Infussion

Mmm, Bai Mudan is not a tea I have had all too often but this seems like a solid and straightforward cup to me! Notes of melon-like sweetness that flirts with the watery freshness of cucumbers. There’s even a touch of buttery cream that make this cup soft. No complaints here! I’ve been looking to pick up some White Peony and this 30g bag will do very nicely for now.

Do you know that sad empty feeling that usually proceeds finishing an amazing series? I’m no good with endings. I just finished steins;gate (a sci-fi time travel anime) for the first time and I needed something to pick me up and carry me off to a new series of books or shows. This was a great cup for that transition- and it held up well to multiple steeps! I guess it’s time to finally finish Lord of the Rings (it’s going to kill me).

Thank you, Infussion, for this lovely sample.

This is the mellowest Sencha I have ever tried. It’s not grassy whatsoever! It’s incredibly clean, mellow, calming, and somewhat reminiscent of pistachios. Not bad!

Dragon well (Longjing, Lung Ching, whatever) is one of my favorite teas. When infussion so kindly offered 3 samples to steepster users (the other 2 samples I have to figure out how to use, not being tea-tea!) this was a no-brainer choice. Longjing, I am always interested in!

And this does not disappoint. I am trying just the first infusion with plenty of water and a 3-something minute steep and it´s dragon well magic, intense, sweet, buttery and nutty.

Thank you Infussion Tea for this generous sample!

When Infussion’s parcel arrived, my parents took one look at the Polish address and said you didn’t… No! I didn’t! This was a kind free sample from the company. I haven’t ordered a big box of expensive teas from overseas… Yet. I’m looking at you, Mariage Frères

I’ve had Dragonwell from a few places now so I was stoked (do people still use that word?) to try another! Infussion’s Longjing reminds me the most of Silk Road- not too dry and not too buttery. The Dragonwell from David’s Tea is so dry and nutty it makes my mouth pucker, while a cup from Andrews & Dunham’s is like butter on my tongue. The first steep of this caused neither of those reactions.

I don’t have a gongfu pot here or own a gaiwan so it was Western brewin’ style for me. The first steep was noticeably roasted and vegetal with some slight nuttiness (don’t ask me to name the nuts). The cup was also somewhat astringent as the water temperature was likely too high. Not bad for a kick. It came off a little strong but this is one of those teas that taste a lot better if you let it sit for a few minutes before drinking. Lowering the temperature sometimes helps with reducing astringency or bitterness.

At this point I was thinking it was OK but not sure if I would want to order this particular one again. Then I second steeped it. More roasted butter nut soft veggies!!! This is how I like my Dragonwell- mellow. I’m a wimp.

Ancient Alphabet challenge – L

This poor ancient green.  Somehow I still have most of a 25gram sample and I swear I have steeping this up so many times.  It is very tasty for an OLD green anyway.  Somehow still very complex to my tastebuds, even if I can’t describe said flavors. Not surprising if I originally gave this green a 94. Probably the first green tea I ever really loved that much.

Thank you Infussion.eu for the samples! I’ve never had a dragon well before… so I thought this would be the one to choose! The leaves are flat, green and fresh. I waited for the water to cool way down…the steeping instructions say 140F. I steeped for 40 seconds. Don’t worry, the flavor is there! The taste is delicious. It kind of reminds me of an oolong, but that may be because I’ve had plenty of oolongs, not many green teas and no dragon wells. It has the bright, fresh, vegetal, sweet, silky smooth flavor of an oolong. The flavor really lingers in my mouth and it has a bit of a quality like a milk oolong. I don’t drink green teas often because they aren’t usually interesting enough, but this one could easily become a green tea staple. Definitely not boring and definitely very tasty! I wish I had requested more of Infussion’s actual tea samples rather than things in the herbal category, since this one is so good.

So thank you to Infussion for sending me the samples. This is the largest pouch in the shipment. I must say after reading up this I’m very intrigued. I’m not sure if the aphrodisiac properties, antidepressant, or properties are what I’m looking for but I don’t mind trying something new. By itself I am reminded of shredded cedar chips. The taste of the straight up bark is the same. It’s not terrible or great but I would say it’s an acquired taste. However I have noticed a few things with mixing it with other teas\tisanes. Straight up I didn’t notice anything difference in mood being lifted or something else…wink wink nudge nudge. Mixing it with plain Nobleza Gaucha Mate I have found is my favorite so far. Somehow they negate each other flavor wise in a teaspoon to teaspoon ratio. Yesterday morning I mixed it with Teavana Zingiber Ginger Coconut Rooibos. Again it was pretty good. However I felt kinda spacey for most of the day and had trouble concentrating. I don’t know if that is part of the “buzzy” effects. Regardless I’m going to try this with mixed with a few combinations and see what we get.

The catuaba that Infussion sent me as a free sample didn’t seem to wake me up this morning, so I thought I’d try steeping these… they are supposed to do that to. I thought about mixing these with the catuaba, but I wanted to steep them by themselves first to give them a fair chance. They look like tiny blueberries. I steeped them for ten minutes with just boiled water. The steep color is a pinkish pale color — for some reason I thought it would be red, but I guess that is what hibiscus is added to tea for, and this tea is only berries. Sadly, the taste is like hibiscus anyway. It seems like a mixture of blueberries, cranberries, hibiscus, rosehips… and something else that I can’t place. They are very tart and sour. The berries seem like they should be an ingredient in a blend and not just by themselves. I don’t think this significantly woke me up either. This isn’t really my thing, but I’m sure it is the best for what it is.

Thanks Infussion.eu for the samples! I had this one this morning. I wanted to try this one because at small amounts, it will wake you up and make you more alert. My brain needs all the help it can get. So I steeped 3/4 of a teaspoon. Infussion says 1-3 grams is supposed to wake you up, 3-9 grams is for sensitivity increases and “aphrodisiac uses” and 10+ grams make you sleepy. I’m not exactly sure how one tea can both put me to sleep in higher doses but wake me up at lower doses. (And yes, I had to look up how many grams are in a teaspoon… one gram = 1/4 teaspoon… I think I need to drink this tea before figuring out any math at all.) But I really hope I did this right… I really don’t feel like being sleepy all day! Infussion said to steep for ten minutes at boiling. The “leaves” look like very shredded light-colored wood chips. The steep color is a very interesting orange! It looks like it should be orange flavored. But the flavor is really like wood chips and slightly bitter. It isn’t terrible at all (to me anyway) and if it wakes me up, it will be worth it. But I can’t see people who don’t like rooibos liking this tea. I think rooibos is delicious. There is also a bit of a flavor profile here that tastes like a cappuccino to me. I don’t have those often though and that’s probably just my tastebuds…just something there that reminds me of cappuccino. I wonder if this tea will wake me up more than a black tea though. I had this plain today because I wanted to review it fairly, but I’d much rather mix it with something else in the future. The Schisandra Chinensis berries that Infussion sent will probably come in handy for that, especially since I kind of requested those two together for that reason. They are both supposed to keep you awake! (And it was funny logging into steepster to see the infusion times for these and seeing that Momo had the same idea: to brew them together!) The only problem with this tea is that I’d rather grab something more fun and tastier to wake me up in the morning. But it’s an interesting change! This is getting a good rating because I can’t see a tea made out of wood chips getting any better than this.

Two and a half hours after drinking: I was yawning more than usual, so I don’t think this tea woke me up very well. So if it doesn’t wake me up, I can’t see drinking it. I guess things affect me differently.

I used 1 tablespoon for 375 ml of water.

On the sip I’m detecting a soft melon-like flavour with a bit of a sour spinach-y edge. The spinach edge gives a heaviness to the overall flavour. Alfalfa sweetness is present. Very mild roasted flavour near the end of the sip in the background. Mildly buttery. I’m not getting an overwhelmingly swampy flavour. Almost a sugary sweetness is present.

Lingering aftertaste has peppery notes.

As it cools, I am getting hints of the licorice/ginseng tingly sweetness.

Rating: 85

I used 1.5 tablespoons for 375 ml of water.

Detecting a licorice-like sweetness that tingles my tongue into the aftertaste. Pleasant swampy-vegetal taste that may be a little strong. I am strongly reminded of the scent of alfalfa hay. Very mild astringency. No bitterness. Sweet throughout. Slightly buttery. Overall refreshing flavour. Lemon notes present, reminding me of the taste of a freshly squeezed lemon in water.

Second infusion at 5 minutes. Flavours from first infusion are still present but softer. Smooth and buttery quality. Softer sweetness throughout.

Third infusion at 7 minutes tastes very similar to the first infusion. More vegetal-tasting.

I am playing Resonance Of Fate (RPG on Xbox360) and thought I would brew a small teapot of this wonderful tea for two. :)

It’s still as sweet and light as I remember. Lovely.

Firstly I want to thank Infussion Tea for this generous sample and the opportunity for me to review it. I’m always honoured to receive free samples in exchange for honest reviews. :)

I do have some experience with Bai Mudan (also sometimes spelt Bai Mu Dan) and have tried and enjoyed samples from other companies. I remember this tea (in general) being light and refreshing with a little sweetness.

Back to this sample, the leaves are a mixture of brown and green with a few silver tips. It looks as though the leaves were whole which includes stalk but have now crumbled slightly and broken into smaller pieces. They have a slight sweet and floral fragrance.

Gaiwan Instructions: Tea 5g Water Temp: 90ºC / 194ºF
5 steeps: rinse, 25s,45s,1m10s,1m40s,2m30s

Steep one – 25 seconds – I note a wonderful sweet pea fragrance and golden coloured tea soup. The flavour is sweet and floral with no bitterness, very refreshing.

Steep two – 45 seconds – As well as sweetpea this has increased it’s floral tones and has gained a slight green, perhaps vegetal tang.

Steep three – 1 minute 10 seconds – Deliciously floral and refreshing with smooth sweetness with honeyed tones.

Steep four 1 minute 40 seconds – Decreasing slightly in flavour but remaining sweet and floral. Still no harshness but slightly vegetal, almost like a sweet cabbage.

Steep five – 2 minutes 30 seconds – Very subtle with slight sweet floral if not mellow honeyed tones.

Overall – This was a nice example of Bai Mudan in quality and flavour, not the freshest I have had but great for the price with an added bonus of cheap shipping. I would recommend this to anyone that is looking for a Bai Mudan for daily use or for beginners.

The tea is sweet, vegetal, refreshing, floral and delicate. A winning combination. Rating 8/10.

For pictures please read my blog. http://kittylovestea.wordpress.com/2012/12/10/bai-mudan-white-peony-infussion-tea/

A nice stand-alone Bai Mudan! Semi-sweet/Slightly-Vegetal/Creamy-Floral Peony! Great quality! Excellent Flavor!

Ok so i tried this tea because they said it was a MUST TRY, thanks to Infussion for the free sample ok so the smell is something i cant put into words… I don’t like the smell that much but the taste is good… Its not too strong and it has a good flavor Not something ide have all the time but i do like this! its a good green tea.

Ok so i received this tea today thanks to Infussion for the free sample. I was intrigued by this tea since they said not to buy the china Sencha lol I thought oh ok i will Try this then, there is Defiantly no grassy Notes to this tea, its so Soft on the tongue its just pleasant, normal Tea no Frills this is one i want to keep in my cupboard for the days i want just a nice tea :) My only thing is i wish they gave you how much and how long I should steep it for!

So I received my package from Poland, today! YAY! This is the first I am trying and it’s VERY satisfying!

It’s a nice mellow no-muss, no-fuss Darjeeling. One to have on hand for any occasion.

It doesn’t have much aroma to it but it brews-up to a medium brown that is quite lovely look at.

It has a well-rounded flavor from start to finish and is a bit brothy.

As it cools a bit – it’s even a little creamy…silky. It’s nice!