Kimberley's Kyusu

Hey there Teacups! I’m back today with another Let’s Talk Tea post this time around I’m going to be reviewing Chariteas Grey Dragon (White Tea). Grey Dragon tea comes from the central Java highlands of Indonesia, from the state of Dewata, which translated into the local language means ‘’home of the gods and goddesses’’, an apt name for this beautiful tea. Grey Dragon tea is grown at attitudes of around 1000-1500m above sea level, grown in the rolling hills of the tea estate with breath-taking views and scenery.

Before this package arrived, I had only ever tried one Grey Dragon tea from Twining’s they have their own delicate bespoke blend that I was lucky enough to try once many moons ago. Since I tried the Twining’s version of this blend and loved it I had been looking for some more but had no luck at all, so I could hardly contain my excitement when I opened the package that Chariteas sent and saw this in it. (I’m going to try and make this last until I can pick up some more but truthfully this probably won’t last more than a month at most – I love the uniqueness of this tea).

Dry Leaves

The dry leaves are unique too retaining most of their white tea downiness, but largely being very fine, needle like and almost black in colour with a few flashes of green thrown in too. They smell very sweet, have a very light malt note to them and a underlying fruity element that is hard to pin point until they are steeping and a sweet apricot like aroma gets stronger and stronger as time goes by.

Tea Tasting Notes

I’m incredibly picky with White Tea purely because most of them give me bad heart burn but having tried a tea like this before I knew I would be okay with it for the most part. It’s normally when I have white teas hot that they give me heart burn but for the purposes of this review I wanted to try it both hot and cold to see which way it worked best. I’m not 100% sure that I enjoy this hot as I do cold it’s much more pleasant that way. More of its flavour seems to come out and it takes on a much more of sweetness that white teas have sometimes. It tastes honeyed, and every so slightly hay-like, but there’s a somewhat malty note to it which is provided by the oxidisation. There’s just something special about this tea it’s unlike any white tea I’ve tried before, and I can see it becoming a staple of my tea collection. (I’m getting back into white teas and I’m determined to feature so many more of them in the future)

It doesn’t have a strong or robust flavour and I found it quite hard to pin point exactly what I was tasting the first time I steeped it. White not as strong in flavour as a black tea would be it is still much stronger and sturdier than any white tea I have ever had, and the slight peach/apricot edge is has to it rounds it off perfectly. For no I will be drinking this iced, but I think I’ll go back to it in a few months and try it hot again it will probably end up growing on me over time. A huge thank you the team at Chariteas for reintroducing me to Grey Dragon you can expect an order of a vast amount of this from me in the next few months.

Overall Teacup Rating: 5/5

If you want to find out more about Chariteas and purchase this amazing unique tea for yourself you can do both here. As always Teacups if you have any questions at all either stick them in the comments or send them to me on Twitter/Instagram @teaisawishblog and I’ll answer them as soon as I can.

Speak to you all soon. Happy Steeping – Kimberley