White Temple – White Tea, 25 bags

White Temple by A.C. Perch's Thehandel, light and fruity

White Temple by Perch's Thehandel is a blend of white Mao Feng and Silver Needle from China, with candied pineapple, mango, papaya, and orange peel. The infusion remains almost colorless in the cup, yet tastes fully of ripe fruit.

White Temple is the best-known house blend from the Copenhagen tea house Perch's Thehandel—often imitated, rarely matched. The box contains 25 individually wrapped pyramid bags in which strawberry pieces, sour cherries, and currants are visible among the light leaves.

Pineapple, orange, and white tea

Upon brewing, the pineapple comes through first, sweet and tropical, followed by the orange peel with its subtle bitter edge. In the cup, it is a very pale gold, barely more than a shimmer, which makes the full fruit flavor almost surprising at first.

White tea on its own tastes delicate, hay-like, and slightly sweet, and it is precisely this restraint that gives the fruit room to breathe here. The candied pieces provide sweetness, the sour cherry and currant add a tangy counterpoint, and the jasmine tea lays a floral trace underneath that holds the entire infusion together.

The blend does not become bitter even if you let it steep a minute too long, as there are few tannins in the white leaf. This makes it the type of variety you can serve to guests who otherwise don't care much for tea.

Fruit is candied by slowly soaking it in sugar syrup until the syrup has replaced the water in the fruit pulp. The piece then remains firm and dry enough to sit next to the leaf without making it damp, and the sweetness only emerges again in hot water.

Hot in the pot, cold in the pitcher

Use eighty-degree water and a steeping time of six to seven minutes; boiling water burns the delicate leaf and makes the infusion flat. You don't need to add any sweetener, as the candied fruits provide enough, and milk would only mask the light fruitiness.

Cold-brewed, the blend shows its best side: two bags per liter, left in the refrigerator overnight, and served the next day in a glass with plenty of ice.

This blend is too light for breakfast, but just right for the afternoon, paired with a piece of fruit cake or a handful of nuts. It also has its place after a meal, when an espresso would be too stimulating and a glass of water too plain. The Green Fragrant Jade is more floral and slender, while the Raspberry Oolong is fruity on a darker base. Both can be found on the shelf with loose-leaf tea and tea bags.

Mao Feng and Silver Needle, two white teas

White tea is the least processed tea of all: the leaf is picked, air-withered, and dried—nothing more happens. Silver Needle consists exclusively of the unopened buds, which still have a silvery fuzz, and is therefore the most expensive part of this blend.

Mao Feng brings the first delicate leaves along with the bud, giving the base a little more body. Perch's Thehandel uses both together because the bud provides the fragrance and the leaf provides the length. More from Copenhagen can be found in the Perch's Thehandel collection.