Organic White Peony (Bai Mu Dan) Tea

I haven’t mentioned it yet, but I really do enjoy the packaging on TeaVivre’s teas. I enjoy knowing where each tea is from, all the manufacturer and storage and use details, right there on the label. It’s a nice touch!

This one smells a tiny bit like sweet clover to me. Very nice, but not purfume-y like a lot of floral teas. Just a nice touch of sweetness.

This one’s a little bit sharp if you drink it too hot, but once it cools enough you won’t burn your tongue, it gets nice and sweet and smooth. It keeps getting sweeter and even a little juicy as it cools, too.

The pretty, multi-toned dry leaves,smell sweetly fruity and floral. Not a ‘high’ sweetness but deeper almost licorice.
The steeped leaves create a beautiful straw-colored brew, which is a beautiful sweet melon and honeyed floral. Distinct, but not overpoweringly so. I bought this economically-priced white as a foil to my favorite (but more expensive) Silver Needle White. Both are decidedly different and if you like or want to try white tea, you owe it to yourself to try both. This is a lovely choice for an afternoon tea party. Perfect to share with friends in the garden, or on a rainy afternoon!

What can I say, another home run from Teavivre. Yet again I am more impressed with the sample than I ever expected to be from the tea I actually ordered. This tea tastes right away of fruit. Peach and apricot making way to a cherry finish with just a touch of fresh cut grass. One thing that stands out when tasting this tea tho is the gushingly wet mouth feel. This tea has no dryness at all making it extremely refreshing as a for a hot tea and I’m planning on trying it iced to see if that wetness carries over. All said its a great cuppa

Light and flowery without being too overpowering. I almost get a linger nutty taste, almost like sweetened walnuts. Over all a good tea. Worth trying but not something I would personally buy a decent amount of.

Thank you to Angel at teavivre for the samples, of which this was one of many! The day that box arrived I was as happy as Christmas morning! Since then though I have been crazy busy with my internship and weekending with my university friends and have not had a chance to really enjoy tea (or to review it properly). So I finally had a spare minute today and decided to brew a cup of this!
My first thought was that the leaves of this tea are huge. I only used half of my sample package for a mini-tea pot worth (about a cup and a half) and it was probably not the best brewing implement as the basket it a little small to allow tea leaves this large to steep properly. The dry smell was very vegetal, like hay or dry grass. I was intrigued because this is the first non-flavoured white tea that I have tried, so it was the first time that I have actually smelled the leaves themselves.
I brewed it according to package instructions, 90 degree water for only 2 minutes, and overall was very pleased with the results. The flavour is very smooth and pleasant, lightly grassy with a hint of floral notes. I am not sure that straight white tea is my favourite cuppa, I think I am more of a flavoured tea girl along the lines of Strawberry Fields or Gold Rush, but the quality of this white is better than any I have tried and a perfect smooth blend for those days where I have had enough of strong flavours and just want a nice cup of white tea, with all of the benefits that go along with it!
Just a note on brewing, my teapot holds about a cup and a half, and the remaining half of a cup typically keeps brewing after I pour the first cup. Therefore the second cup was steeped for over 5 minutes. The result was a slightly bitter, strongly grassy tea that overwhelmed all of the pleasant floral notes. Therefore I strongly advise paying attention to brewing time- for this tea it makes a big difference!

I hadn’t tried a Bai Mu Dan before so this was interesting. To me this is light, strong hay note, medium floral, slightly sweet. Not an everyday tea for me, but still a nice drop/

It’s really starting to get hot and humid where I live, and preparing this cold steeped overnight really hit the spot. I like how the chilly water brings out a refreshing flavour of the floral Bai Mu Dan.

Also, it really helps me get through a lot of 2012 purchases so I can buy the current year’s stuff. ;)

Steep parameters:
6 tea spoons of tea leaves, 1 liter jug of water, steeped for about 15 hours in a refrigerator.

This tea brewed up a darker yellow than I expected. The dry tea and tea liquor smells sweet and vegetal. More like flower leaf vegetal, than grass vegetal. There is a slight flowery scent to the tea.

The tea tastes sweet and floral but not perfumey and also not jasmine. This is a delicate, smooth tea.

I used 1 tsp.

Very good tea, not simple at all by its taste. Here’s more http://www.teablr.com/?p=493

This is my first white tea so I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t read the instructions so my first cup had about 2 cups of water and one tsp of tea. The tea was a pretty, pale yellow with a light, slightly vegetal flavor and woodsy aroma. But I wasn’t sure what I was tasting. It’s definitely relaxing and smooth. I added a little stevia, which brought out the floral undertones in the taste. Now, according to the instructions I looked at here, I didn’t have enough leaves, so I made another mug, this time stronger.

This time I can really taste the “greenness”, and as the tea cooled, there was more of a floral undertone to the aroma. I liked the tea stronger but you know what? I like it better weaker.

A great sample I received from Teavivre. I set up a proper tasting with degustation sets for each of the teas. Well, I didn’t do the traditional 6 minutes, but I did my best for the type of tea. Here’s my notes.

Dry leaf: very fluffy and downy. Much more so than other White Peonies I’ve tasted recently. Good quality leaf.
Brewing method: 3g, tasting set, 85 C for 1 minute
Aroma: Classic Bai Mu Dan aroma of gently roasted walnuts.
Infusion: Light green-yellow liquor.
Taste: Very sweet and thick. Filling like – don’t take this the wrong way, because it’s really pleasant – white beans. Tastes like Bai Mu Dan should, bringing back memories of my first experiences with the style many years ago when I would drink the tea every morning.

This was the best of all the samples that I received. Definitely worth drinking in the future.

Mmm. Juicy and flavorful. Love it!

[One of my free samples from Teavivre, Thank you so much!]

Very light, pretty, sweet. A little more grassy than Silver Needle, and yet more refreshing. I really enjoyed this one on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

I brewed 3 gr with 500 ml cold water overnight… about 12 hours.

What came out this morning was rather intensive tasting infusion, very vegetal with hint of astringency. It also had a strong herbal notes, sage to be more specific. Aftertaste was vibrant herbal with some sweetness that came after.
I might oversteep this one, or used too much leaf… but I did enjoy it.

A wonderful tea!
Im very fond of white tea in the evening, this one is so relaxing.

A very even lighly fruity and a bit nutty taste.
The steeping suggested by teaivre is pretty much spot on. Although i think this tea is very forgiving. Any temperature 80-90 would do and still taste super.

I always have a tin with this one at home :)

Nice, light and sweet floral tasting tea.

Big beautiful leaves spilled out of a sample package from TeaVivre, and they’re so pretty! Brewed according to directions (2-3 tsp per 8oz water), I’m getting a floral taste at first, and then a pine needle crispness on the tongue. I quite enjoy this, and wonder why I still buy flavoured white teas when I can drink this; delicious and pure.

3 steeps in, and my headache is starting to disappear. Thumbs up!