On Jul 11, 10:55*am, "Dominic T." > wrote:
> On Jul 11, 10:34 am, Mike Morton > wrote:
>
> > As I am sure many of the members here are aware, finding a true
> > representation of a tea is tough to do with all the online vendors out
> > there. *I am looking for a recommended vendor of Bai Hao Yin Zhen
> > (which I am to understand is a high quality white?) - can someone point
> > me in the right direction here? *Even better, is there some listing of
> > truly quality vendors that ship into Canada around? *I have searched
> > through archives of this list - but not been able to find something
> > comprehensive....
>
> > TIA!
>
> > Mike
>
> I would have no reservation in trustinghttp://www.jingteashop.com/pd-white-tea-silver-needle-aa.cfm
>
> - Dominic

I tried 4 yinzhen silver needles recently,
two from inpursuitoftea, one from hou de,
and one from jing tea shop as in the link
above. The best of them was the more
expensive bai hao from IPOT. It's about
2 times more expensive than the one
from hou de. But it is the most balanced,
with a rich taste but without "sharpness"
that is very common in white teas. Hou
De silver needles tastes fresher and
sweeter, and closer to Pai Mutan teas.
In fact I think IPOTs Pai Mutan might
be the best deal of all these teas because
it only gives up a little bit of smoothness
but has everything that's great about
bai hao yinzhen.

I ordered eight different
teas from jing tea shop recently and
this yinzhen silver needles was the only
disappointment - the other 7 teas are
excellent, but the silver needles have
a slightly sweet/sour taste and leaves
aroma that I haven't noticed in other
silver needles, and is generally blander
than either hou de or ipot tea; but, to
be fair, it's also less expensive.

On the other hand, their Pai Mutan is
quite amazing, especially at the price,
and in fact far better than their Yinzhen
Silver Needles.

I only made a few pots so far so maybe
it will grow on me, but hou de and ipot
silver needles were perfect right away -
I find it very hard to screw up silver
needles if I don't totally overbrew it.