Moonlight Beauty Raw Pu-erh Loose Tea

Thank you Angel from Teavivre for sending me this sample to try.

I love the name of this tea, Moonlight Beauty sounds so pure and happy. The website says that though this tea is a raw Pu-Erh it is also similar to a white tea due to the processing of the leaves. You can see the similarity when you inspect the leaves.

In appearance the leaves are long and fairly thin with lots of downy hairs. They are a very pale green, almost white colour and they bare a soft, fresh scent of grass and pepper. Enough to smell like a Pu-Erh but living up to it’s subtle nature. The leaves are also crisp to the touch and could easily be broken into small pieces with fingers.

I will be using 5g of leaf in a 220ml teapot with boiling water.

First Steep – 1 minute

After the first steep the leaves now smell malty and wooden, a real contrast to their dry form. The tea also shares hints of wood and malt, with pepper and sweet pine. The liquid is very light yellow.

In flavour this is more subtle than it smells. The first thing I notice is the smoothness of a fresh pine and sweet peony notes. The after taste is dry and slightly nutty. It actually reminds me of a Bai Mu Dan white tea in flavour.

Second Steep – 2 minutes

More peony and slightly sweeter than the previous steep, though just as mild. More drying in the after taste too. It tastes like spring rain drops that have landed onto flower petals, that imagery is in my mind every time I sip.

Third Steep – 3 minutes

Slightly sour during this steep but with a creamy finish and just as much peony. It has to be said that the dryness is somewhat spoiling it’s subtle elegance.

Overall – I am not a fan of white tea usually and that is exactly what this tea reminds me of. It’s not very Pu-Erh like except for the peppery, wood notes in the leaves once you start to infuse it. That being said it was still a pleasant and non offensive tea. I don’t think I could drink it all the time though, it’s just too mild for my personal taste. I imagine it’s great to keep hydrated with on hot summer days though. I also imagine that the mild nature of this tea would make it rather forgiving should you over steep it. Essentially it remained very similar throughout all three steeps.

http://sororiteasisters.com/2016/06/24/moonlight-beauty-raw-pu-erh-loose-tea-teavivre/

Leaves are fragrant of sweet hay, honey and spice. Brews a clear golden yellow – amber.
Tastes smooth, mild, sweet and slightly spicy floral. Pleasant soft/slippery mouthfeel.
Very enjoyable and easy to drink. Re-steeps many times.
5g, 110ml, 185F, 60 sec
Thank you for sending this, Angel!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BHD4iiXh_JA/

The dry leaves are big, attractive silver needle buds. The aroma is oceanic, pine, and just slightly floral.

The first brew is very mellow and soft. Slight honey and pine notes with a floral background. Slightly earthy and dank like wet leaves and rich soil. This is a very mild tea, I attempted to overbrew it and bring out bitterness and found that I could not.

Yesterday was Ben’s birthday, we celebrated in a nerdy fashion, we played with our miniatures all day. He worked on some of his Malifaux assembly and modification and I worked on putting together my Age of Sigmar box, (I said I would eventually fall into Warhammer and it happened, totally Ben’s fault) It feels so good to be painting again! Working on two separate game armies, random miniatures, presents for friends, and Ben’s armies, my paint table runneth over and it pleases me, maybe I will have all my current projects finished by the time my Reaper kickstarter arrives in October, but I doubt it!

Today I am continueing my look at some of Teavivre’s teas, with a long time favorite tea style of both Ben and me, a moonlight! Moonlight Beauty Raw Pu-erh Loose Tea is a lovely pile of silvery buds that could pass for a Baihao Yinzhen, but this is from Xishuangbanna in Yunnan, and while it is similar in production to white tea, it is technically a Puerh. Of course the real difference is in aroma and taste, and the aroma of these fuzzy leaves is grand. Notes of hay and honey blend with savory (the herb rather than the descriptor) sage, tomato leaves (moonlight always smells vaguely like tomato leaves and I have no idea why) and a finish of pollen and wildflowers. It is mellow but very distinct and sweet with herbaceous qualities.

I got to use my big engagement gaiwan for this session since I was sharing with Ben, the aroma of the not so fuzzy leaves blends sweet and savory notes pretty well, with pollen, hay, and honey on the sweet side and lettuce, sage, and tomato leaves on the more savory side. The liquid however is all sweetness, with notes of wildflowers, hay, honey, and pollen. It has a distinct summery quality, like being in a field when all the flowers are in bloom.

For a tea called moonlight, I have always thought it looks like a cup of sunlight. It kinda tastes like sunlight, mixing smooth honey and pollen with lettuce and sage, and a finish of hay. It has a wildflower aftertaste that lingers for some time, it reminds me of a field again, which is great.

Onward to the second steep without delay, the aroma has taken a creamy note, like creamy raw honey with definite wildflower and pollen notes and a finish of hay and lettuce. The taste does not change much from steep to steep, it stays strong with notes of honey and hay with the lingering wildflower notes that do not quit. Of course the best part of this tea is its staying power, it just goes for a while, I think I got eight steeps before it started fading away.

For blog and Photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/04/teavivre-moonlight-beauty-raw-pu-erh.html