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“A rule of thumb for me. Every time I try a new vendor, I have to try a bunch of samples from them of stuff that looks interesting that I have never tried. And this is one of them. I mean...” Read full tasting note
What a delicious tea with just the right name! Fairy Tea is an early 2024 harvest white tea from Chieu Lau Thi Mountain in Ha Giang Province, Vietnam. The liquor is light, almost clear, but the aroma and flavor is absolutely phenomenal. If fairies do indeed drink tea, this is probably their preferred cup.
Incredibly fragrant – intense notes of pine, tropical fruits, and wild flowers leap out from the cup. The texture is delicate and silky. The energy of the tea is very uplifting even though the tea contains minimal to no caffeine.
Fairy tea is made from a type of tea plant that is related to Camellia sinensis var. Assamica. It’s a wild growing tree, with an average height of 15 meters, so harvesting this tea is really quite difficult and dangerous. The yield is very low. The buds are axillary buds – essentially they’re branch buds rather than leaf buds. They’re similar to Yao Bao teas from Yunnan, China – light but powerful and very unique.
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A rule of thumb for me. Every time I try a new vendor, I have to try a bunch of samples from them of stuff that looks interesting that I have never tried. And this is one of them. I mean seriously, how could I turn down trying something called Fairy Tea. I think of me as a kid sitting under a tree in the park reading The Two Towers. I would have killed to have been able to drink something called Fairy Tea. :)
I struggled a little trying to figure out how much leaf/bud to use. It does not really expand with steeping and I kept thinking of it like a rolled oolong. So the first steep may have been a little too light. For the second, I added more leaf.
And here I am again struggling to describe the flavor I am getting. I’m missing vocabulary.
On the first steep there was a flavor element there that I just could not describe. Not unpleasant, but just at the edge of reminding me of something that I can’t place.
One thing that stood out is just how sweet this is. I wouldn’t call it fruity or honey like, but I can understand the comparison. Maybe I’d call it more nectar like? Would be fitting for the name. :)
First steep the flavor was a little light, but I suspect some of that was from me using a little too little. Added more for the second steep and it made a big difference.
The mouth feel was lovely and viscous. This did wane a bit the more steeps I did, but it was still going by the 3rd steep. After that it dropped, but was still there by the fifth along with the sweetness which was still going pretty strong.
Overall, I am pleasantly surprised. I just wish this hadn’t been such a hectic day so I could have spent more time enjoying it. Will be buying more, but will likely try to wait until there is a sale.
Trust me, I’ve been at the tea game since 2011 (actively in tea forums/Instagram since 2015), and I still struggle with the vernacular for tea tastings. One reason I stepped away from Steepster and moved onto the YouTube review path was 1. YT videos can be shorter and vague; 2. I started to enjoy a cuppa without the need to really dive into it. However, as much as I love both Instagram and YouTube, my heart will forever be with Steepster. This is where I met so many other tea lovers and started to try more teas. So, don’t fret too much over the lack of descriptors for tea flavors. Simply enjoy the cuppa and share as you go :)