Alleged health benefits aside, the recent proliferation of white teas strikes me as just another pointless marketing land-grab. At the slightest notion that there might be a percentage of the tea-drinking demographic willing to pay a few cents more for its bottled tea, every beverage company on Earth rushes in with the same product. Are there really people spending money on this? Are there white tea supplicants? If so I would like to meet them. I don’t believe for one minute they actually exist.
Inko’s Lychee White Tea basically proves my point. It’s one of nine (9!) white tea + [fruit flavor] teas they offer, and I can’t imagine there are people who care enough about each of the individual flavors to keep them in production. Can I get the sales figures on Honeydew, for instance? Honeydew is no one’s favorite flavor. It’s not even in anyone’s top 10. Honeydew is the parsley of the brunch platter. OK I’m not here to review Honeydew, fine. All I’m saying is that people who make white teas don’t care about your health, or about making an interesting product, they just want to flood the market, same as everyone else.
Out of the nine options, I picked Lychee because it happens to be one of my favorite fruits. Sadly, the lychee flavoring was very mild, hardly even making an impact. So Inko fell short on its major selling point right there, for me.
That’s not to say I completely hated it. It has the all natural ingredients going for it, so I tip my hat in appreciation there. It has the correct level of not-very-sweet-ness, with the tea flavor coming through pretty robust, not like that watered-down stuff you had the other day.
On the other hand, is white tea supposed to have its own distinct flavor? A la green tea? Because I didn’t pick up on anything here. It tasted like any other kind of tea. Am I in the wrong? Tell me if I’m in the wrong. I don’t want to fault it for not tasting like white tea, because there’s nothing wrong with being adequate. You of all people should know that. There was just nothing particularly memorable about it. Would I drink it over any major-label sugar-rush teas? Yes. Would I go out of my way to drink it, if there were other brands I hadn’t tried, standing right nearby? I’m shocked that you would even have to ask me that. Can’t you at least try to be interested in my feelings?
Lychee is one of your favorite fruits and you’re talking smack about honeydew. Honeydew may not be in my top 10 but I think everyone agrees it’s the Fresh Prince of Melons.
Anyway I’m with you on this whole white tea BS. I was considering picking up the new Snapple white tea but then my brain literally shut down due to torpor and I had to be escorted outside to a park bench. I mean I guess these companies have to keep cranking out the different versions, but does this small boost of new purchases offset the expense of developing a new product? I suppose they cut corners by eliminating taste-testers OH ZING I WENT TO THAT PLACE.
And I totally forgot that I just had Revolution White-T the other day but I think we’ve covered white tea for the moment and anyway I can’t think of a new way to say “it tastes basically like water.”
Honeydew is a very popular flavor in Japan.. perhaps they are going on that angle? For that matter, Tazo tea’s premade green tea has honeydew flavor in it, I think..
I think your comments are off base re: Inko’s. The company introduced white tea way back in 2003. They have nine flavors because that’s what you do in beverage, you add flavors.
Compare inkos to that snapple drec and you see that Inko’s is great brand. Check their website and you’ll see that their heart is in the right place and on the side of the consumer.
As for the taste? To each their own.
An Inko’s Fan.
so, i just found this blog via a google search of inko’s white tea. I will have to disagree, I really like white tea and have been drinking the hot version for years. I think it is much lighter and more refreshing than dark tea leaves health benefits aside. I was searching for an online place to buy inko’s because I do think it is a little over priced. Anyway, I don’t think the flavors are there to please or develop hardcore fans, I think they are just a mild derivation of the white tea just so things don’t get boring. I buy one of these almost everyday at my local Harris Teeter and I usually just grab whatever flavor jumps out at me.
Anyway, don’t be a hater. White tea is not a ‘fad’ it’s been going on for centuries. It just might be a little trendy right now but believe me there ARE white tea drinkers/lovers out here.