White Peony

A lovely light tea, fairly typical of a white tea. I’ve never had a tea with peony in it before, so I was expecting this to taste overwhelmingly floral. Thankfully the floral aspect is equally delicate and complimentary to the white tea, rather than competing with it. There’s also a lovely subtle sweetness to this.

I bought only a single serving packet of this and in the future I’d buy another sample of it from time to time, but I don’t think it’s one that I’d need to get in full size. It’s good, but it doesn’t jump out at me as a “buy me now” kind of tea. The bonus is that this tea comes with a built-in conversation starter…how to correctly pronounce “peony”. I say “pee-ownee”, my Dad says pee-eny…I suspect we’re both wrong

Well, I’ll leave DAVIDsTEA to fix the image quality/description here… I’m not used to having to add teas myself!

Picked this one up while in store today to get October’s TOTM – I had seen mention of the straight tea promo, but hadn’t realized that 9 new straight teas had come out! So I picked up sample bags of five teas they had available (at least one wasn’t new though). A couple cups’ worth of tea for $1? Heck yes!

So the roommate and I shared this one tonight, as neither of us have really tried many (or any) straight white teas. Used the whole 2g bag of tea for 3 cups of water (less whatever boiled off). The end result is quite light, and in my opinion, a bit too bland (not underleafed though, I don’t think). I definitely get the corn silk association they mention, but there’s nothing special about this one at all. There’s a bit of a lingering “tea” taste at the end of the sip. Not sad that my sample packet is gone. I imagine this is fairly akin to most white peony teas; my expectations weren’t super high, I must admit! For those that like white peony, I’m sure this is a fine tea, but apparently I’m a touch picky :)

I’ve never had a straight white tea before and I’m enjoying this one. Nothing too special about it from what I can tell. Perhaps once I’ve tried more unflavoured white teas I’ll have more to report. But it’s a nice change from the crazy flavourful “is this dessert in a mug?” teas – which are also delicious, but sometimes you just need it straight.

Update: Great resteeped as well!

Dry Leaf Nose: Sweet aroma reminicient of fresh corn silk and vegetables.

Liquor: Clear, bright liquor with a lovely yellow/green colour and sweet aroma.

Flavour: The liquor has a fresh full flavour, laden with freshly picked and steamed vegetables, corn silk and fine green tea. Unusually round and full for a white tea. There is a hint of incense in the cup that floats above the liquor and lingers on the palate. This is an exceptionally bud filled Bai Mu Dan, which distinguishes it as a very high quality tea. The flavour is affected by these buds as they bring an exceptionally sweet character to the liquor. It is the leaf that brings the corn silk and vegetal notes.

I used 2g of dry leaf (2 tablespoons) for 375 ml of water.

Aroma of the brewed tea is swampy with hints of sweetness. I’m detecting peppery notes and possibly even hints of cinnamon. There is a strong floral tone.

Mild tasting. Light floral flavour thoughout. Slight saltiness is detected. Sweetness closer to end of sip which carries through into aftertaste. I’m detecting hints of pepper and vegetal in the aftertaste.

Lingering aftertaste develops into a corn-like flavour.

Finally! I finally tried a ‘plain’ white tea. It was only .50 so I snagged it.

It reminds me a little of a very light green or oolong tea. I really like it. It’s slightly sweet, grassy and very lovely.

Now when I drink Cookie Dough, I’ll recognize the base.

Time to resteep!

It’s been a while since I posted a proper review on here, but my excuses are valid! A new year means a new house and a new baby (in April), but due to the holidays + pregnancy, we’re still organising/unpacking/sorting through all of our stuff! Believe me, our living room looks like an episode of Hoarders and since I’m 29 weeks along and the belly is protruding more and more, I’m only allowed busy moving/sorting smaller boxes. The pace is agonising!

I need a break. I need tea. Stat.

Now, I’m no white tea aficionado, usually preferring them to be ever-so-slightly-flavoured. I love that DAVIDsTEA mentions corn silk in the flavour profile, since I never would have thought of it as a flavour note, but can actually kind of taste it here. I also get hints of moss for some reason. Hmmm, interesting. Two steeps out of the leaves, with enough dry tea leftover for another brew on another day. Not bad for a tea sample that cost me $0.50 due to the Boxing Week sale!

This is literally like a spring day. I feel like there’s memories. Flowers. Maybe this is just me being tired of the city in winter, but this tea made me very happy. I can’t really say whether this is a good white tea or not, because I don’t usually drink whites, but I enjoyed this one.

So I had this tea Friday ( the 25th) in the afternoon. I decided to steep this tea in my new gaiwan. The leaves have a grassy, almost hay-like smell.

First Steep: full body. Greenish colour, yet it is light. There is some sediment, which adds to the grassy flavour and aroma of the tea.

Second Steep: same as the first, except a little lighter.

Third Steep: light colour, almost no flavour.

I picked up a sample of each of the new straight teas at DAVIDsTEA yesterday – which I think is a fantastic marketing strategy. I love being able to try a new tea in my house, where I can brew it exactly how I want to… Yep – I pulled out my thermometer for this one.

Onto the tea!

I am a big fan of white & green teas, and I know that I prefer lighter more delicately flavoured teas so I was fairly certain that I would like the White Peony tea.

And I do! It’s light, slightly floral and the corn silk notes add a really delicate texture that is very subtle but great.

This tea is very light and easy to drink. Like other people have said, it doesn’t have anything special but I like it. It definitely has a subtle sweet corn flavour.

I purchased this tea in the smaller $1 sample bags and I kind of fell in love with this tea. I can definitely see myself drinking this majority of the time when I feel like drinking a straight tea in the spring. The taste is light and crisp and gives a sense of refreshment. I’m planning on maybe purchasing it in maybe twenty-five to fifty grams the next time to get more of the feel of it.

Picked up a small sample of this yesterday when I was in getting a 1$ cup of oolong.

First steep is very smooth and bright. It’s a very clean, simple white tea. I had it with a bit of honey and I think that worked well. Will try resteeping soon.

First time trying a straight white tea. Really enjoyed this one. Was very light and floral-y. Very nice for a relaxing evening :)