White Peony

I used two teaspoons of dry tea leafs in a 4 oz gaiwan. The tea was very delicate, as most white teas are. It had definite notes of chestnuts; slightly astringent. I timed three minutes for the second steep. The second steep was much more mellow and less astringent. The steeped leafs what I would describe as a “warm” floral aroma to it; something that reminded me of holidays late in the year.

Wow! This white tea has some life to it. Usually I think of white teas as bland and unexciting-you know that kind of tea that is used as a base in fruit blends; not bad, but not interesting. This tea has a nice nutty quality to it. It tastes almost like a lighter version of an oxidized oolong. Good stuff.

Beautiful White Tea, would go well with Pasta….I appreciate all the work Rishi goes thru to provide exquisite teas. (Whoever wrote the description up top hit the nail on the head.)

This tea has a very light flowery scent. It is a very light and pleasant tea.

A light, grassy/nutty flavor.

Always a great compliment to a savoury meal!

Another tea with a duplicate entry. I wish the Steepster gods would use their super merge powers on these. It messes with my OCD.

If I had to guess, this has a separate entry because one is “organic” — but I find it hard not to believe these are the same tea. The description is identical, and there’s nothing in the “organic” description that elaborates on the organic label. BTW, mine is labeled organic and I’m taking the plunge to put it here with the vast majority of entries.

In the tin, I definitely get the “sour, dead plant” aroma from the dry leaves that I have associated with white peony in the past. A more charitable description is something like “arboreal” or “woody.”

The steeped tea’s aroma seems to veer rather significantly from that, however. I can’t say I’m smelling toasted chestnut, which I associate with a very specific smoky smell from the stands in NYC in winter, but I do understand the honey reference. Though it’s not an intense smell, there’s a sweetness that is reminiscent of a very light honey. The tea is a very pale yellow.

So to compare this to the Andao, which I just had a few minutes ago: they’re pretty similar in flavor (minus the undefined fruitiness, which I am now convinced was a holdover from a different tea), as I would have expected since they’re the same type of tea. The main difference is that the Andao is both more and less. It has more of a rounded flavor, whereas I feel as though I’m searching for the flavor a bit in this one amidst the hot water. But it is also less sharp. The Rishi has a sharp note that reminds me of a darjeeling, while the Andao doesn’t.

I’m going to rate this a little higher than the Adagio because I enjoyed this more, but lower than the Andao which will earn a ratings bump.

I do not often have a white tea in my stash. I don’t really know why that is but I do know that I worry about the temperature as I have yet to find a tea thermometer. I just had to pick this one up during my last visit to The London Tea Room as Peonies are my favorite flower.

I took the kettle off the burner right before it was going to start boiling. I then took off the lid and opened the spout as I prepared my teapot (which is fast becoming my favorite way to steep). I do not know the temperature that it would have ended up at, but I didn’t want it boiling temperature when I poured it over the leaves. It took a whole spoonful of sugar, per cup, for this to be tasty to me. I think it is the astringency that was masking the flavor for me. Overall, it is a beautiful tea. Not a bad way to start my night of relaxing (finally!).

This is my first White Peony experience outside of Shang Tea, owned by Zehua Shang, who specializes in white tea, has won pretty high awards for his White Peony, and farms the tea himself, so his tea is direct from the source to the customer. Thus, beware of my bias.

That said, I’ve never felt compelled to purchase Bai Mudan from any other vendors since Shang’s is top notch, and even better I live near the store so I can go and purchase it firsthand and enjoy some tea with the awesome employees. This Rishi white tea only landed in my cupboard because I was at a local grocer to try samples of some loose teas they had in bulk bins. I saw this and thought I’d give it a try since I could sample it very cheap this way.

After a steep or two, the leaves are very green and smell perfumy. I drank the first steeping before starting my review, so my review will start with the second. I am brewing this Gongfu style. This infusion is more yellow than the last, which was a bit pale.

The aroma of the liquor is lightly floral and I’m picking up hints of camphor, to my surprise. The flavor is smooth and lightly green with just a touch of nectar-like sweetness. There are very subtle green and juicy notes like a fresh cucumber. As it cools more and as I get into the third infusion and beyond, there is a copper-like mineral taste, subtle, but there.

The flavor overall is somewhat soft though, bordering on too soft, even after allowing the tea to cool some. I know not all teas are created equal, but I’m using the same amount of leaf I always have with White Peony. I think perhaps I’ve been spoiled on amazing white tea and now that I’m trying one from a less-specialized vendor (meaning their company doesn’t have a specific specialty for white tea), I am seeing now why so many people claim that white tea “tastes like nothing” to them. Indeed, if this white tea from Rishi is more indicative of what white tea is like outside of the high-end vendors, I can see that white teas can be very subtle. I have had a few silver needle teas from sources other than Shang Tea and some were very lacking in flavor or depth, while others were quite robust, so I guess the amount of flavor in white tea can really vary.

While I don’t think this White Peony from Rishi is particularly complex or thick in flavor, I do think it is good, and I think that for the mid-range loose tea market it is a good offering. If you aren’t looking to pay top dollar for your white tea or are looking for the convenience of being able to purchase it at some grocers nearby (currently I only know of Whole Foods selling this, but there may be others), this tea is worth the money. The flavor is pleasant and mild. It was a pleasant experience to drink it, and biases aside, I feel happy to have drank it.

May need to play around with steep time and leave quantity. Could be better if I get the right balance. Bitter first go.