What do you get when you take a varietal normally processed into Moonlight White tea and turn it into a black tea? You get this wonderful brew that sits right on the line between black and white tea. This tea is made from Zi Cha varietal purple tea leaves. The aroma alone shows characteristics of both a classic moonlight white tea and black tea.

The dry leaf smelt of grapes, dry red wine and has a floral tone that reminded me of rose. The wet leaf while still with the aroma of grape transitioned into a much more tart and deep aroma with notes of cherry.

The flavor of the tea was much like a cross between silver needle and a lighter black tea like a Keemun. It was very light in flavor and lacked bitterness, with floral aromas similar to what you may find on a silver needle. Also detected hints of cherry in the background. The floral notes and cherry were very well balanced and together were similar to a cherry blossom.

This is was quite complex in flavor, mainly because of just how close it fell on the line between two different types of tea. At the same time, because of this, the tea left me unsatisfied and was constantly looking for from both the black tea and white characteristics of the tea. While a good cup and quite mellow, ultimately for me, the tea was neither here nor there. However I do believe it deserves at least a 3 out of 5 stars. I’m really not sure if I will purchase it again. I think for me, if I want a black tea then I will brew and black tea and vice versa.