Can anyone help me? I just received my first shipment of Silver Needle and am having loads of trouble trying to brew it!

The first time I tried brewing it I had to stop myself from gagging because it smelled fishy! That's right - fishy. Who would expect a Silver Needle to smell and taste fishy? So naturally I thought it was my kettle, my water or my teapot. I replaced the kettle and the teapot and used spring water.

This time as well it smelled fishy, so then I reduced my brewing time - earlier I let it brew for 5 minutes. This time I brewed it for 2 minutes, but frankly I have to say that it didn't taste very nice. Someone said I should leave it to brew for 15 minutes, but I haven't heard of Silver Needle being brewed for that long? Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

On Aug 6, 2:34*pm, mmm_yummy >
wrote:
> Can anyone help me? I just received my first shipment of Silver Needle
> and am having loads of trouble trying to brew it!
>
> The first time I tried brewing it I had to stop myself from gagging
> because it smelled fishy! That's right - fishy. Who would expect a
> Silver Needle to smell and taste fishy? So naturally I thought it was
> my kettle, my water or my teapot. I replaced the kettle and the teapot
> and used spring water.
>
> This time as well it smelled fishy, so then I reduced my brewing time -
> earlier I let it brew for 5 minutes. This time I brewed it for 2
> minutes, but frankly I have to say that it didn't taste very nice.
> Someone said I should leave it to brew for 15 minutes, but I haven't
> heard of Silver Needle being brewed for that long? Any and all help
> would be greatly appreciated.
>
> --
> mmm_yummy

Fishy, or kelpy as some prefer to call it, is not only a tea trait but
one cherished by many (myself included) as strange as it may sound. To
help you out a bit better we'd need to know where you bought your
Silver Needle and exactly what type/brand it may be. Fishy/kelpy
flavors are most often associated with green teas and depending on the
quality of the tea you possess it may actually be closer to a green
than a white.

Most white tea can stand up to a decent brewing time (2-5 minutes) but
there are many inferior ones and some white teabags that after 20-30
seconds become extremely bitter or astringent. Start with offering
more info on the specific tea and I'm sure things can be set straight.

- Dominic

Sounds like Junshan Silver Needles which is a yellow tea from Hunan.
Yellow teas are slightly fermented which can produce a 'fishy' taste
if over fermented. Too much or too little is a consumer choice. I
prefer the former. Silver Needles from Fujian is a white tea which
produces ephemeral sweet taste. Treat any Silver Needles as a green
tea when brewing. I always use boiling water for any tea but the SN
taste comes through when drank less than hot.

Jim

PS I have Silver Needles from Yunnan. It is the pin prick style of
Hunan. I conclude to make it this way it is fermented compared to the
soft malleable bud of Fujian.

On Aug 6, 12:34 pm, mmm_yummy <mmm_yummy.4c0ebfb.
> wrote:
> Can anyone help me? I just received my first shipment of Silver Needle
> and am having loads of trouble trying to brew it!
>
> The first time I tried brewing it I had to stop myself from gagging
> because it smelled fishy! That's right - fishy. Who would expect a
> Silver Needle to smell and taste fishy? So naturally I thought it was
> my kettle, my water or my teapot. I replaced the kettle and the teapot
> and used spring water.
>
> This time as well it smelled fishy, so then I reduced my brewing time -
> earlier I let it brew for 5 minutes. This time I brewed it for 2
> minutes, but frankly I have to say that it didn't taste very nice.
> Someone said I should leave it to brew for 15 minutes, but I haven't
> heard of Silver Needle being brewed for that long? Any and all help
> would be greatly appreciated.
>
> --
> mmm_yummy

I never realised that some teas had a kelpy smell! Not too sure whether I'll be able to get over that.

Anyway, I bought my tea from Adagio teas (from the website). On the tin it says, "Silver Needle: white tea from China".

And this is what it says on the write up on their website
"...produced in the Fuding and Zhenhe districts of its [China's] Fujian province..."

And I bought the loose leaf, not the tea bags if that helps.

mmm_yummy > writes:

> Nazhuret;1357315 Wrote:
> >
> > To help you out a bit better we'd need to know where you bought your
> > Silver Needle and exactly what type/brand it may be.
>
> I never realised that some teas had a kelpy smell! Not too sure whether
> I'll be able to get over that.
>
> Anyway, I bought my tea from Adagio teas (from the website). On the tin
> it says, "Silver Needle: white tea from China".
>
> And this is what it says on the write up on their website
> "...produced in the Fuding and Zhenhe districts of its [China's] Fujian
> province..."

OK, so it purports to be a canonical white tea, though "Zhenhe" should
be "Zhenghe".

On the subject of kelpy smell, it's really not so unusual. You've
probably encountered it if you've drunk tea from those cheap Japanese
teabags they use in the kind of sushi bars I can afford. But, as
Dominic has already made clear, kelpy can be a whole lot better than
that. On the other hand, I've drunk a number of white teas without
ever encountering that aroma. Maybe what you have is just stale?

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html
recent addition: Bu Lao Dan

I looked around on the Internet and couldnt find anyone using the word
'fishy' or 'kelpy' to describe Fujian Bai Hao. We know there is a
kelpy or fishy taste in Japanese teas and like I said yellow teas.
Bai Hao is a scent magnet. I wondered if it set on some Fujian port
dock too long. While Im here I didnt see any bud nicer than the
Fujian Export Company Flowery Pekoe White Tea which is a standard in
Chinese grocery stores. The bud should be malleable and look plump.
The only consistent complaint I hear about YinZhen 'Wheres the taste'.

Jim

On Aug 7, 2:49 pm, Lewis Perin > wrote:
> mmm_yummy > writes:
> > Nazhuret;1357315 Wrote:
>
> > > To help you out a bit better we'd need to know where you bought your
> > > Silver Needle and exactly what type/brand it may be.
>
> > I never realised that some teas had a kelpy smell! Not too sure whether
> > I'll be able to get over that.
>
> > Anyway, I bought my tea from Adagio teas (from the website). On the tin
> > it says, "Silver Needle: white tea from China".
>
> > And this is what it says on the write up on their website
> > "...produced in the Fuding and Zhenhe districts of its [China's] Fujian
> > province..."
>
> OK, so it purports to be a canonical white tea, though "Zhenhe" should
> be "Zhenghe".
>
> On the subject of kelpy smell, it's really not so unusual. You've
> probably encountered it if you've drunk tea from those cheap Japanese
> teabags they use in the kind of sushi bars I can afford. But, as
> Dominic has already made clear, kelpy can be a whole lot better than
> that. On the other hand, I've drunk a number of white teas without
> ever encountering that aroma. Maybe what you have is just stale?
>
> /Lew
> ---
> Lew Perin /
> recent addition: Bu Lao Dan

On Aug 7, 1:00*pm, mmm_yummy >
wrote:
> Nazhuret;1357315 Wrote:
>
>
>
> > To help you out a bit better we'd need to know where you bought your
> > Silver Needle and exactly what type/brand it may be.
>
> I never realised that some teas had a kelpy smell! Not too sure whether
> I'll be able to get over that.
>
> Anyway, I bought my tea from Adagio teas (from the website). On the tin
> it says, "Silver Needle: white tea from China".
>
> And this is what it says on the write up on their website
> "...produced in the Fuding and Zhenhe districts of its [China's] Fujian
> province..."
>
> And I bought the loose leaf, not the tea bags if that helps.
>
> --
> mmm_yummy

I absolutely hated that fishy taste/aroma when I first encountered it,
then almost a year later I was drinking a tea that had just the
tiniest hint of it and it created an instant need to find that super-
fishy original tea. Now, years later, I still get cravings and only
the fishiest Japanese green will do.

As for the white tea you have there... most likely it is simply
inferior or old. While tea vendors like Adagio and Teavana are
prevalent and charge a lot, they offer very little for your money. For
instance, you could have bought your Silver Needle from http://www.teaspring.com
for less than half of the price and I guarantee it would have been
better. (I have no connection with them outside of being a very
satisfied customer many times over.)

Most likely nothing you are going to do will change what you have. My
best suggestion is to just experiment with what you have to see what
you can get from it. Try maybe room temperature water brewing at
longer times, try a far off boil temp, try super hot, etc. Try it
iced, who knows some teas that seem like lost causes can have one or
two surprises.

- Dominic

Hey - Thanks everyone for your help

I think I'll just experiment around like Dominic said because for the moment I am stuck with this. And who knows, I might even get to like the fishy taste....mmmm...well, maybe not anytime soon!

Also definitely *not* getting any teas from Adagio again! Wish I'd known about it sooner...sigh... oh well...another day, another tea.