A strange tea, or a strange tea taster! hahah
actually I described only one of the infusions, which I considered the best/ most balanced
It was 3g/250ml/90 grades C/6minutes
If I do
5g/250ml/90gradesC/6 minutes
it tastes bitter and unpleasant
If I do
5g/250ml/90gradesC/3 minutes
it is not bitter, but the taste in the palate is poor, compared to the first experience described
I’m a bit intrigued about this tea.
Short story: it was the only loose leaf white tea I could find. It was probably sitting in the shelf of the store for a long time, because in the can, there’s a label saying that the due date is april/2012.
I don’t know about this… about how tea ages… If bai mu dan can be ‘matured’, will it spoil someday, or in some circunstance?
Looking at the leaves and comparing it to pictures in the internet, I thought this was a very bad bai mu dan, because it looked dark and the leaves were very fragmented.
But then I found out about matured Bai mu dan in teaguardian.. and it looks like it may be so.
It comes in a can which shows a ‘sunflower’, looks like a ‘logo’. i don’t know if this is industrialized tea, or if the company only takes over the exportation process.
The smell in the can is fabulous, kind of nutty-sweet. The smell in the can is much stronger than in the tea after infusion, but i kind of feel this nutty-sweet in the palate and it is very pleasing. I’m not sure if I’m using good references for the experience, I’m just trying to describe it the best i can.
Today I received some samples of another bai mu dan, no labels, this company imports the tea and sells it under the shop’s name.
Lookes kind of fresh, altough very fragmented, even more than my old bai mu dan.
I tried
3g/250ml/90gradesC/6minutes
It turned out bitter, no pleasing smells, no good feeling in the palate, i couldn’t drink it
Then I tried
5g/250ml/80gradesC/3minutes
Still tasting bitter, although less than the previous infusion, the feeling in the palate is very poor compared to my old bai mu dan.
It smells/tastes kind of grassy and flowery. I find this a little disturbing, nauseating, a little bit like lilies (try to picture a green lily, if possible), to be more precise, it reminds me a lot of Brugmansia suaveolens perfume (a toxic plant which provided me a bad experience in the past)
I’m kind of disappointed with this tea. I’m glad i only ordered a little bit to taste it.
I suspect it may be some kind of “green white peony”, unless this kind of tea is much more expensive than regular bai mu dan (i think it is unlikely that someone would sell a more expensive product for the price of a cheaper one, but not impossible)
Here is the picture of the tea, provided by the online store
And here is the picture of what they sent me
I know that in the production of photos there are variations in color balancing..
but anyway, the actual produt looks much greener then what they show in the website. Even my own picture won’t show it very well, this tea looks very green all over.
I don’t know what to do with this tea. I’ll try some more variations in brewing, to see if i can get a better cup.
Any thoughts on this? 😕
