The 2016 Red Peony was one of my favourite white teas of all time. Floating Leaves Tea’s Red Peony is a Taiwanese Ruby 18 tea, which is usually made into black tea, but processed as a white tea. I also bought the 2016 Red Peony in volume, but it is a pain in the owl behind to store big bags of fluffy tea. Floating Leaves Tea pressed their 2017 Red Peony material into 100-gram cakes in Spring 2018. With the 2017 Red Peony in cake form, my storage prayers have been answered! It took some time for this 2017 Red Peony white tea cake to officially hit shelves as they were waiting on nice wrapper art by Jake Knapp, but it is here!
The 2017 Red Peony white tea cake is pressed Taiwanese style, so it is more like a flat cookie and it lacks a beenghole.
Leaf and Steeping Method
The dry leaf smells intensely like a grape juice box.
The compression is very tight, which is good for keeping the white tea aroma in. Thankfully, the cake is thin, so it is easy to snap pieces off with your hands. I used 1 gram of leaf per 20ml of vessel size. I had another cake for months to play with, and I found this tea really doesn’t like boiling water right now. The said, I am using a water temperature of 196F/91c. The 2017 leaf is more broken than usual, so it gets quite dry if the temperature is too high over multiple infusions. After a rinse, I can smell a bit of menthol.
Tasting of Floating Leaves Tea’s 2017 Red Peony White Tea Cake
First and Second Infusion: 2017 Red Peony ’s sip is very fruity, tasting of sweet juicy red grapes. Some sips have a darker, fruit leather and woodsy quality to them. After each sip, the grape taste lingers but also there is a menthol cooling effect, typical of Ruby 18. The current sipping texture is lightly silky though there is a dry texture looming in the background as the Red Peony cake is on the delicate side. I quickly feel a bit of body effect, like this tea provides a good rabbit kick above the solar plexus.
Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Infusion: There’s something about steaming and pressing a cake that gives some white teas a darker colour.
These infusions have shifted a bit, showing a floral magnolia perfumey bitterness, along with the strong grape notes. The dryness keeps creeping up but still drinkable. The finish is a mix of floral and dry menthol. The sixth infusion reached maximum sunset colour.
Seventh and Eighth Infusion: I am surprised how much floral magnolia notes as it was not as prominent in previous sessions with the Red Peony cake, but I am going lower temperature than usual as previous I kept playing with 200F. There is some bitterness from the floral bite and astringency from the delicate and chopped up leaf, but it is fine. The tea has lost quite a bit of aroma here, so the aftertaste evaporates after a few moments.
Ninth Infusion: I got 9 infusions out of the Red Peony cake. The final infusion is mostly the magnolia floral bitterness and moderate astringency.
Comments
Floating Leaves Tea’s 2017 Red Peony Ruby 18 White tea cake is a potently flavourful tea. You’ll love it if you love a strong grape flavour. It also throws in some interesting complexity with the floral, body feel, aroma, and menthol freshness.
Compared to the loose 2017 Red Peony material, I found the cake pressing locked in the aroma better, but the loose material isn’t as delicate. The 2017 Red Peony white tea cake is darker, stronger, and has more body, though can get bitter. Both 2017 Red Peony is stronger fruitier than 2016 and 2018 material. If you prefer an unpressed tea, the 2018 Red Peony loose leaf is available.
(tea provided for review)
