Moonlight Dragon Ball White Tea

The tea, brewed, smells malty, thick, sweet, like figs or apricots. Tasting it, it’s slightly astringent, full, sweet with a hint of apricot and more than a hint of chocolate, vanilla, something like cardamom but not quite. It’s a lovely, lovely tea, and unlike most white teas I’ve had. I could drink this all day, every day.

One dragon ball = one cup of tea. It was surprisingly large, and so about a quarter of the tea didn’t steep, because it grew too big in the steeper! I can’t wait for the second, third, fourth steeps to see how it evolves.

As I can’t list the details on my phone:
90C for 3.5 minutes, first steep.

365 Days of Tea Challenge – Day 34

This tea came from tea-sipper!

I followed TeaVivre’s recommended parameters for this session. The time progression was interesting, I’m wondering if the shorter steeps in the middle are where they expect the dragon ball to unfurl.

Anyway, I wasn’t very impressed with this one… It started off extremely light in flavor. About halfway through the session, I started to help the leaves unfurl a little bit since they were still mostly compacted in a ball and I felt like that was why I wasn’t getting much flavor. It did definitely help a lot!

Overall, this had a very smoky and mineral taste that I wasn’t expecting. There were also some more classic white tea notes of oats and hay, along with a light honey sweetness and some date and golden raisin flavors. I also tasted some apricot notes and a bit of malt. There was very little bitterness, but a slight astringency did develop as the steeps grew longer.

I found it somewhat meh. Happily, I still have one dragon ball to try, so I’m thinking I’ll try Western or grandpa style for that one and see how it compares.

1 piece – 130ml – 200°F – rinse/50/60/70/50/50/30/40/70/90/110s

https://www.instagram.com/p/BtcOe5ElYxS/

Well Steepster, it’s been a while again lol, I fell behind with logging my Advent teas, but today I have to log this tea since I’ve had it for ages and don’t think I’ve ever written a note!

I have been very minimal with my caffeine intake as it has been tough on my anxiety, but today I am craving a white tea and usually white isn’t too energizing for me, so it should go well. This tea I decided to do in my gaiwan, which reminds me I need to get a new one, as a while back somehow my lid broke so I am using a substitute Ltd that is too heavy and threatens to break the whole thing lol. Time to get teaware shopping!

Anyway, I used just under boiling water for a quick 10 s rinse, then did 50 s as recommended for the first steep. The smell is heavenly in the gaiwan, so much honey! In the cup it is a bit less pronounced, but a lovely linen note pops up, I love that crisp clean meditative scent in White teas! I should note – the ball is just starting to unfurl after 1 steep, so it should have some longevity for the afternoon of steeping!

As for the flavor, this is very delicate and floral, with a mildly sweet aftertaste. Very pleasant and perfect for a lazy Saturday. I look forward to a few steepings and sharing some with my husband this afternoon.

Thanks to Angel at Teavivre for the lovely sample!

I love the look of this tea, it is a large 8 gram rolled up ball of white, yellow, and black leaves. I couldn’t help myself and steeped the whole ball, even though it is more tea than I usually steep at one time. It steeps darker than most whites I have had, but it has the honeydew haw flavor of a good white. There is also the subtle flavor of a young raw pu-erh on the back end. It is a tasty tea, which is nice because I was worried that it was just trying to get by on its looks.

This was the first time experiencing the moonlight dragon ball from Teavivre and I really loved it! As a sprouting tea nerd I was intimidated by the dragon ball (I really didn’t know how to handle this thing with my little gaiwan but didn’t mess up my precious sample) but I got some wonderful results:

First, I gave the tea two rinses (10 sec each) to open up the leaves a bit: the rinses didn’t do much to the consistency of the ball but released the most beautiful, strong and honey-like sweetness that made me really excited for the session.

I decided to go with a bigger teapot and 300ml of water for one ball of tea. Experimenting with steeping time and temperature and settled with 3-4 minutes and about 90-95°C water temperature (cooler water around 75°C did taste watered down). The first 4 steeps were 3 minutes long, after that I decided to go with 4 minutes per steep. Longer than that got too bitter for my taste. After the first steep being very light, like water with a bit of honey, the flavour really opened up in the 2nd and 3rd steep and from the 4th steep on getting woodier. Overall I got 9 solid steeps out of it.

My best description is euphoric honey water that heart- and body-warmingly ran down my throat like sweet nectar. It also has hints of dates and almond milk. From the 2nd steep on you can taste a hint of the darker notes to come. It stayed strongly sweet until steep no. 7 (after that the ball was fully disintegrated) But the taste grew a lot darker, a bit calmer (less euphoric), more like honeydew honey, and woodier, like a forrest (it also reminds me of some kind of black tea). It also got a tiny bit bitter and astringent (but in a pleasant way). From the 8th steep on the aroma didn’t change much anymore.
I really enjoyed this complex evolution of the aroma and figure it to be an effect of the tightly pressed ball shape that releases fresh, dry leaves for many steepings. At least I’ve haven’t had a white tea before that changed so much in one session. On the other hand I am a beginner without great experience in gong fu style brewing or many solid tastings under my belt.

At least with my method (300ml per steep, almost 3 liters of tea overall) the ball size is a bit big for just one person – unless you want to drink big cups of tea all day long. But I can’t wait to prove this to be the perfect party tea! I have a couple of friends who like to enjoy a taste from my little tea collection when they visit. Until now I always was conflicted between sharing my most delicious tea experiences with them (using a small brewing vessel, gong fu style in my gaiwan, many steepings and different teas after one another) and serving 3 to 5 people said tea without getting stressed out (short brewing times, a lot of steepings and teas, spilling hot water over a busy dinner table due to my beginner gaiwan skills, etc.). With longer steeping times, more tea to serve in one batch and a tea that thrives under said conditions (heavenly taste, changing greatly throughout the session plus evoking a bit of tea drunkenness) I am equipped for the next dinner party! So far they’ve loved all of my white teas; this will be a great surprise for them!

Grandpa style w/ a little bit of added in honey.

On a mini dragon ball kick right now, it would seem. They’re just super convenient for office brewing – toss one in a mug, and you’re good for basically the entire day! Been a long time since I last had this one, and I feel like I don’t love it as much any more as when I first had it – but it’s still very good. Smooth and creamy, with notes like chestnut/almond, honeysuckle, hot hay and autumnal leaves, and fresh cream. So easy to sip on…

Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CAsviblgSav/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GepC3g1dSxw

I recently finished my second sample of this tea that Angel sent. It was glorious, just like the first time. I steeped it many times. Sadly, it’s been a bit since I had it and struggle for the words to describe it as my memory of it blurs into the “I like it a lot” category. Odd that I like something that I can’t describe what I like about it, but that is how it is. All I can say is that it’s good and you should try it.

Sipdown!

This is one from Angel at Teavivre. Thank you! I steeped this for about 5 minutes and since that only 1/2 opened the tightly wrapped ball, I probably should have steeped this for longer. Nonetheless, the tea is the typical white tea hue so I figured it might be okay. Flavorwise, it is light but flavorful with notes often associated with white tea like sweet corn, hay and butter. It is good but it is also a plain white tea, which is not something I reach for very often. So, I would recommend this for those who enjoy white teas even though I myself probably won’t revisit it anytime soon.

This is a fantastic white tea presented in a unique way! Each dragon ball looks to be about an inch across and individually wrapped in tissue paper. It has the appearance of big ole white leaves wrapped into a sphere. Such a lovely sweet flavor results! I could swear there is some sugar mixed in with these white tea leaves. The flavor is light yet smooth and full for a white tea. The second steep is even thicker, like a syrup with a lovely white tea flavor — something deeper than the first steep but not astringent. The third steep is more autumnal flavored — still delicious but I think the third steep could have waited a few more minutes after boiling for the best of that light, syrupy, sweet flavor. I think I could keep steeping this many more times! I’d stock up on this one. If you’re looking for a delicious white tea, this is it. It doesn’t even taste like a usual white tea to me — only sweetness and light.
Steep #1 // 1 piece for a full mug// 20 minutes after boiling // 2 1/2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 15 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #3 // 5 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep

Another one from Angel this was interesting to me. Tightly packed ball. I’ve steeped this a few times now – the first was a long steep which barely opened the ball up. THis has a light taste to it…slightly sweet as infusions moved on. It probably didn’t get stronger until after the 5th? infusion, but i did lose track of things.