Adagio Teas White Monkey Tea

Country of Origin: China

Leaf Appearance: small, very curly with downy hairs
Ingredients: green tea
Steep time: 2 minutes
Water Temperature: 180 degrees
Preparation Method: glass teapot
Liquor: pale gold

Despite it’s name, this is actually a green tea. The dry leaves were super curly and there was a ton of silvery buds. The taste was very light and delicate, more similar to a white tea than most Chinese greens that I’ve experienced. It was vegetal and fresh tasting with a slight buttery note. The finish was somewhat dry but the lingering aftertaste was sweetly floral. This is the kind of tea I picture myself sipping for hours on a warm summer day. It would probably make an excellent iced tea as well. I was disheartened when reading the reviews of this tea on Adagio’s site because it seems that many of those folks were tea newbies who simply were not used to a tea this delicate. When I first started drinking loose leaf tea, I could barely taste white tea at all. It’s something that comes with time and I hope that they go back to this tea in the future because it will be an entirely different experience.

You can find out more about this tea here.