I have slurped tea since I was quite young to actually enjoy drinking it. But now I like it because I enjoy it more.

I am still making a career with tea while also indulging in producing and tasting teas, learning the fundamentals and later the components of each tea that I get a chance to work with. This has really helped me build up experience and expand my knowledge, both that I lacked earlier. I am saying this because a White Tea review requires a certain degree of expertise and a tuned palate to really appreciate it.
I have heard good tasters from good tea brokerage houses from our tea growing world label white teas as ‘pale’ or ‘plain’, technically. Generally, I agree with them because tasting 150-200 set of cups in a hour or more and archiving records after the job makes their palate go bizarre. But when they represent a J-Thomas or a Carritt Moran, we’ve got to take their word for it.

The moments that make me garner my strength to learn more about this variety of tea is when I hear my customers (mostly ladies to whom I try to serve with my own hands) say uhhm… after their first sip.

White teas are synonymously referred to be a Chinese variety and to categorically genderize it, if Bai Hao Yin-zhen is the King of White teas then it will be fair to proclaim this Phoobsering Darjeeling Silver Needles to be the Queen.
When white teas were in a mere conceptual stage in Darjeeling, I was probably a trainee then in a remote plantation. I admit that the coming of White teas in Darjeeling is fairly recent, but as anticipated, it came up with a unique character of its own.
Most Darjeeling White teas are: air dried, for few hours with cold and then gradually with warmer and hot air. Minimal alteration of the process and choosing the right material is the secret and the reason that elevates it to the grade of a herb more than a tea to the health conscious. See my ezine publication for health benefits of Darjeeling White Tea.

Now, let me introduce you to the Phoobsering Silver Needle White, a tea that represents the greatest and truest expression of the terrier: a profound and sublime confluence of wonderful raw materials and inherently brilliant tea making skills and correct timing. It is a limited produce and made only from the harvest of delicate buds. This clonal variety, namely T-78, is a China hybrid and cultivated extensively in this garden, with the T standing for Tukdah.
These pickings come from an altitude of about 6500 feet above sea level from the upper Lebong Valley where it touches the sky. Phoobsering is a top quality garden that contributes a little over 100 tonnes of Darjeeling Tea per year, located about a thirty-minute drive from Darjeeling town. It was one of the first gardens in Darjeeling to get HACCP and ISO certifications. Its quality is unique with a distinct character of its own.

Description:

Make: Handpicked shiny large needle appearing like bold unopened buds.

Feel: Silky and delicate. Hold it and it gently pricks, thus the name Silver Needles.

Dry Aroma: Slightly vegetal and sweet weed. After a sniff I would want to place some in my mouth straight.

Generally with White Tea I use abundant leaves. My guywan is already more than half filled. My pot of hot water is set aside to cool for a few minutes as I am going to steep it only after the temperature reaches 80-85 C and rather do short and multiple steeping of less than 1 minute.

Steep 1: 1 minute
The color of the liquor of this white tea is pale gold but very clean. The flavor profile has a hint of crisp and vibrant vegetal freshness that lingers in the mouth. The buds are still floating on the surface of the water level. I would steep n steep till these little needles really settle down.

Steep2: 1 minute
A sweet floral aftertaste with a gentle finish is the prominent Darjeeling character that this white tea carries with it. That is why this Phoobsering Silver Needle is so magical and unique.

Teadesigner