Tea Tasting Saturday #2 - Bai Mei / White Eyebrow

This tea, I knew, was said to look like little flowers, but I wasn't prepared for the simple beauty which greeted me when I opened this Harney & Sons sample. The tea flowers were so pretty, I first had the thought I'd like to stitch them to something rather than drink them, but that might not be such a swell idea!

Even a single flower is just lovely, don't you think? I had to do some guesswork when measuring these since they didn't fill the teaspoon as obviously as normal tea leaves would.

Here are the notes I took on this tea. In case you double-click and they're still too small to read, they're printed below. (And I'll be typing them each week instead of scanning, since a font is easier on the eyes than handwriting.)

Name of tea: Bai Mei (White Eyebrow)

Category: White Tea

Purveyor: Harney & Sons

When purchased: December 2008

Dry leaf appearance: Gray-green leaves are stitched into beautiful small flowers - lacelike, almost

Wet leaf appearance: Soft celadon green flowers - retained their shape just fine

Steeping temperature and time: 2-1/2 minutes, 175º

Scent: At first, just a slight grassy scent - but then a note of something fruity. Very nice!

Color: Light golden yellow

Flavor: Pleasant white tea taste - seemed to have a bit more body than the Silver Needle tea

Additional notes: The aesthetic pleasure of this tea was amazing. I am so easily swayed by "pretty." But it did have a nice taste.

My sheets for the tea tasting notes, by the way, were a "design gift" from my friend Deberah, who has kindly agreed to share them with those of you who are interested in keeping a notebook of teas you've tried this year. You can download them by going here (for the sheet on loose leaf teas) and here (for a list for keeping up with tea bag teas you've tried).

Next week's tea: Ceylon Silver Tips

And coming Monday: Tea With Friends meets some rock stars of the design world at a trade show. Anyone know a famous designer of beautiful stationery, fabric and lifestyle goods named Anna? Or a party planner to the stars named Colin? Stay tuned ...