This was among the most interesting of the white teas I've tried, although more familiar and similar to typical white teas than moonlight white. E. Alex Gerster called this tea "sturdy" and I like that; I also want to thank him for providing me with this sample.

Dry leaf has a peculiar aroma, like caramel and overripe fermenting fruit, especially like the fermenting pulp inside fallen honey locust pods.

Upon brewing, this tea takes on a much different aroma--very floral, with a melony quality as well. The fragrance almost suggests jasmine but not quite. Flavor is sweet and mild, but the mouthfeel has a good deal of astringency. Upon drinking more, there's a hint of black pepper that emerges in the aroma. A second infusion was similar but brought out more cinnamony tones. Subsequent steepings were pretty similar (I made 3 but I think there was still flavor left in the leaves; I brewed western-style with long steepings in a mug). In the third infusion, an aroma of autumn leaves came out.

In spite of the dark leaf color and larger leaf size, this one seemed to behave and taste more like a silver needle (bai hao yinzhen) more than a white peony or other larger-leaf white tea that it looked more similar to, especially in the first cup. The later cups became more similar to darker white teas.

I also liked this tea most when it had cooled to room temperature.

I also found it was not picky about brewing temperature. Hotter temperatures may bring out more of the autumn leaf fragrance, and less of the melony tones, so I may slightly prefer hotter water than Mandala Tea recommends.

At an ounce for $8, I think this is a great buy for a special treat, to expose yourself to something genuinely new and interesting. I don't think of this as an everyday tea, more as something unusual, to pay attention to, but it also had a comforting quality to it that I think would make it enjoyable to drink casually.

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Comments:

E. Alex Gerster wrote: on December 30th, 2013

Glad you enjoyed this tea! You have such a great way of writing about your tea experiences that just seems to 'nail it' every time.

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