Tea Review Tuesday - A Review of Teavivre's Organic White Peony Tea (Bai Mu Dan)

With three organic certifications, a harvest time in the recent past, and several related awards, Teavivre's Organic White Peony Tea brings an impressive resume to your tea time. It certainly maintains an excellent nose, which I first noticed upon opening the package of leaves. A deep breath and the aroma of fresh camellia sinensis (tea) leaves hit my nose. In the background lay some floral notes, but this smell is light and unoxidized with no maltiness and little green vegetal scent. Recommended to be steeped for one to five minutes at one hundred, ninety-four degrees Fahrenheit, I prepare my cup and leaves for brewing, pour over the hot water, then set a timer for three minutes to see what results. (The ink reviews in the background of the photos are for the near future!)

If you are familiar with the aroma of the leaves of bai mu dan and the resulting brew, the aromas rising from my cup would be familiar to you, yet they seem to have a strong streak of freshness throughout them. In general, I find white peony tea (which does not contain peony flowers) to be very full of body, and this brew is no exception. Three minutes was a very sufficient length of time, as the tea is full without any astringency of which to speak!

The golden-orange color is bright and attractive. Each sip begins almost gently then blossoms with flavor, as the tea covers the tongue. The aftertaste is pleasant, clean, yet still full, and it lingers in the mouth. Lending presence are the light floral notes, which mainly shine in the aftertaste. This is absolutely one of the better bai mu dan white teas I have tried. I believe that the freshness of the leaves adds a lot to the experience, and I highly recommend trying this one sooner, rather than later. On my personal enjoyment scale, I would rate this tea an 84/100.

Photo credit to Built from Ink and Tea.
Teavivre's Organic White Peony Tea is available from their website, here.
This review was unsolicited and uncompensated.
Text is copyright 2014, Built from Ink and Tea.