I’ll give it this – the tea leaves are beautiful. They twist and curl about, long strips of green and cream, supremely fragrant. I saw an infographic yesterday from chinalife that showed the many differences between loose leaf tea and bagged tea. On one side, two slumped, sodden bags of brown in a shallow puddle of tea. On the other, a mix of beautiful multicolored leaves unfurled to show their natural shapes. Don’t get me wrong – I like bagged tea. But there is something amazing about seeing tea as it’s meant to be, it’s pure form opening up in front of your eyes.
I mentioned above that this tea is very fragrant. It seems to lose that fragrance once steeped. It’s there, but lightly so. After a thirty-second steep (with no dipping), the liquid is a pale amber color. The leaves are slightly damp and have become a bright green.
And at last, all traces of bitterness are gone. I feel like I’m tasting this tea for the first time. Even without honey (which I almost always add) it is enjoyable. The flavor is gentle. It tastes entirely of tea. I’m not getting any of the bergamot here.
Side Note: I usually flush the caffeine with a thirty-second “pre-steep” but since Teavana says that white tea has an extremely low amount I decided to leave this one as is. I can definitely feel the effects of the caffeine since I never have it in my system so I’m not sure Teavana associates should be telling customers that this is virtually caffeine free. For those of us who are sensitive, even this small amount is noticeable.
