Review of Dilmah Ceylon Silver Tips White Tea
White tea comes from the Camellia Sinensis, the tea plant, just as black, green, and oolong teas do. Tea producers use the terminal bud and sometimes the two leaves below it on the stem. These leaves are younger than those picked for green tea are and are still unfurled and covered in white fibers. This makes the leaves look as though they are covered with white fur or hair, thus the name white tea.
Pickers harvest these delicate white buds only in early spring, but never during rain or frost. Since they can only pick the white tea for a short time, tea companies produce small amounts of white tea. This makes white tea considerably more expensive than other types of tea, sometimes double the price of black tea. Once an exclusive beverage for the royal court of the Song Dynasty, it is still considered a luxury tea.
White tea is the specialty of the Fujian province of China, famous for Silver Needle and White Peony. However, some other countries also produce small amounts of white tea, though it is rarer than Chinese white tea. In India, the tea producing areas of Darjeeling and Assam each produce unique versions of white tea. Kenya and Malawi also produce miniscule amounts of white tea, their primary tea production being black tea.
Sri Lanka, known for its full-bodied, high tannin black teas, produces Ceylon white tea, a slightly darker, more flavorful beverage. The flavors of white teas vary, but generally, they are light, sweet, and sometimes floral. Their colors of the liquors tend to be anything from pale yellow to a medium gold. Ceylon white teas are also floral, but taste of honey and pine and their liquor is dark gold, even coppery.
Dilmah’s Ceylon Silver Tips single origin tea is an outstanding white tea with an unexpected depth and richness of flavor. Though it comes in a pyramid-shaped teabag, the leaves are whole and look like pine needles. The teabags are sealed in a silver plastic bag inside a cardboard box, but the bag is easy to open. The fragrance of the dry leaf is reminiscent of clean straw, extremely fresh and lively.
The brewing process included placing one teabag in a clear glass cup, then pouring 180 degree water over the teabag. The tea steeped for one minute, then was stirred, and steeped another three minutes, according to manufacturer’s directions. The yield was a dark gold liquor scented with hints of honey and hay. The flavor was floral and piney, but also had notes of brown sugar, an overall highly enjoyable cup.
If you would like to try Dilmah Silver Tip White tea, it is available several places on the Internet. The price runs to about $7.00 plus the shipping fee for a box of ten luxury leaf teabags. If that should seem too costly, remember that white tea is generally a luxury tea. However, white tealeaves can steep three times or more, which yields more cups of tea and justifies the cost.
brewed on Apr 28th, 2010
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