White Symphony

It’s a little like drinking the scent of the forest ground as it wafts up in the early morning. That’s overly poetic, but it’s what I like about white tea—that hint of still growing, still in the earth bitterness. This has bright overtones making it delicious even unsweetened.

Adagio’s White Symphony has become a new favorite – slightly sweet and a nice cup while I’m getting some work done.

My last cup from this sample tin. Very happy with this white. All the adjectives I’ve used in the past still apply: delicate, sweet, floral. This is a version of white peony (which I love) and is like a white peony with all of its positive traits amplified but still balanced. (If that doesn’t make sense, just think white peony, but better.)

Very similar to white peony (bai mu dan) but slightly lighter and more straw colored. More delicate flavor and slightly less nutty and bamboo notes. It’s light body might deter some by I enjoy it, especially for its versatility: I think it is great for a crisp refreshing iced tea on a hot day, but also as a gently palate cleanser with a hot meal on a cold day.

Slightly sweet, not overpowering, but definitely tea. On the way to becoming one of my favorite teas, and possibly my favorite white tea. Good way to wrap up a day of W.B. Yeats.

This is the last Adagio white tea in my cupboard, and I’m finishing off the sample with another liter of iced tea and one hot cuppa. It’s from a very old order (2017 sometime) but the sampler was still sealed, so at least there was that.

My warm cup is smelling quite floral (but confession, the last thing I brewed was straight lavender to make some scented mists I like to use around Chiya’s kitty boxes) and I also smell mandarin, melon, cucumber, honey, and warm hay. I’m… definitely getting some lavender contamination coming through in the flavor, but honestly? It’s not a bad thing! It’s not a strong oomph of it (I could go deep clean the infuser but probably another use and it’ll be gone, or simply letting it dry overnight… I think it was only using it so soon after steeping my flowers that probably caused the issue) and it’s not at all a bad flavor on this white tea… daresay, maybe I should be adding a pinch of lavender to some of my whites in the future? I do realize that isn’t how it was supposed to be though, and does little for a proper review though. Oops.

Tasting around the lavender, I am getting a hay vegetal flavor, as well as cucumber and melon notes. It seems quite sweet to me, but that may just be the floral contamination. My iced tea, however, has no such issue. It has been in the fridge a little longer than I should’ve kept it, but that aside, I am getting a grassy/hay vegetal flavor, the cucumber note seems a little more pronounced, and there is a subtle watery melon note. It’s very crisp and tastes a lot like a clean green tea iced.

This tea is more essential to me than Arch Linux is to my PC running smoothly.

Lovely, lovely white. I’m not very experienced at describing tea, but this one was full of interesting and pleasant flavors. Delicate but not boring.

I’m not usually a fan of unflavored greens and whites; I drink them when I’m sick because it’s the only kind of tea I don’t care to add sugar to. But White Symphony is almost too good for that — certainly not worth wasting on those sick days when my sense of smell and taste are diminished. I could almost drink this tea every day, and that is an unexpected compliment from someone who typically sticks to unflavored blacks.

This tea isn’t doing much for me. Kind of a generic white-ish tea. Someone else mentioned it was vegetal to them – not a description I would have come up with on my own, but I can get it now that it’s been pointed out.

I got pulled away from my desk shortly after I steeped the tea, so it might be better at its steeping temperature (rather than ~120ish). When I try it again, if I like it more, I’ll upgrade the rating.

The notes in this tea are so subtle, you might as well be drinking plain water.