Bai Mudan 白牡丹, or White Peony is a common style of white tea in China, it’s a combination of long, full twisted leaves, and silvery buds. As far as volume goes this is about the densest tea you’re likely to find.

This bai mudan is particularly buddy, and the leaves are coiled a little more than average (making it a little more efficient for me to pack into bags). The dry leaves have a honey-like scent, like a combination of nectar and berries. After infusing it takes on more of a fruity floral aroma that has a bit of a medicinal feel to it. It has a slightly astringent mouthfeel, and is very easy to drink. After finishing a session I still find myself wanting to drink more. The caffeine seems to have a bit of a delayed effect, and isn’t particularly intensive. In Chinese medicine white tea is considered cooling, and you can kind of feel that in this tea. One final note is this tea won the coveted grand prize in a local tea competition in the year of its harvest

Processing:

Creating white tea is a very simple, yet masterful process. Only 2 steps, withering and drying are performed with great care and adaption, with factors like the weather, and condition of the leaves playing a big role.