White Peony

Oh my gosh. I don’t know if I like this one or Snowbud more, but ahhhh I love this tea!
I love how it’s not like super grassy like the other white teas that I’ve had. This is like the perfect flavour. It’s like the big sister of Snowbud :)

Well, I’m pretty surprised by this tea. It might just be because it’s my first white tea, but it’s really delicious. Definitely an accessible tea for anyone who is starting to get into drinking loose leaf.

My favorite white tea from Adagio. Mellow and light, with a touch of Silver Needle sweetness. Highly enjoyable.

It probably wasn’t wise to precede this sample with a hefty helping of Freestyle Franken-Mix…my son and I dump in half-bags and boxes of whatever happens to be open and use Chex Mix seasoning to homogenate it a little. This batch’s rogue ingredient was crispy chickpeas.

So there was so much salt residue on my tastebuds, at first, all I could get out of White Peony was “plant.” Not unpleasant; just not much there. However, toward the end of the cup, I could pick up the faintly floral flavor (say that five times fast!) as advertised.

Idly sipped through this while watching anime on Hulu while flat on my back in bed, as you do.

It’s…flowery. Mild, but with a woodsy back-note. Drying on the finish.

Not something I particularly enjoyed, to be honest. I’ll try it again in the future to see if I like it better under different circumstances. I tossed my post-brew leaves in for an overnight steep to see if it’s any better cold, so we’ll see how that goes.

Cold brew was more woodsy, the floral became more perfume-y and it stayed fairly bland. Not a bad tea, but not one I’d be excited about trying again.

OMG So Tired!!!! I got up far too early for my liking to go house hunting and such with Ben and Fish today, the house hunting was hit and miss…but the ‘such’ was really quite awesome. So we went for lunch at a Chinese restaurant where the waiter picked the dishes for us based on a feeling and a very general description of what we liked, and mine was delicious so congrats waiter dude. After lunch we went to the movies, but no friends, no just any movies, we saw Mad Max FURY ROAD (yes it must be shouted) I went in with high hopes (because I loved Mad Max as a kid and still do now) and they were beyond met, seriously, I think it might be my new favorite movie. I honestly cannot recommend it enough…now I need a bunch of cars and minis to make into an epic Mad Max diorama.

So today’s tea is a relaxing ramble, since yours truly is exhausted, good old White Peony by Adagio Teas. Also known as Bai Mu Dan, White Peony is a fluffy leafed white tea from Fujian. I see it often listed as a good beginners white tea, since it is thought to have more flavor than some of its counterparts, not sure I agree with that opinion on flavor, but I do agree that it is a good intro tea. The aroma of the fluffy leaves is pretty mild, you really need to sniff hard to detect much of an aroma, but when you do there are notes of cucumbers, melons, and a hint of paper and sage.

Into my yixing it goes, this one is seasoned for white tea (specifically the more robust ones like Shou Mei) and I decided to go for a long steep, a whopping three minutes. The aroma of the now soggy leaves has more going on than it did when it was dry with cucumber, bitter melon, honeydew, and a tiny touch of okra at the finish. It is still mild, but less so than previous. The liquid is very sweet and surprisingly floral, with notes of wildflower, honey, melon, and a touch of cucumber at the finish.

The taste is, well, you know, it is ok. Nothing to jump up and down about, it starts off with mild notes of cucumber and celery, moves along to hay and wildflowers in the middle, and finishes with melon (honeydew in specific) and lettuce. It is super mild, I would like to think my palate is somewhat refined, but I had to really work to find much here. I did enjoy my cup of it, it was mild and relaxing, though it is certainly far from my favorite Bai Mu Dan.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/05/adagio-teas-white-peony-tea-review.html

This tea and I started off on the wrong foot. The leaves in my sampler pouch look nothing like the official image. Mine is about 5% white fuzzy leaves, 10% green flat leaves, and 85% brown leaves. And a good chunk of it was stems. (I’m sure there’s legit names for each of these things, but I don’t know them.)

The smell is fairly delicate. It’s a light organic kind of smell, but it would be hard to pinpoint any one thing in particular. The flavor matches the smell, but it’s a bit heavier on the floral aspect. It’s a calm, gentle tea that would definitely be overwhelmed by any amount of cream or sugar.

It’s not a bad tea, and I’m not going to have a problem finishing the sampler pouch. But it definitely falls in the “I’d Rather Spend My Money Elsewhere” category.

Another day snowed in, another round of tea sampling!

These dry leaves and stems smell like a flowering herb garden. The brew is pale ivory and smells like vegetables, maybe like cucumbers tossed in sugar syrup with a drop of lemon. The taste has more sweet, and the vegetable-ness isn’t nearly as evident. It’s balanced with the sweet. It’s like just kisses of all the yummy flavors of white tea. A little fruit, a little vegetables, a little herbs, a little floral, a little a little a little. Delicate. But has enough going on to make it interesting. Held up well to a second infusion, lost most of the vegetable smell. But kept the same flavors. A little more peachy tasting maybe.

I could have sworn I wrote a note about this one already…I had it early last week, I believe. I think I was expecting a more identifiable floral flavor, but all I really got was white tea. I enjoyed the cup (and the two more I was able to resteep), but it wasn’t what I’d thought it would be. I’m surprised to read some reviews stating that this had too strong of a flower taste for them. I probably need to drink this again with a more discerning palate before I rate it.

Delicate and refreshing, with an earthy plant flavor as well as some lighter floral flavor as well. Probably not satisfying for those who prefer strong flavors in their teas. No sweetness that I noticed.