Snow Dragon - Fortnum & Mason

F&M may have disappointed with their tea advent calendar (see earlier post!) but with this brew they are onto a winner.

This was a present and after trying it, I rationed its use because I didn’t want it to run out too quickly…and I’m too bone idle to visit F&M when I’m in London!

The tea is somewhere between a silver needle and a green tea and you do get that asparagus, grassy essence of a green sencha tea, infused with the honey notes of the silver needle when you taste it.

The tea comes from the Yunnan province of China; young leaves are picked during the last frost, then they are seared in a wok and dried into long, snake-like (or dragon-like) leaves. As you can see from the photograph, the leaves range in colour from dark, twig like browns, through to pale, almost silver twists. The tea has a fresh scent, but it is more reminiscent of forest leaves than grassy fields, mixed with the warming scent of honey or vanilla.

I have no pictures of the tea leaves when they have unfurled into full, bright green leaves; nor the pale golden liquid that the tea produces, which has the slight shimmer you would expect from a silver needle. (I forgot to take any until I'd drunk the last of my supply!) As you would expect, this light, fresh tea is not overpowering, and therefore perfect for those hazy summer days!