White Peony Bouquet

From the Reddit traveling tea box.

A really pretty dry leaf with big flower buds and petals. THIS IS FLORAL. Mega floral! Sweet licorice, floral, lemony, mint fresh with a background of juicy white peony. However, the white tea is pretty drowned out. Little bit of a tart bite end of sip. If you love floral, you’ll dig this, but there’s a lot going on.

This tea is the perfect example of why I didn’t continue the blends club. White Peony Bouquet sounds like something I would like, and initially the ingredients seemed to confirm that: white tea, roses, marigold… check… then we get to peppermint? why?? plus lemongrass?? (citrus and mint are two things that should never go together in my mind) and then top the whole thing off with star anise… blech! The dry tea smells like licorice and mint. Note that I plucked the star anise out of my brew basket before steeping.

After steeping it does not smell pleasant. It’s familiar but I can’t place it. Over cooked spinach? Like really cooked into the ground so it gets that super vegetal sour smell? That’s what this smells like. I think it’s the mint and lemongrass working together. I can almost pick them apart in the aroma, but they are also blending in an odd way. It’s hard for me to take a sip.

Yeah, this tea is super not for me. White tea can be hit or miss for me as it is, and the mint and lemongrass do NOT bring out the flavors I like in this. Also it still tastes faintly like licorice. For those concerned about rose: don’t worry, it’s undetectable (rose seems to be a flavor that can get overwhelmed by others easily). I will say, for those who enjoy licorice, mint, and lemongrass, this would probably be good. But this tea for me can be summed up by this gif: http://www.reactiongifs.com/nope-nope-nope-octopus/

I know that was a super ringing endorsement, but if anyone wants this it’s going into my stash sales post.

First tasting note! Oh and a bit sad haha, I had my previous monthly box sent to my friend’s place as I was in the middle of moving when it arrived and didn’t know where I’d be lol, and I still haven’t managed to pick it up from her! (along with some Teavivre samples, some A&D, and a mug haha) so I will hopefully get them this weekend! But in the meantime, this month’s verdant blend box arrived to my new address today so I am trying this one out tonight and hopefully the rooibos!

This blend intrigued me! I am very excited for it :D it reminds me of my beloved Eight treasures Yabao blend with all the flowers but with a different base and some interesting additions of star anise and peppermint. Beautiful dry leaves as well, colorful and huge floral petals and lovely white tea leaves! The dry blend smells not really what I would have expected, the mint is definitely there and a subtle woodiness, that could be the star anise in there, it’s a deep, rich yet fresh scent. Very interesting!

I didn’t really know how to steep this one lol, the sheet says 30 seconds with boiling, but I did about 1.5 minutes with 185 degree water. The resulting liquor is a nice sunny light yellow color and smells very clean lol, not really floral or anything, just a clean, fresh scent. Hard to describe.

I tried a sip of this and hmmm. What to make of this tea haha. It is going to be very hard to describe…it’s very fresh and clean. Pure. Like I would imagine a river flowing through a clean flowery meadow would taste. A brook, if you will. The white tea is possibly the strongest flavor of the very delicate flavors that are here, and something that is reminding me of Eight Treasures, so probably the marigold and rose. There is a slight spiciness in the aftertaste that comes out, adding a golden glow to the bubbling brook haha. As it cools, I think I feel the freshness of the mint in the middle of the sip too. What an interesting tea, I am really at a loss for how to describe it, very subtle. I might also be completlely off base and steeped it wrong or something haha, but this is my perception.

I am excited for others in the blend club to try this tea so I can see if my perceptions are kind of accurate lol. Oh, as it cools, more of the star anise comes out, I definitely taste a sweetness and a spicy aftertaste. No rating yet, I need to form a better opinion of it haha. Beautifully interesting tea! I love this tea club, it never fails to provide some crazily unique teas!!

ETA – as it is almost room temperature now, man oh man there is definitely some star anise flavor going on! What a tea haha this has morphed into a sweet, rich flavor but there is a definitely cottony note to it. Yes, cotton. I think that is the flowers and base tea coming through. It’s satisfying and fresh. Now it reminds me of a fresh breeze with the clothes hanging on the line. The cotton. :D