What-Cha’s Kenya ‘Rhino’ Premium White Tea | Tea Review

by Tea in Spoons

WhatCha_kenya_rhino_premium_white_tea_spoon

I haven’t had a white tea in a while and this one looked pretty interesting because it was hand-rolled and therefore, retained a gold and white appearance!

Description: “It is fuller than typical white teas with smooth sweet stone fruit and melon notes with caramel hints and no trace of bitterness or astringency.”

Instructions: 2-3 teaspoons per cup | 90°C / 194°F | 2-3 minutes

Review: When I first saw the dry leaves, I initially thought the package may have been mislabeled because it looked more like a golden tippy black tea. I had checked the website and confirmed it was right! The tea comes from the Kangaita Tea Factory which is a Fairtrade certified tea factory located at 2,000m elevation in Kenya.

WhatCha_kenya_rhino_premium_white_tea_wet_leaves

The tea is processed and collected by 6,594 small-scale tea growers who are also shareholders of the factory. Since the tea was hand-rolled, the fuzzy leaves are gold and white. It smelled sweet, malty and faintly of hay. After steeping for 2.5 minutes, the wet leaves were a chocolate reddish-brown and smelled smokey and medicinal which is not what I expected! The liquor was reddish orange-brown with a very sweet malty cocoa smell.

The start of the sip starts off tasting more like a black tea – malty, sweet, and cocoa. However, the distinctive ‘hay’ flavour common in white teas slowly crept in with a hint of floral at the end of the sip. Once cooled, the liquor is much more mellow but left the mouth a bit dry. Overall, I have to say, I am happy I was able to try this! I really enjoyed it (4/5 rating).

  • Type: White tea
  • Origin: Kenya
  • Caffeine: Unknown
  • Other: Fair-trade factory
  • Ingredients: White tea
  • Company: What-Cha

The question of the post: Have you tried a white tea that was hand-rolled?

Related Posts

3 comments

Eustacia | Eustea Reads August 22, 2019 - 8:49 pm

Ooooh, this sounds very interesting. I haven’t had the opportunity to try Kenyan teas – do you get them online or are there shops you go to?

Reply
teainspoons August 22, 2019 - 9:15 pm

I have found them in shops before. This one I bought online! I linked the vendor of the company in the post.

Reply
Eustacia | Eustea Reads August 22, 2019 - 10:48 pm

Ok, thank you! (:

Reply

Leave a Comment

cropped-b1e9c-2018-tea-in-spoon-logo-wp-long-500-t.png

Tea in Spoons is where I share my love of teas through tea reviews, tea travel, tea tips, information, and more. New tea adventure every Thursday!

COPYRIGHT © 2024 | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | PRIVACY POLICY