Silver Needles

Is this thick grey fog in the air, or in my mind?

Foggy Head

 The weather and my brain are in perfect sync...one bleeding into the other like a muddy watercolour painting. The research paper is a muddle. The writing at a standstill. No way forward. Fog....

What I need is clarity. A way through. A piercing light to burn away the haze and reveal the hidden path.

Silver Needles!

Silver Needles from Tsaa Tea Shop

This exquisite white tea is the purest thing I know. The cleanest, clearest, simplest, most elegant tea on earth is the one that will help me find the centre.

Silver Needles was once reserved for Emperors. Harvested by hand, only two days per year, this fuzzy tea looks like spiders' legs, but don't let that fool you. It is beautiful.

It's not like other teas. I can't describe the smell. It's almost not there. It's almost floral.....violets? It's almost vanilla. It's almost honey. It's almost sweet grass. It's almost perfumed smoke. You must inhale deeply to find the absolutely subtle aroma. This delicate tea needs to be steeped at a lower temperature to avoid cooking the leaves, and you must steep it a little longer than other teas. It reveals itself slowly and softly....a whisper.

The magic is in the drinking. Single words come to mind. Pure. Clean. Clear. Sweet. Light. Pure. Did I already say Pure? It tastes like Purity.

If you've tried Tetley's White Tea in a tin, (dusty, powdery, and bitter), you really owe it to yourself to try this heavenly alternative. It costs a bit more, but it's so worth it!

The fog is lifting....

This Silver Needles comes from Tsaa Tea Shop but DAVIDs TEA also has a fine one. It is also known as Bai Hao Yin Zhen.