Makaibari 2nd flush 2025

I use a tea basket when I make a single cup, but for pots of tea, I use these filters. I have several tea pots without an infuser basket and these save the mess of getting the leaves out. I started using them when Silver Tips included a few with an order several years ago, and they have been a pantry staple since then.

Because the 2024 @nd Flush was so good and I had bought more than one batch, I was prepared for the 2025 2nd Flush to not be as good.
I was very pleasantly surprised at how good the 2025 2nd Flush is!
It has a very pleasant aroma and a wonderful flavour and has been making my mornings and evenings since it arrived about ten days ago.
I have my 2nd Flush with milk and sugar, so this tea holds up very well to that!
I will definitely be buying more!!

Best tasting Black Current tea out there. Ive been buying from SST for at least 15 yrs. STT quailiy is supreme. Their customer service is great. I recomment SST to everyone.
Michael B.

We've been using Samovar for many years. We enjoy the flavor very mush. Not too strong and very flavorful.

I love the distinctive taste of Panda Blend and keep it as a treat for myself and my guests.

Makes my Day

It's been a while since we've had this tea. Somehow it seemed to slip out of our sight as we found some new resources. But when I was searching for some great teas and Dragonwell came up I couldn't help but remember how much we loved it. I am so glad we've rediscovered the pleasure of this wonderful, clean, smooth and refreshing tea. We love it just as much as we ever have. <3

Delicious caffeine free option, perfect in the evenings

Love this tea, served to tea-loving company who gave it oohhs, and ahhs. As in, a treat. I'll be drinking in the afternoon while working instead of the also great black tea I get from Silver Tips in the am....

Silver tips—that magical fragrance wafts up the moment one opens the tin. A 5-minute steep renders a delectable liquor with a very delicate and subtle lingering aftertaste that plays in the nostrils. Ah! But don't stop there! Don't toss the leaves after just one steep—they can be steeped again.

Or, what I prefer is to set a 2-cup pot; I pour the first cup at 5 minutes; the second at 20 minutes or so. The second cup does well with a teaspoon of Turbinado sugar to offset a hint of astringency and bitterness (which is not there at all in the first pour); what a delightful nectar that second cup becomes!

Note: this tea is impossible to measure with a teaspoon—the long needles leave lots of space between them—so I use a digital scale (they can be found cheaply online—and make for very accurate "dosing"). For my two-cup pot, I use 5 grams of tea—and I pour boiling water into the pot *without preheating the pot*—that is so that the water cools off a bit; then I add the tea. (It is said that white tea should be steeped at a lower temp—like 185° F).

Note 2: I thought that probably white tea would be lower in caffeine, since the flavor is so delicate—not so! Though this tea would not take milk well, and sugar only on a very long steep, it does carry a full quota of caffeine (in addition to all the antioxidants and other good things that white tea is known to provide). A little research online suggests that the fresh shoots on the tea plant have the greatest concentration of caffeine—my experience with this tea corroborates this—silver tips are the new leaves just grown on the tips of the tea plant.

The characteristic flat, sword like leaves of this tea made it impossible to use my Silver Tips perfect cup of tea spoon to measure it! When I simply used my fingers I was rewarded with the unique silky feel of the leaves! Also, I had read reviews of Dragonwell that used the descriptive “chestnuts.” Indeed, on the first steep the aroma of roasted chestnuts wafted up. A double delight. As noted, you can brew this in the traditional Chinese method of multiple short steeps. (This makes the tea very economical!). Dragonwell is one of those teas whose prices can be astronomical. I’m not a conneisieur but I hightly recommend this tea!.

Love this tea! Will drink alone with a little cream, but makes a good chai as well Very popular with my friends!

If I were castaway on a desert island and could have only one tea for the rest of my life, it would be this one. I won't abandon my previous favorite, Silvertips Earl Grey, but Grand Earl Grey is my new special treat!

Very nice Assam tea. I love it with milk and honey.

This is the best long leaf tea I’ve had and well worth the price!