REVIEW: Earthbound Tea, White Mu Dan Peony

As I peruse my own writing on the subject, I find the oft-repeated thought that the white teas I drink typically are too light for my tastes and not complex enough to engage my interest. Well, that observation holds true yet again, this time with Earthbound Tea's White Mu Dan Peony.

For those new to the subject, a very quick overview: Bai Mu Dan is a grade of Chinese white tea. Now, every tea plant goes through the budding stage in early Spring (typically between March 15 and April 10), which makes marketing this type of tea very attractive to marketers, because white teas are experiencing something of a boom, with much interest in their health benefits. I won't examine health claims here, except to say it's probably good for you.

THE PREPARATION
I prepared the tea according to Earthbound's directions: 75C, 5 min+, using Great-Great-Grandmother's Japanese porcelain teapot. It's a bit thicker-walled than is useful for this type of tea, so I did leave the top off the pot to help it cool a touch, even though I fear that it lost a small amount of its already minimal aroma.

The Earthbound Tea Web site reads:

White Mu Dan Peony or "White Peony" is a rare tea that comes from the Fujian province in China. Only the tips and the beginning of the first two leaves are plucked. When infused, this tea has a unique nutty flavor that is mild and sweet.

THE LEAVES
Unfortunately, the leaves were rather damaged in transit, smashed into smallish pieces. I expect this would have an effect on the end product.

THE CUP
Pale, pale aroma and flavor. Yes, the characteristic peony aroma is present in my mouth, and the huigan [sweet aftertaste] is pleasant enough. But there's not enough there, there. I do wonder if the tea hadn't suffered so much in the mail service, if it would have tasted better in the cup. That being said, because I want as much depth and complexity of flavor as I can find in a cup, this is simply not enough to command my attention. However, if you value a very light, clean, lightly floral, airy cup of tea, this might just do the trick for you.

White Peony image above, by Teresa Boston.

REVIEW: Red Leaf Tea, Peony White, 2008

Red Leaf Tea, Peony White

It's late evening, and the family has gone to bed. Time for something to drink. I'm grateful to Red Leaf Tea for their generous gift of tea, which I'll sample tonight.


The Red Leaf Web site reads:

Description:

Hot on the heels of our hugely popular White Tea blends comes this offering that is made of an even higher grade of tea. Peony White Tea is made only from the finest tea buds and leaves plucked in early spring from Fujian province in China. These ingredients are steamed and dried soon after picking, ensuring that all of the health giving properties contained therein is intact.

Brewing Instructions For A Single Cup:

Amount Of Water 6.0 oz
Amount Of Tea 1 tsp.
Water Temperature 170°F
Steeping Time 5-7 minutes

As always, I wish that Red Leaf had published the background of the tea, including details of where and when it was produced, a bit of history about this tea itself, and so on. I have not tried any of the Red Leaf brand flavored white tea mixes, so I can't compare with their other "hugely popular" whites.

THE TEA

Peony White is a white, unprocessed tea that is called bai mu dan in Chinese, and it is one grade lower than silver needle, bai hao yinzhen. I'm initially attracted to this type of tea, because it's unflavored and simple, and should afford some nicely complex flavor and aroma to wake up my tongue and nose tonight.

High-grade white teas are to be steeped for a fairly long time, which allows the layers of flavors to develop. I'm going to steep this at 170 for the entire 7 minutes, to get the full measure that the tea will provide.

MY MEDITATION TONIGHT

While I wait for my tea, I'll meditate a bit on the nature of my changing tastes. When I first started drinking tea, about 20 years ago, I was like most Americans first encountering teas of a higher grade than teabag fannings: I enjoyed the flavored teas with lots of additives. Over time, I settled into a very happy place, drinking high-end, single-estate Darjeelings and other highgrown Himalayan teas, without any additional flavors, trying to refine my own palate. And this year, I am finally delving into the Chinese teas, as well. I'm finding that the highest-end Darjeelings and the Chinese greens tend to reach toward one another, meeting in this zone of clarity in the cup, and brilliance of flavor, and nuanced subtleness that carries me through many stages of flavor and aroma in a cup, and in a pot.

THE PREPARATION

1.5 cups boiling water, brought down to 70C, with 2 heaping teaspoons of tea, in Great-Grandma's porcelain Japanese pot. One of these days, I'll perhaps start investing in Yixing, but at the moment, this is producing a pretty nicely consistent product.

THE LEAVES

Dry, they are silvery-gray buds with a very floral aroma in the high register, without a lot of deep or darker scent.

THE CUP

This tea has a very deep, port-wine golden color to the liquor, while still retaining its transparency. The tea has a very, very light scent, which is barely noticeable, but which is definitely floral in character. This is a very subtle, very smooth tea.

I don't know why, but this tea sets my mind thinking in terms of sound: This tea, were it transliterated into music, would be Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings, Op. 11., perhaps; or piano music by Ginastera. In fact, I've put this music on in the background while I drink, a Pandora Web radio station that works nicely in the U.S.: http://www.pandora.com/?sc=sh30802010806901952 .

The tea, like the music, is polished and does not have sharp edges to jar me as I drink and listen. In some ways, this is a bit too subtle, a bit too restrained for my taste, yet still lovely. The bai mu dan has notes of honey, of cherry fruit, of green grass-- but one has to go looking for it, searching the subtleties out carefully to capture the quiet sensations. The tea coats the mouth with an almost buttery sensation, without any hint of dryness.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS

This tea carries very lovely flavors, but in such a muted way (almost to the point of dullness) that I stretch to really discern what is going on here. I drink this in Spring 2009, and this is the Spring 2008 vintage. It is perhaps because the tea has been sitting a complete year before drinking that accounts for the overly restrained character of this cup. I'd like to try this Peony White again with a very fresh Spring plucking to see how they compare.

(Photo can be found on this lovely travel blog post, ComeFollowUs.com: Wandering Through Wuyishan)

REVIEW: Teas Etc. Bai Mu Dan Loose Leaf Organic White Tea

Whenever I try out a new tea, I want to know as much as I can find out about it-- well, as much as I can find out in the time it takes to prepare and drink it. I found something at Wikipedia (which, as everyone knows, is sure to be complete). Please notice the description of how this tea is harvested and processed-- very exacting and specific:

The processing rules require this tea only be picked between March 15 and April 10. It is not picked on days that may be raining or if the dew has not dried or if there is frost on the ground. No purple buds are allowed and the stems must not be too long or too short. Partially open leaves or leaves damaged by wind, handling, or insects are rejected and put into a lower grade. The best Bai Mu Dan is produced using the two leaves and a bud proportion and is naturally or mechanically withered to produce leaves that are not black or red but green in color. And only pink or purple fairies are allowed to pick the tea leaves, but never on moonlit nights when Oberon is causing mischief. [Okay, I may have added that last bit. --Ed.]

White teas, as many people know, are as near to an unprocessed tea as one can get. The teas are steamed very early, keeping the teas from oxidizing into its darker cousins. Bai Mu Dan is often called White Peony, or even (and more enticingly) White Hairy Monkey tea.

Bai Mu Dan is described this way on the Teas Etc. Web site:

USDA Certified Organic Bai Mu Dan is truly a treat for the palate with subtle notes of sweet cream butter and light, pleasing vegetal notes.

Grown on the misty mountains of Fujian province in China, the downy silver buds and fresh young leaves are soft and intoxicatingly fragrant. The resulting liquor is a beautiful golden yellow with a more robust texture than your average white tea. The taste is deliciously rich, sweet cream butter with light, pleasing vegetal notes. Slightly astringent, it leaves behind just enough of the smooth sweetness to make you anxious for more. Over ice, this bold white tea plays coy, leaving behind the vegetal notes for an exquisitely refreshing taste experience.

PREPARATION
The Teas Etc. Web site goes on to suggest steeping at 80C for 3-6 minutes. Okay, I'll settle on 4.5 minutes, to split the difference, and I will use Great-Grandma's Japanese porcelain pot. The leaves are pretty large, so 2 teaspoons per cup.

THE LEAVES
These leaves very in color from silvery-gray, to deep forest green, to crisp Spring green. It's mainly buds with tiny, white hairs on it, but I also see broken dark-green leaves and some stem in the leaves. They have a nice crunchy stiffness to them-- no sogginess or moisture. (What? You don't take a nibble of the raw leaves every now on then?) The uncooked leaves smell of hay and grass, with a little bit of floweriness. The spent leaves, when hot, do not have much aroma at all, except for a slightly mineral scent.

THE CUP

My wife shouted from the other room: "It's good. Light, smooth, not repulsive." (laughs) Really, I should ask her permission before putting her comments here, or risk her propensity to sarcasm when she knows I'm going to quote her.

The liquor, or soup, is a beautifully transparent cup that has a lovely amber-pink-peach color. I find the flavor to be a bit elusive for my taste. I understand that the Bai Mu Dan (or Pai Mu Tan) teas are loved by many because the taste is supposed to be more robust than some other varieties of White teas. However, for me, it's a stretch because the flavor is like a voice speaking quietly from the next room: very soft and muted, and a little hard to understand.

The cup, as my wife said, is quite smooth, with a slight dryness to the mouthfeel and a very faint burn at the back of my throat. I think it's a stretch to call this, "intoxicatingly fragrant," as it says on the Teas Etc. Web site, though it's pleasant enough.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS
This is a very restrained cup of tea that must be paid close attention to for me to notice it at all. I'm not sure if it's because this is the 2008 spring tea, and it has lost its "oomph" in the entire year since it was plucked, or because it requires different methods of preparation.

I have enough leaves to try this tea a number of times, and I will experiment with longer steeping times to draw out that "more robust flavor" that is supposed to be the characteristic that defines this bai mu dan, and separates it from other classes of white teas. I shall update when I do, to see if I can draw out more from this tea, which such exacting care and attention to painstaking details were employed to produce.

Thank you, Teas Etc., for an opportunity to taste your tea.

UPDATE:
I tried the tea again tonight. Same parameters, except I steeped the tea just over 6 minutes this time. Now I begin to understand this tea. It's still smooth in the mouthfeel, which I didn't expect; but now it has a bite that catches my attention. (Ah! A smooth bite. Makes perfect sense.) The Bai Mu Dan remains delicate, but at the greater steeping length, the flavor is more defined.