White House

This tea was good, but not as good as the smell would indicate. A mellow white tea, tastes of flowers at first then settles into tangy fruit and and aftertaste of apricot. Refreshing and not overly tannic. Felt like i was on the edge of oversteeping by following the directions of 3 minutes.

TWG finally managed to let me down, wow. I picked this up from Dean & Deluca instead of a TWG salon, just because I was there and I wanted to try a few new TWGs.

Looks like a shoumei white, leaves with no buds and brews fairly dark. This makes sense as well, since the characteristic TWG floral blend you find in a lot of their other main teas is present and pairs well with the lightly fruity crispness of the lower quality showmei whites. The strength of the floral and berry notes is dialed way down to make room for the tea to come through, but in my opinion is still too strong and the white tea is too low a grade to warrant their name being on the label or to even notice this is much of a tea at all. I think this is one of those “mass market/appeal/bulk” teas some larger firms pump out to milk their brand value to appease the accountants and shareholders, while keeping a portfolio of much better single-estate and higher quality blends to keep the connoisseurs and fans attached.

I’ll finish what I have, strip the label and keep the double-lid tin for future teas I buy and bring home from their tea rooms, but unless I find some for darn cheap it probably won’t make its way back into my collection.