Silver Needle 1st Grade
Silver Needle Extra Special
Organic White Bai Mudan Ex Special
Leaf
The Silver Needle 1st Grade features a smaller, younger bud than most I've seen. The contrast of the silvery tips and greener leaf is well balanced.
Silver Needle Extra Special is a more traditional, bolder, larger white needle than the 1st grade.
Organic Bai Mudan Extra Special. We enjoyed it's smaller, more subtle leaf size than other commercial grades.
All white teas above were very uniform in size, with little breakage or dust.
Infused Leaf / Aroma
Silver Needle Extra Special was not the typical bright green infused leaf we have become familiar with. Both reviewers gave higher marks to the Silver Needle Extra Special for both color and aroma.
Taste
Neither of the Silver Needles were particularly sweet in terms of white teas, but we did enjoy the Silver Needle Extra Special more than the Silver Needle 1st Grade (goes to show we aren't easily swayed by price or appearance). The Extra Special had a cleaner taste profile than the 1st Grade, which had just a very slight hint of a dusty finish.
The Organic Bai Mudan Extra Special was surprisingly good. Excellent plum notes. We recommend a briefer steep time of only 1.5 - 2 minutes.
Conclusions
Ron - "I was pleasantly surprised with the uniformity of the leaf sizes, with all leafs in the set on the smaller side of the scale. Among the three, I enjoyed the Organic Bai Mudan Extra Special the best. When I taste a Bai Mudan, I'm looking for the plum notes, without the heaviness on the palette or overly dark infusion.
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