Tea Tuesdays: Earl Grey White Teas

I seem to recall repeating my defence a couple of times now for flavoured teas, but then I've gone and promptly described only a few pure teas and tea blends (while I admit that there is supposed to be a jasmine note in Body  + Mind, I really can't taste it, and so it doesn't count).

This time I wanted to come forward and talk about a tea that really is flavoured, though I'll admit it's not like it's flavoured with pomegranate or some other strong fruit note. It's actually an Earl Grey White... that's right, white tea with bergamot. Most people I know don't even realize that Earl Grey is blended with something. All they know is that it smells a bit like a popular breakfast cereal. Now you know!

Now, most of you seem to know me in person, but for those who don't, I tend to drink a lot of earl grey. Or at least I used to. Working at Teavana with 98 teas to blend and sample at my leisure I tend not to drink too much of any one tea anymore, except for a few favourites that managed to make the journey home with me.

Earl Grey teas are named, appropriately, for the 2nd Earl Grey, who was British Prime Minister in his day and who received a gift of black tea flavoured with the oil of the bergamot orange... which is a part of the reason for the insinuation that one does not simply add milk to a cup of Earl Grey tea. Lemon is preferred, where available, and I've even gone so far as to add lemon herbal teas to my Earl Grey (in small amounts) to get the same flavour.

Anyway, the particular Earl Grey White I have been drinking was Teavana's, but undoubtably countless other tea sellers will have their own white-tea formulation of the classic blend. It is crisp and clear, and does not want for the dryness of a black-leaf Earl Grey. It's a staple of my tea shelf and won't likely be leaving it any time soon... not even to be replaced by Phoenix Mountain Dan Cong.

Full disclosure time: I am a paid employee of Teavana Corporation in Canada, though I am not compensated in any way for reviewing their teas.  As a general rule, I feel that the more that is said about tea, the more widely accepted tea will be in the future, and the easier it will be for those of us not living in India, China, or Japan to get high-quality teas.

Tea Tuesday: A Curious Little Blend

Teavana Image, used without permission

I figure the least they can let me do for reviewing one of their products is let me occasionally use one of their images, right? If only because I don't own any of this blend of tea myself...

This curiosity is difficult to classify as a tea in traditional terms: white, green, black, yellow, or wulong, and that's because it's a white, a green, and a wulong all in one. It's called Body and Mind, and it's a very mellow thing. The image to the left really does its liquor justice, though under different lighting it more resembles a sort of flaxen gold colour.

Like I said before, this is a bled of three different teas, each of extraordinary quality: the legendary Monkey Picked Oolong (I have heard this variously ascribed to Fujian and Anhui), Silver Needle (the very same white I mentioned on our last tea Tuesday as the source of the Silver Yin Zhen Pearl), and a rolled, jasmine-scented green tea called Jasmine Dragon Phoenix Pearl. The flavour is as light as the colour and the jasmine is surprisingly lightly expressed, making this very pleasant hot or cold with no alterations whatsoever.

Now, reviewing this a few days after my Drawing the Bowstring rant and while being famous at work for creating extensive weekly meal plans using only locally-available ingredients is a little silly, I know. These are three laboriously-produced teas all grown in China, which must be shipped overland, over sea, and then overland again until they can reach my shop. I do however try and find some justification in my favourite loose-leaf teas being good for multiple infusions, and of course this one is no exception - brewed at about 79 Celsius for two minutes, you can easily get the first three infusions out of these leaves, and I've gone as high as three more by gradually increasing the temperature and time of subsequent infusions, though I imagine that's more an exercise in stretching things, since most of the antioxidants, EKCG complex, and whatever it is in the oolongs that stimulates the metabolism are well gone by then.

Body and Mind is a commonly-used additive by my tea friends when they are feeling hung over (or wish to prevent such feelings) or getting over morning grogs. It is very popular with a strong fruit flavour on ice (such as a Raspberry Riot Lemon Mate) for something invigorating, or with something lighter (chamomile and lavender flavours being common, or Valerian) for something soothing. All in all, a great tasting tea with a refreshing "otherness" that you just can't find in bags.

As always, I'd like to remind everyone that I am not paid by Teavanna or any other tea provider for any reviews I happen to do, or indeed anything else I do related to tea outside the confines of my actual employment. Beyond my day job, this website is supported only by the generosity of Google (the owners of Blogger) and of you, the reader. As always, I extend an open invitation for anyone in town to visit me at work.

Tea Tuesdays: Silver Yin Zhen Pearls

You might be noticing a pattern here. To be honest, in an attempt to curtail a dwindling inclination to write, I'm implimenting a "topic-of-the-day" system. I'm obviously going to deviate from that system whenever something particularly polarizing or inspiring strikes, but in the meantime, I hope these do just as well.


I'm sure all this interest in tea seems sudden. To be honest, the level to which I've taken that interest essentially is, and I won't deny it's largely due to my involvement with Teavana, a tea retailer (who, I point out, don't pay me for my opinions). Working there has introduced me to a number of new teas I had no idea even existed prior to working there, never mind the wide array of high-quality teas I wouldn't have been able to get otherwise.

To that end, I want to talk about one particular tea: Silver Yin Zhen Pearl. Silver Yin Zhen is a white tea from Anhui province in China. It is comprised of hand-rolled balls of an organic white tea that we sell as silver needle... each ball contains six whole leaves!

The most wonderful thing about Silver Yin Zhen is its subtle, orchid-like liquor and the silky-smooth mouthfeel it presents. Raw, the leaves have a nutty, toasted aroma, that reminds me, at the very least, of the smell of timothy hay or toasted wheat. These leaves are even suitable for multiple infusions in a suitably small window of time... as many as eight, though I like the third infusion the best.

I say it blends well with other teas, because it does, and I'll talk about why that can be crucial in a second. First though, I want to take a moment to say that I prefer not to. You pay for the quality you get. Unless your water is unusually harsh, blend with a different white.

Now, having said that, there is a very good reason why you'd want to, if you could afford it. White teas provide the highest antioxidant count of any tea, because the fermentation process that transforms white to green, green to oolong, and oolong to black destroys these antioxidants. If you're chasing the antioxidants and their hydrating and detoxifying properties, you may wish to have the highest amount possible... and since Silver Yin Zhen is essentially a more compressed version of white teas like Silver Needle, it has even more antioxidant properties per cup. If the health benefits were a key thing to you, mixing Silver Needle with something flavoured might be your main goal.

However, I do strongly encourage everyone to at least occasionally drink this plain. Its subtlety demands concentration to unravel, and is a pursuit in itself.