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3/14/16: Ok, I have tried this Western-style according to the instructions on the package 5g / 175˚F 12 oz / 2:30.

I have tried brewing this in a gaiwan at 2g / 176˚F / 30s / 45s and it came out like water with a cloudy suspension in it.

This tea is incredibly difficult to brew. I think out of the 5 times I have attempted to brew it, I only tasted tea one glorious time (I think ~ 2.5g / 176˚F?) but didn’t have time to do a second steeping.

At least a third of the packet has been wasted in mediocre steepings. I may try a few more times to reproduce that one good steeping, but would never buy this again.

Rating: 52

Update 3/31/16: Brewed it at 185˚C and at last some flavour has come out––a very delicate, savoury vegetable broth in the 1st infusion. I thought this tea was supposed to be on the sweeter, fruitier side so I’m a bit confused. Mellows out to a nice subtle everyday green tea flavour in 2nd and 3rd infusions. It’s decent but there are still too many bits of broken leaf to call this a high-quality tea.

Rating: 66

I loved this, it had the buttery and bright flavour of Jin Xuan with an additional savoury note like vegetable broth, but unfortunately the flavour only lasts through one or two steepings so I’m not going to rate it that highly.

Brewed this Western-style––first 13oz boiling water for 5 mins, then 13oz water for 6:30 for a much lighter infusion. The tea tasted beautiful and not astringent at all. Rating this higher for Western-style than gongfu style because it seems to give out all its flavour in the first two steepings.

I’m still sad that the tea doesn’t handle gongfu brewing well.

Comparing this directly after 5 steepings of Teavivre’s 2015 Organic White Peony. The Premium White Peony 2015’s leaves are unmistakably greener and fresher-looking, than the OWP, but that gives it a fresher, greener, rawer scent which not everyone will prefer.

1st infusion: (25s)
Milder than the Organic White Peony’s 1st, but I might have brewed this for 3 seconds shorter than the OWP. Still very floral and fragrant.

2nd infusion: (45s)
Richer amber liquor, deeper mineral and floral taste. Delicate and substantial at the same time. A wonderful infusion.

3rd infusion: (70s)
The leaves are just now letting out their full plummy fruitiness. Liquor is still going strong, still full-flavoured and slightly sweet. This is probably where the Premium beats the Organic White Peony. Another excellent infusion.

4th infusion: (90s)
Keep em coming. I’m pouring them promptly a few seconds early and there’s no astringency at all, it’s beautiful.

5th infusion: (150s)
Ok, it’s done. Not much to see here. Maybe I should’ve brewed this at 194˚F instead.

Note: This is best brewed in a thin-walled gaiwan, e.g. glass. My thick porcelain gaiwan seems to not only burn the White Peony at 185˚F, but also dulls the beautiful crisp aroma even if I lower the temperature.

Dry leaf smelled fresh and vegetal, not buttery though it tastes so.

1st infusion: (15s)
Hot leaves suddenly exploded with a buttery scent, in addition to vegetal, floral, and savoury vegetable broth notes. Tastes like a fresh clear spring with its own natural sweetness and slight buttercream flavour. Perhaps not as buttery as the Jin Xuan oolong, but still fantastic in its own right.

2nd infusion: (25s)
Silky buttery scent and texture. Excellent.

3rd infusion: (35s)
I was struck by the almost highlighter-yellow colour of this infusion. The buttery scent remains, but flavour is less prominent. Drinking so many of these in quick succession, the astringency is building up on my tongue but I can’t tell which infusion contributed more.

4th infusion:
Amazingly, this still smells buttery. A mellow infusion with less astringency.

5th infusion:
Colour has paled a lot. Very slight vegetal scent.

Update: It’s been 4 hours since I drank this, but I keep fancying that I smell the White Peony fragrance all around my office. That’s probably a testament to how deliciously sticky the scent of this tea is. (Unfortunately, I was also in a terrible mood––one of those days where you drop everything you try to hold, and your joints and limbs just feel completely out of whack. It could very well have been the challah with lemon curd I ate for breakfast, but I’ll have to monitor how I feel after drinking the second sachet of this Organic Bai Mudan as well heh.)

Gosh, Teavivre has amazing Bai Mu Dans. The moment the hot water hits the leaves, a heady aroma just gushes to the nose.

1st infusion: (25s)
Blanched leaves have a really strong fruity scent like dark stonefruit, plum, blackberries with an elegant floral perfume. The liquor smells more floral with a hint of fruit. What an excellent cup of tea.

2nd infusion: (45s)
Darker and more flavourful liquor than the first. I pretty much gulped it down so quickly I couldn’t review it.

3rd infusion (70s)
The leaves just smell steamed now, no fragrance left. Liquor remains floral but no more fruity sweetness. Still yummy though. Pairs decently with my challah and lemon curd.

4th infusion: (90s)
It’s mellowed out a lot, tastes comforting and ever-so-slightly astringent with a beautiful pale golden hue but I don’t think the 5th infusion would taste good, and I have to go to work so stopping here.

It’s always tricky to review a tea that I didn’t brew myself, but here are some of my notes. The package says that this tea has notes of Magnolia, Sugarcane and Spring Water.

1st infusion: (205˚F, ?)
Tea smells buttery, this is a very light infusion. Leaves smell intoxicatingly sweet and floral.

2nd infusion: (200˚F, 1:00)
Tastes buttery, savoury almost salty. I half-suspect that the mug I’m drinking it out of came into a brush with some salt (but it’s the same mug as I drank the first infusion out of, so… very curious). In any case, this is a good tea.

3rd infusion: (200˚F, 1:50)
Too astringent probably steeped too long.

This is my first Bi Luo Chun, so I could be interpreting this all wrongly, but here’s my impression: The dry leaves are very hairy loose green spirals, look almost like hemp string, with white tips and a lot of tea “dust” or fannings. It smells really fragrant, though I wouldn’t call it sweet, it smells more like a vegetable grilled with flowers.

Frustratingly, there are no brewing instructions for gongfu style on the Dragon Tea House website or on the package. You can read the account of my attempts below. Perhaps this tea is only good enough for Western brewing (they recommend 2 – 3 minutes). For now I’ll just say I expected better from a “Supreme” label tea.

Rating: 52

3 – 4g of leaves, 5oz water, 176˚F
Verdict: I think I still overleafed.

1st infusion: (25s)
Fragrant aroma from leaves and liquor. Liquor tastes more clear and slight astringency, but less than from first attempt.

2nd infusion: (40s)
Astringent again. I probably need to use even less leaves.

5g of leaves, 4.5oz water, 176˚F
The leaves smell really fragrant, but the tea tastes disappointing. I probably am not brewing with the right amount of leaves or for the right length but the temperature seems correct.

1st infusion: (30s)
Tea smells really sweet, floral and longan notes. Tastes a little astringent though, and the liquor feels very thick and fibrous.

2nd infusion: (50s)
Fragrant vegetal aroma. But the taste is just more astringency.

3rd infusion: (70s)
Less astringency, but the flavour is gone. Surprisingly, the leaves still smell really sweet.

As far as gaiwans go, I don’t think this is very good but I got it because it was reasonably priced ($16.99 from Dragon Tea House on Ebay). They also had a $10.99 one but I decided to go with the slightly higher-range one haha.

First of all, the gaiwan dribbles down the sides when you pour liquid out, even if you pour swiftly and at a steep angle. I own two other gaiwans (a Jingdezhen porcelain from Red Blossom Tea Co., and a cheapo 100ml one from a travel set) and neither of them drip when you pour from them.

Secondly, the knob on the lid can be filled with hot liquid if you’re pouring too quickly, so the heat conducts through the thin glass and can burn your finger. My trick is that I use the nail of my index finger to hold that knob on the lid, while my thumb and middle finger hold either side of the gaiwan bowl. (The nail doesn’t feel the heat.)

This is supposed to be special heat-resistant glass, but it still gets pretty darned hot. I only brew my green teas and white teas in this. I wouldn’t use it with water above 190˚F. I just really wanted a glass gaiwan to observe some of the pretty teas in so this works for my whites and Dragon Wells, but I might still be open to purchasing another glass gaiwan if I found one that handled higher temperatures well so that I can see my rolled oolongs unfurl in the glass bowl at 200˚F or higher!

Dry leaf smells vegetal and slightly buttery. Again, omitting the rinse.

1st infusion: (25s)
WHOA. This is super buttery and milky and delicious.

2nd infusion: (35s)
Dry leaf smells more vegetal already. Hmm, the tea smells buttery but is slightly astringent even though I followed the brewing instructions to a T.

3rd – 5th infusions:
Astringency is gone. These are good infusions, buttery and mildly sweet with a nice substantial mouthfeel.

6th infusion: (75s)
The flavour is almost gone in this one, but it still pairs well with a sweet breakfast. I’m impressed these gentle green leaves have lasted this long.