Malawi White Peony

Having a cup Malawi White Peony this evening. We spent most of the afternoon at the movie theater watching “Cloud Atlas” – it’s nearly three hours long, longer if you account for the previews! But it was a really amazing movie. Now I need to read the book.

Anyway… YOU too could be drinking this tea – did you know that we’re giving away a $20 gift certificate to Butiki Teas on the SororiTea Sisters blog? This giveaway ends tomorrow! http://sororiteasisters.com/2012/11/14/its-time-for-a-giveaway/ Did I mention that there is also free shipping that goes along with the gift certificate? Awesome!

This is really excellent – one of the nicest “white peony” teas I’ve had, and it’s not from China! It has a juiciness to it, the citrus tones really come right out and enhance the overall flavor. Vegetative too, and the fruit and vegetative notes really mingle well together. A really outstanding white tea.

I have a wee bit of this tea left, I think I shall send it to my SororiTea Sister Azzrian!

I’m not a huge fan of white teas.
They’re boring.
I have to be in a really zen mind-frame, with time to really sit and breath & open to the subtle qualities that white teas offer.
I’m not really in that mind-frame right now.
I should probably set up an electric kettle in my bedroom (on the 3rd floor), then in the morning after I do my free-style taichi/yoga/quigong, I can drink a cup of white tea while I’m writing in my journal.
Yeah, I’m thinking that’s the time to do it. I’ll be all zen-like, really in my most mindful state of the day (although I try to maintain this practice all the time, like all others who don’t live in a monastery, I get caught up in life).
Fully oxygenated from all that deep breathing, all my chakras wide open and spinning, Reiki flowing…
I think maybe then I will truly appreciate the beauty, the grace, & the intricacies of plain white tea.

I decided to try this tea because it looks awesome! The leaves are huge, and they remind me of the oak leaves in my yard. It is a tea that looks like fall. I got a hint of vanilla & rose.

This is FAB!

The leaves are amazingly HUGE and of different colors and sizes!

It’s incredibly fresh and is slightly florally-sweet. There is a hint of maltiness to it for a white which is nice and a tad fruity in the aftertaste.

What a great white!

Another sample from Stacy (thank you!)

I loved how large the leaves were for this tea- I felt like I was steeping something wild and exotic as I poured the water into my teapot.

Once the tea was finished steeping, I poured it into my cup & was greeted by a delicate floral scent with what seemed like hints of hay as well? Very light and inviting.

The flavor of this tea was very smooth, floral (kind of rosy, maybe? I’ve never had any rose teas so I’m just guessing here) with slight hints of what I’d describe as lime zest. Absolutely lovely.

Butiki Teas, you did it again! :) I am totally impressed. I love how they named their company Butiki, which means lizard in Tagalog! Yep I’m Filipino! And they have a great variety of African teas, of which I am an absolute huge fan.

So onto Malawai White Peony. The leaves are very LARGE and of different colors. Some a deep green, some with brown, and others with yellow. They fit nicely in my kyusu.

The liquor was a very light yellow color. The scent was a little vegetal and floral. I love the taste! It is so light and refreshing! It goes down smoothly and is very clean. There is no astringency or bitterness to it. There is some green-ness to this taste, but not grassy. There is some floral tones with a slight sweetness to it. Overall, this is a good tea!

I’ve been admiring my Butiki order and finally have the constant drizzle of a day perfectly suited for bai mu dan. This tea has such large leaves I can’t even fit them in my gaiwan. After much awkward head scratching, I finally decided that a kyusu would be the best method. Wouldn’t it be great to have one?
Regular sencha pot prep this is a slightly floral and earthen. It reminds me of Mars and Frontier’s bai mu dan, oddly. There’s no bitterness and as it cools it becomes less floral and gains a more classic bai mu dan savory taste.
Absolutely awesome. Butiki is definitely one of favorite tea merchants now.

Sipdown! I’ve been waiting until my tastebuds are back to normal to try this one. Sure glad I did!

The leaves of this one are huge, and remind me of a Shou Mei I had once. Awesome.

This one tastes really nice. It is a delicate, smooth tea for sure. Slightly malty in taste, with a nice sweetness – almost fruit like in nature. Maybe lemon? It’s not sour, but the sweetness seems familiar. A slight buttery feel and flavor are present…yum. There are also some vegetal notes, with a hay-like taste that makes this cup super calming for me. Brings me back to a time where I used to muck horse stalls and take the horses out in the field and watch them play. I’m picking up very subtle floral notes – nothing screams I AM A FLOWER to me, which is nice. =)

Overall, I may have to add this to my list of future purchases. I enjoy nice cups of white tea, and this one is towards the top in my book. Very pleasing. Thanks for the sample, Stacy!

Well first I have to say, WOW! This is a really, really good white tea. Generally, I prefer the whites to the greens because they tend to have less of a “fresh mown grass” flavor to them. This was incredibly light and fresh with hints of citrus to it. It gives the mild impression that you are drinking fruit juice instead of tea. As a few people have noted before, the tea leaves are huge. It comes with whole leaves still attached to twigs. This was a little tough to get in the brew basket of my two cup pot, but I decided to drop the leaves into the pot and use the basket as a strainer. Worked like a charm. If you like white teas, give this one a try. Highly recommended.