I'm reviewing an aged white tea included as a sample in Tea Mania teas I bought earlier in the year. I guess this had an extra half a year to age, set aside as a sample. I was really looking for something else to try to review but ran across it, and it looked interesting.
There's not much to say about aged white teas or that vendor for intro. I've went on about how it's one of the best sources I'm aware of for quality and value of a range of different teas. Very strange, for being based in Switzerland. No need to go too far into what aged white tea is all about either; the vendor intro and this description will cover that.
At first look that fuzziness had me concerned, that maybe it was something growing on the tea, but it's almost certainly just trichomes in a white tea leaf version known for having those.
It's my opinion that it's just trichomes, but it is strange thinking that a tea is probably ok to drink. When you look at that lower piece on the left it's the other leaf type, but that would have been compressed against the other leaf type (this was prepared as a cake), and they've probably become stuck to it from that. It's odd giving the issue that much space here, given that conclusion, but I'd expect that others would run through a similar line of thought as a concern.
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fresh Bai Mu Dan, with trichomes (credit Teapedia) |
Bai Mudan, better known as White Peony tea is made like Baihao Yinzhen of the Da Bai cultivar. Bai Mudan, sometimes also spelled Pai Mu Tan, is popular due to the refreshing and light flavor. Other variants are Gong Mei and Shou Mei which is harvested later. However, they are sometimes despite the late harvest also sold as Bai Mudan.
This Ba Mu Dan was pressed 2008 into cakes and stored in Zhenghe for 10 years. Through storage, the fresh and grassy aroma has changed to a hong cha like aroma. A very interesting tea especially for Pu-erh tea lovers.
Harvest: Spring 2008
Taste: Light, sweet and refreshing aroma
Origin: Zhenghe, Fujian Province in China
Preparation: Per serving approx. 2g, temperature approx. 75°C, time: 1-2 minutes
Tip: Compare this Bai Mudan to a fresh harvested Bai Mudan.
Interesting seeing that hong cha reference (black tea), since I just wrote the review notes. The flavor definitely shifts from being bright, floral, and probably a little fruity to warmer, deeper, and more into oxidized range, so that's partly what happened. There's no edge as in black teas, but then I love Dian Hong (Yunnan black) in part because they are heavy in flavor and complex, with a rich feel, but also not challenging at all related to having any astringency edge to work around.
Review:
First infusion: a good bit of cinnamon. Still subtle, with other dried fruit still more or less developing. This should "open up" more and be more intense next round. Of course it's soft and rich, with no astringency to speak of, with just a touch of body as feel.
Second infusion: it's interesting how depth is a big part of what is going on with this, but sort of a "front end" intensity is really diminished. That's kind of what one would expect, but experiencing it is something else. There are no forward, bright notes. Rich dried fruit stands out, and cinnamon, but the whole range is kind of how underlying tones usually come across. Warm mineral plays a role too. It comes across as several "layers," but it's all in the range that one deeper layer would usually be for other tea types. It's interesting. Flavors are relatively clean. A touch of tree bark and something like tree fungus, those semi-circles, add a bit of less clean range but it's still clean, if that makes sense.
I think I'll let the next round go out towards 20 seconds to see how this is brewed stronger. It definitely doesn't need it, since there is plenty to experience at a normal, lighter infusion strength, but it will change how the aspects present come across.
Third infusion: interesting; the warm mineral depth picks up, but the rest doesn't really change. It just shifts proportion of that coming across, with dried fruit and cinnamon playing a smaller role. A version of dark tree bark is still prominent, maybe something like aged or cured wood, but the bark part instead. It's odd that this comes across as clean as it does with those ranges being primary.
I never really clarified what the dried fruit part was; to me it's closest to Chinese date, jujube, or maybe between that and the other Middle-Eastern date version, or including both. There's a way that the mineral comes across in Middle-Eastern dates that present, and a bright, light dried fruit tone in Chinese dried dates that also is. It's not that far off prune, if that's familiar and Chinese date isn't, but it really is Chinese date. I eat that all the time in iced mixed bean deserts that I'm addicted to here (which I take to be of Chinese origin, but who knows); I should see if I can find a picture of that. The general flavor tone of this matches that, how beans, Chinese date, candied lotus, and longan juice combine.
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not the clearest image of Chinese dates, with two in the bottom center here |
Fourth infusion: slightly darker tones pick up. It works to peg that as cinnamon and that tree-bark range, but really it's heavy on an unusual mineral tone too. It's like an artesian well, but deeper and heavier in tone. The scent of a spring flowing out of an enclosed area in the Pennsylvania forest is like that, layers of mineral tones, with depth from fermenting leaves. Put that way it's also all like forest floor, but a different version of it than I usually associate with the description. It's wet forest itself, not the floor.
This also helps explain how this tea manages to come across as complex, even though it's expressing a limited range. That wet natural spring / forest floor type area I'm comparing this to isn't smelling like a broad range of scents, but it is incredibly complex. Maybe this part gets strange but I have a specific location in mind, near my parents house, which is deep in the PA woods. Most of that area smells much drier than this, warm and sweet, brighter, even though a stream runs through it. But the natural spring zones are something else, where water flows out of the hillside. The feel is different there too, as if there's an energy to places like that, a noticeable one. Maybe just my imagination, combining with the unusual scent range.
Fifth infusion: this is fading a bit. Pushing it the tea will make a few more positive infusions but the interesting themes won't continue to evolve, it seems. It seems like it dropped out early, in relation to drinking so much sheng lately (for a few years), but it's my take that oxidizing tea or roasting it trades out duration in terms of infusion count for the change in aspect range, and maybe something similar happened here. I could go on about whether I think aging white tea is oxidation or if it also overlaps with sheng fermentation but what do I know. I think it is a form of oxidation, so the question reduces to whether it ties to both, and I don't really know. If it does the form, biological activity (microfauna input), and compound transition isn't the same.
Conclusions:
I liked it. The tea seemed a lot like the other aged white versions that I've tried. It made me consider exactly how it stacked up, if it was better or worse, more complex and intense or the same. Since I've not been reviewing aged white teas for a few years it's hard to say, but it definitely at least looks like a higher grade version.
Descriptions of such teas always make them sound a lot more complex and intense than I've found examples to be. It's quite possible that someone could try version after version that is average in quality level or interesting style, so that trying any number wouldn't guarantee sampling the best of the range. Being a bit of a skeptic I don't necessarily accept that vendors selling versions described differently necessarily are different.
Take this version as an example: it tasted like cinnamon at first, then dried fruit, especially Chinese date along with the other more common date, the Middle-Eastern version, evolving to tree bark and damp forest floor. So far so good. If we add a few more flavor descriptions, maybe dried elderberry, marshmallow, and vanilla, it sounds like a much more unique experience. I didn't taste those, but with a little more imagination maybe I "could have?" I'm trying to leave Mei Leaf out of discussions or comments, to stick with positive range, but let's go there, to cite an example:
Midsummer Lightshow, 2010 Fuding Shou Mei
NOSE - DRY LEAF: Date syrup, vanilla tobacco, dark baked cherry crumble.
NOSE - WET LEAF: Steamed plum pudding and dried oregano.
...MOUTH - TASTE: Thyme, cinnamon and prune polenta cake, cellar wood and tuica plum alcohol.
NOSE - EMPTY CUP: Raspberry jam and dark toasted sourdough.
Aged white tea is interesting for what it is, deep and complex across a narrow flavor scope, and not challenging at all. Whether or not I've not yet tried the best of the range yet this tea was positive, pleasant, and interesting.
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back to outdoor tasting with two visitors |
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