Well, I wasn’t a fan of this before, but this brewing has softened my opinion a bit. I made it in a gaiwan while playing around on the computer. Oddly enough, after over two years of tea exploration, this is my first time picking up White Peony… It’s okay.
Though I don’t have a means of comparison to other Peonies, I trust Puripan’s selection, so I’ll use this as a base for a general idea of what White Peony tastes like until I get some more experience. It’s… okay. As far as white teas go, it’s better than many I’ve had, but it still gets blown out of the water by a good Silver Needle.
There were a lot of stray bits of leaves, so I had to use one of those little circular mesh strainers (is there a name for them?) while pouring it from gaiwan to decanter. In the vessel, the leaves didn’t seem to sink much, even after three infusions. This made rather obvious the presence of stems in this leaf. I guess the Imperial Method of picking wasn’t used…
Nice color, though. Okay, it looked a BIT like urine, but it was still a nice color. A bright, clean and clear, dark-yellow.
It tasted better as I brewed it – maybe that just because of successively better jobs at infusing. But, at the very least, it help up fine through three infusions, and that’s good. Perhaps I’m getting used to the white tea taste that turns a lot of people off. Maybe I’ll make some Silver Needle tonight… do I have any? I have Jasmine Silver Needle from Adagio… I guess that’ll do.
Peony (Bai Du Man)
Mild flavor, medium-body with delicate tannins. Smooth, sweet, slightly woody flavor and a toasted, black-tea type aroma.
Bai Mu Dan is the Chinese name of this exquisite white tea-it is the classic white tea, made from two Fujian harvest tea leaves and a silvery bud. A gentle, unique withering process produces a leaf that steeps to an amber-orange liquor.
