The description of this tea looked intriguing, so I had to order 20 g in my latest Zen Tea order. The dry smell is very fresh and lovely, the peony is present mainly but very light, reminding me of rain in a garden, a garden with peonies of course. I should mention that at my parents acreage, the peonies bloom profusely sometime in June, and they are big and beautiful. The petals in this tea are red, so I am assuming they are some sort of pink peony?
Anyways, onto steeping..I steeped for 2 minutes with 185 degree water. The resulting tea is a very pale yellow, definitely a white tea. And man, does this smell floral!! It’s like a bouquet of flowers is in my cup! Peonies, that is :) I don’t smell any lychee that I can tell, although it is sort of floral too, so it might be blending in with it.
The flavor is also very floral, although as it cools it is not as strong. It has a very clean finish as well. I am not sure of the flavor of the white tea yet, but it is supporting the floral burst quite nicely. Next time I might try brewing without a giant petal in my infuser lol, and see how that is.
Overall, this is a nice change from other floral teas such as jasmine. It is a bit strong on the flower scent, but makes for not a bad cup. I love how the cup invokes images of spring and rain-soaked flowers on an overcast day. I will have a few more cups before deciding on a rating.
