White Peony is a 2013 supreme grade white tea. This Yunnan Province grown tea is sold by Mandala Tea, online seller of loose leaf teas. White Peony is also known as Bai Mu Dan, or sometimes written in English as Pai Mu Tan.
I do love Mandala Tea‘s goodies. They have amazing pu’er, and a mind blowing milk oolong. How about their white teas? I received this tea as a surprise sample with my order. Actually, this tea blew me away with its appearance alone! This tea is flat out beautiful! No need for tea owls, I’m going to let the tea leaves speak for themselves.
Dry Leaf
WHOA MAMA! Look at this tea! Huge leaves! Lovely varigated colours of silvery pale green, black and yellow tones. Little fuzzies on the leaf too. I simply dumped my tablespoon of tea onto my white plate and it magically piled into looking like a rose!
Wheee, a curly leaf!
Steeping Instructions
I followed the steeping instructions stated on the White Peony listing page – 160 to 175 for 1 minute, adding 30 seconds for each additional infusion. I went with 175f for 1 minute, adding around 45 seconds to beef up the flavor. Mandala Tea also suggested to use a heaping Tablespoon (not teaspoon) of tea leaf per 8oz of water. This supreme grade White Peony is pretty spacious and I tried to carefully get a big spoon of tea without jamming the leaves. My 1 Tbsp turned out to be 3 grams of tea.
Action shots!
Hello again curly leaf!
The steeping of White Peony came out really pale with just a drop of yellow. It was so faint of a colour, it was hard to get a photo. It is like my tea cup disappeared!
Hmm, how about a white background to bring out the colour?
The steeped leaf turns into a vibrant green that smells like fresh spinach.
Tasting of White Peony
First Infusion: Exceptional! Mandala Tea‘s White Peony is light, yet smooth like butter with a fluffy hay, mellow taste. Very clean and delicate flavor! This tea is so sunny, it is like a white sunny light is beaming on you while you drink it. I found this steeping on the light side.
Second and Third Infusion: I added a longer infusion time to beef up the flavor. The flavor is stronger, but still on the light, like the usual white tea flavor. There is a delicious buttercup floral, a 2/10 on the Floral-o-meter – it has a very natural of a floral that isn’t too perfumey. There is also a gentle sweetness carried by the floral. Interestingly, White Peony also has an interesting savory angle that reminds me of birch and oak. After a couple sips I notice a creamy texture remaining. The aftertaste is more of the buttercup floral. There is no bitterness or dryness in this tea.
Fourth and Fifth Infusion: White Peony has become quite light with a fluffy marshmallow texture. Buttercup marshmallows? The end of sip is very light with almost no flavor.
Comments
Mandala Tea‘s White Peony is a gorgeous, delicate yet complex white tea with great floral, wood and creamy notes. I’d picture this tea as being a sun beaming onto a birch tree surrounded with buttercup flowers reflecting white from the light.
Looking for a sophisticated, high end white tea experience? Mandala Tea‘s White Peony would be for you! While writing this review and peaking around Mandala Tea‘s offerings, I ended up ordering more tea off them, including another white tea!
