labeled as “the least processed” tea, white tea is not oxidized. It’s easy to say the tea is simply plucked, steamed, and dried, but there are still major tea skills necessary to produce a high quality white tea. When drinking a pure white tea like this, the leaves have to come from excellent growing conditions in order to taste good on its own. Due to the fact that the leaves and buds go through very little processing, it is said by many tea experts that white tea contains more antioxidants than green tea and black tea. It’s important to me as a tea consumer to share my thoughts regarding white tea with you to help you form an expectation. Having said that, your taste buds will be the final judge.
I drink white tea when I want to relax. After a stressful day or before a hectic day, white tea is very calming. It’s a beverage that helps me focus and it helps me relax with its subtle notes of freshness. White tea does contain caffeine. In fact, recent studies that I read in the January 2009 edition of Fresh Cup magazine revealed that certain white teas contain a much higher amount of caffeine than was recently thought by the tea industry. One defining characteristic I like about white tea is it’s appearance. When you show someone white tea, if their only experience with tea has been finely chopped dust and fannings in a tea bag, now they can actually relate to tea as a leaf or bud from a plant (or tea tree). Once the tea steeps, the soaked leaves come to life. You can see the vivid colors and defined shapes of the leaves and buds.
Rishi’s Ancient Moonlight White Tea (a.k.a Yue Guang Bai, from Yunnan) was a very enjoyable white tea. Again, you’re not going to be wowed by powerful flavors. However, if you’re like me, you’re going to be impressed with the natural freshness that white tea offers. It’s not grassy like many green teas. This white tea captures that hot sunny day when the sun has been shining bright on the vegetation of the land and the gentle breeze is sharing the scent of the land to anyone lucky enough to be near.
Rishi describes the tea as: “Having a rich and lively mouthfeel. The complex floral aroma and sweet finish suggests pit fruits, persimmons and wildflower honey.”
I’m not picking up a lot of sweetness in the flavor of this tea. The floral and fruit flavors are very distant and not always easy to recognize. This tea has more of a dryness to it. My best advice to people wanting to try a white tea like this, don’t expect it to taste like something it’s not. This tea is very mellow and shines with it’s subtle nature and not it’s popping flavors.
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