Organic White Peony — Bai Mu Dan

I got this tea mostly for blending, since I don’t have any light whites to mix with stuff. In the spirit of making at least one cold brew a day, I mixed this up in a glass with cucumber slices, some shredded mint, and very finely chopped cantaloupe last night and let it steep for about 14 hours. I strained it all, including the cantaloupe, leaving a gorgeous-looking peachy brew. And it might be the most refreshing drink I’ve ever had—sweet from the cantaloupe, vibrant from the mint, cooling from the cucumber and there’s a lovely subtle tea taste in the background. A little floral and fruity, which really elevates this from “water with stuff steeped in it” to “fancy iced tea.”

This isn’t the highest quality Bai Mu Dan I’ve encountered. The leaves are broken and crumbled, and are certainly not as green as the photos on the website would like to suggest. They are dull and brown, with no visible signs of fuzzy down like I’ve come to expect from a high quality Bai Mu Dan.

With that said, this is not a bad Bai Mu Dan. It’s just not the very best that I’ve encountered. It’s nothing exceptional. But it is pleasant. It has deliciously sweet, fruity overtones and a nice hint of hay and air in the background.

Overall, a pleasant tea experience.

Thanks to Nicole Martin for a sample
This tea comes in a cute brown baggy bag.
Quality Whole Leaf Tea from China
Packaging is 100% reusable, recyclable, biogradable.
www.LittleRedCupTea.com

This is my first Bai Mu Dan that I have reviewed. The tea leaves are dry and crunchy. I boiled some hot water. The flavor was very light.
The taste was light. A light tea taste, sort of when you drink a bit of Pepsi with lots of ice and all the cubes melt. You taste the Pepsi but it is diluted.
This tea reminds me of a tea called Lagg’s, a weak tea that darkens the water, but fails to come up big on flavor or caffeine.

I will blend this with Yerba Mate for now.

9/18/2012 – Tried this tea again. Crunchy leaves. Small cute twigs. Web site www.LittleRedCupTea.com has lots of information and brewing instructions. Here’s my take..
1. Used the best water you can (I’m using NYC tap)
2. The flavor is very faint, floral.
3. Used 1/2 the amount of water.
4. This is a late afternoon or night tea for me.

12/6/2012 It sits on my tea shelf, I haven’t touched it in awhile. I love the graphic brown bag. I’ll keep it around for awhile longer.

I received this sample from Little Red Cup Tea Company just before leaving for my honeymoon. There wasn’t time to try it before I left, so I stored it in my cupboard away from light and moisture. I always feel bad about writing a review that’s anything but glowing when it’s for a tea I’ve received for free, whether that be through a swap or directly from a tea distributor in exchange for a review. Sadly, this is one of those cases.

I believe this tea is about the same quality as most bagged teas, maybe slightly better. The leaves are crushed enough that they’d probably fit in a bagged form as is. The tea produced is not very flavorful, but it’s also not bitter or astringent. I tried brewing this with 2 tsp of leaves in about 8 oz. of water and it was nearly flavorless. With 3 tsp, it’s a little better. However, it’s missing the lovely sweetness and hay-like qualities that I’ve come to love about Bai Mu Dan. It’s just a rather lackluster cup of tea.

That said, it’s not bad. It’s just not great either. If I really needed tea and this was all I had, I’d still drink it. But if I was in the mood for a White Peony tea and had other options, I’d turn elsewhere. Overall, I rate it along the same lines as I rate the bagged teas I used to love before discovering loose leaf. I am glad I had the opportunity to try it though!

Like someone else said, this is not the fanciest, highest quality bai mu dan. It is, however, a fantastic one. Floral, light, and misty, I just can’t get enough of it. At a price you simply cannot beat, this is probably the purchase I recommend most to anyone interested in white teas. I typically get 4-5 steeps out of it, which is more than enough.

This is the second time I’ve tried this tea. I used a cooler temperature but got the same result. The smell is a combination of white tea and damp leaves in the woods. Just a bit off to my nose. The taste is similar. Not bad but just not to my taste.

Thanks to the Little Red Cup for the sample

White Peony
Little Red Cup tea
3.1 g, 130mL

180f brita filtered water

Dry leaves have a light basic white tea smell. Agreed with the reviewer who noted that the leaves were not of the best quality. Broken, crumbled, sort of dull and rather sad looking, which is disappointing for the price.

5s initial steep: wet leaves smell of smoke and hay, sort of dry
Tastes like a slightly medicinal white tea
Pleasantly slight sweet and refreshing aftertaste

11s: kind of bland. Getting a strong aftertaste reminiscent of celery but I had lunch before so not sure if that’s just that. (I had chicken quesadillas though and there was no celery involved)

18s: similar to before. Celery note still present.

1 min: all in on timing since I decided this was my last gongfu steep. Not much difference from previous steeps.

Tossed the rest of the leaves and rest of sample pack (1g) into a bottle to cold brew overnight.
Cold brew was refreshing and drinkable, which is just about any cold brew, so I’m not sure that says much.

Overall an aggressively mediocre tea, which is disappointing especially after seeing the packet description of a rich brew with honey and melon notes. Mouthfeel was on the thin side, felt a little thickened only when left to sit and cooled after gongfu steepings, certainly not what’d I’d describe as rich. Would not purchase again. Initially I thought I was too harsh in my review (since the 2 white teas I tried from W2T were so good), but it seems like others here have had similar experiences. This started off good and then was downhill and flatlined from there; the weird celery note did not help.

I didn’t look at the description before I brewed it. I assumed it was an oolong.
It’s light, air, and has an “open air” kind of flavor. Slightly fruity and sweet. I thought it was odd for an oolong, oh but wait its a white tea! Hmmm… my first white tea… I Kinda like it. Not sure really what to think of it but it seems like a good starting point.