The naturally light and sweet floral flavour of white tea has found us enjoying this T2 White Rose.
The tea is a looseleaf white tea with dried rose petals. Unlike the white tea made from the unopened buds with fine silvery-white hairs from which the tea derives its name (most evident in a silver needle white tea) this white tea follows a looser definition of the tea with the appearance of tea that is merely dried with no additional processing (as in, for example, green tea).
Steeping 3 g of looseleaf in 200 mL of water at 80°C for 3 minutes, the infusion was a clear straw colour with a floral rose aroma. Served hot, crisp notes of rose persist from the head of each sip with gently sweet notes of white tea coming through in the background and coming to prominence in the finish and lingering pleasantly in the aftertaste with just the slightest hint of astringency.
The rose notes dominate in this tea with the natural sweetness of the white tea making it an obvious pairing. While the rose notes are strong, though, they’re bright without being heady, giving this tea an incredibly light and refreshing mouthfeel that’s easy to drink any time of the day.
This T2 White Rose contained 50 g. It was packed in Germany and purchased in Sydney, Australia in 2018.