Shang Tea is one of the best tea companies out there in my opinion. Everything they do is of the utmost quality. I have not had one bad experience with any tea I have sampled from Shang Tea. Honeysuckle White is pure ecstasy. That is if your idea of ecstasy is a creamy mouthfeel, sweet florals, buttery light vegetal flavors, and an undertone of nuttiness.

When I was a kid there were a lot of honeysuckle bushes around my neighborhood. You could pick the blooms of the honeysuckle bush and pull out the middle section, the stamen I believe, and there would be this shiny wet dew on the stem of the stamen. This was honeysuckle sap. It was sweet and delicious just like this tea but a natural sweetness of course, nowhere near as sweet or sappy as honey.

This tea evokes those memories for me. A time very early in my youth that followed me into my own children’s youth as they too would learn the secret of the honeysuckle bush!  Shang Tea’s Honeysuckle White Tea is considered an herbal white tea.

Here is what Shang Tea has to say about Honeysuckle White Tea:

Smooth and soothing, this tea creation is from our “white peony King” white tea and wild Honeysuckle blossoms for a round and enchanting cup. This combination is not only beautiful and delicious, it contains wonderful healthful qualities.

In China, there are over 100 species of wild Honeysuckle. Highly prized for its medicinal value, Honeysuckle is used in China and Europe to cool the body to alleviate headaches, sooth sore throats, and contain anti-inflammatory properties.

This tea is soothing, calming, almost meditative. The color is so beautiful – a bright sunny golden amber. The aroma makes the eyes open brightly with the lovely smell of honeysuckle blossoms, then the eyes shut with a soothing Ahhhhhh feeling of release. Since this tea is made with the White Peony King tea base you will pick up subtle nuisances of fruity undertones in later steepings.

This tea is a forgiving tea in the sense that you can play around with brew times if you wish to have your tea a bit stronger or a bit lighter. I steep mine for a good 3 to 4 minutes on the first steep and 5 or more on the following steeps, yet you can go as little as 1 to 2 minutes and still get a lovely flavor. Note the directions to bring water to a boil, then let rest one minute before immersing leaves to steep. You will find this tea can easily be steeped 3 to 4 times and still give a high quality enjoyable flavor palate for your palate!

I love a tea that can evoke a memory. This playful tea has the quality to be snobbish yet lets everyone enjoy its bounty, at $16.00 for 2 ounces or you can grab one of Shang Teas sampler packs that include their 8 best-selling teas, including this one, for only 8 dollars and 80 cents. Every time I enjoy this tea I will think of the years past, running around my neighborhood, picking honeysuckle and lapping up the sweet nectar of life and remembering times doing the same with my own little saplings!

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