Emerald Needle

Tea: Emerald Needle
Vendor: Adagio Teas
Price: $18.00 / 4oz
Vendor Description: Sweet young buds, not quite open, make up the leaves of this fine tea. The pale yellow liquor releases a softly vegetal yet floral aroma. Delicate and light, this tea refreshes with the fruity-floral character of a dewy spring morning.

Leaf: The leaf for this tea reminds me of Meng Ding Huang Ya. It is only the buds like in a silver needle, but is not covered with fuzzy hairs like the silver needle. There are a few hairs on the buds, but it has mostly a smooth appearance. The shape and texture of the leaves gives it an almost fluid motion when moved around in the bowl, as opposed to the dustball motion of silver needle.

1st Infusion Parameters: 5g, 5 oz, 3 min, 185F

1st Infusion: This tea produces a surprisingly brown colored infusion. The leaf is much lighter shade of green once it has been infused. The tea has a very sweet and floral aroma to it. The flavor is crisp with a medium sense of bitterness. It has an almost sublime light fluffliness to it that paired with the crisp flavor and medium bitterness gives it a very lofty clean feeling.

2nd Infusion Parameters: 185F, 1 min

2nd Infusion: This infusion still had a light brown color to it. The flavor was light and sweet with a light sense of astringency. This infusion felt very smooth

Rating: 5/10

Conclusion: This tea is a rather unique tea. It straddles the borders of green tea / white tea / yellow tea expectations for me. It's not particularly potent for it's weight like the Yunnan Noir was, but it is not prohibitvely expensive either. This is a tea that if you are a fan of the style you would probably enjoy, but in general it's nothing to write home about.