I could not resist buying Bitterleaf Tea’s Fuding Experience: Guanyang Baimudan Set. In this set is a pair of 2018 Baimudan (White Peony grade) White teas from a small area in Fuding.
Wander Through the Garden white tea is from a tea garden, whereas Venture Into the Woods is from tea trees left to their own devices.
My only hesitation here is 2018 white tea I consider in an awkward phase of being stale but not old enough to show aged notes. However, this set is perfect to let age and continue to comparison taste. It is too bad I didn’t get my hands on this in 2018.
Leaf wise, both white teas look darn near identical. I had to pay attention to not mix up the bricks. Both bricks are 100 grams each. For steeping, I went 1 gram of leaf per 20ml of vessel size, gongfu’d in boiling water.
2018 Wander Through the Garden White Tea from Bitterleaf Teas’ Fuding Experience: Guanyang Baimudan Set
The leaf has a timothy hay scent to make my nose itch in reflexive allergies. Steeped up, Wander Through the Garden has sweet sticky rice and casava bibingka (a filipino dessert) scent.
First, Second, Third, and Fourth Infusion: Starting off, Wander Through the Garden is creamy, cane sugar, coconut, and cassava notes. Some sips have a stale hay note and almond. The texture is creamy and silky, with a fleeting sweet coconut flavor. This tea is ringing all the bells for tasting like various Filipino desserts for me.
Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Infusion: Wander Through the Garden is now getting astringent, drying the roof of my mouth. The flavor is a mix of stale honey hay and coconut. For the last infusions, the tea is also bitter, stewed coconut pandan, and weeds, but has a sweet finish.
2018 Venture Into The Woods White Tea from Bitterleaf Teas’ Fuding Experience: Guanyang Baimudan Set
The leaf smells less like hay and more like baked cassava cake. Whereas the steeped leaf smells lightly floral and sweet.
First, Second, and Third Infusion: This tea is more delicate. Venture Into The Woods is soft, cottony, brightly sweet, with a touch of baby’s breath floral and hay. It is similarly thick as the last tea, but with an oily texture. The finish is a mineral sweet rock flavor.
Fourth and Fifth Infusion: I accidentally steeped the fourth infusion longer than usual but it survived with only some bitterness. The flavor is thick and coconutty with a moderate floral note.
Sixth and Seventh Infusion: Venture Into The Woods finished crisp, sweet, and floral. There is bitterness form being steeped for a while, but it’s mineral rock sucking sweet.
Comments
Bitterleaf Teas’ Fuding Experience: Guanyang Baimudan Set was very educational to taste a very similar tea but a different tea farming approach.
The taste differences were different enough to tell but the teas did share some similarities. Overall the Venture into the Woods was more floral and mineral, whereas the Wander Through the Garden was more hay and coconut. Both steeped out around the same rate.
Time will tell which is ages best, but it is personal taste which tea you’ll like more. Either way, Fuding Experience: Guanyang Baimudan Set is a fun educational tea drink that’s not too expensive. The set, at this time of writing, is $38 for both teas, or snag samples for around $12.
