Lu Mu Dan Flowers (Green Peony)

The Final Sipdown: Day 9
Decupboarding Total: 17

Today has been a whole lot of suck since I woke up in the middle of the night with a full-blown migraine. Finally at 11pm, I’m over the migraine and the worst of the hangover from it, so it’s time for my first tea of the day. Uhm, night.

I wanted something gentle and soft. Whites typically call to me post-migraine, but I did want to attempt to keep up with The Final Sipdown. This one is nicely mild and, if I shared it with my husband, I’d be able to finish off the tin. Not quite a sample but since it is a decupboard, I’m counting it.

What a wonderful final cup. I used two flowers (which amounted to about 16g) for 22oz. I gave it a quick rinse to see if I could ‘wake up’ the flowers a bit before steeping, then I gave it a 3minute steep with the teapot lid off.

It worked perfectly. I think this one really benefits from heavy leaf and I wouldn’t be surprised if the rinse helped, too. The flavor is still mild but it’s so sweet and pretty. I still don’t get the smoky of the tasting notes but it’s such a pretty Chinese green (with zero of the salty end note they normally give me) that I really don’t care. I’m actually giving this tea a gentle bump up since I feel like I’ve cracked the code a bit on this and would totally get it again.

Steep Information:
Amount: 1 flower – 6.7g
Water: ~185°F 16 ounces (oopse, it was supposed to be a 6 ounce cup!)
Tool: Adagio IngenuiTEA 16 oz
Steep Time: a little over 5 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: floral
Steeped Tea Smell: floral, garden green
Flavor: sweet, floral, vegetal, slightly astringent, slightly bitter
Body: Light
Aftertaste: sweet, slightly astringent, slightly bitter
Liquor: pale translucent yellow-green

A free sample from Chicago Tea Garden, I am more than excited to get my paws on a tea before it even gets listed on the website!

And a pretty decorative one at that.

Well I wasn’t paying attention obviously! I used too much water, and wasn’t particularly swift about retrieving the tea when the timer went off.

Luckily the tea took the abuse and rolled with it, it was nice and delicate and pretty good for an afternoon cup, definitely not bold enough to be a morning cup of tea, or sweet enough to be dessert.

Next time I want to sweeten it.

Resteep: It was supposed to be 8 ounces, 5 minutes. I forgot about the flower! Not sure how long it was in. I took a few sips and it was pretty much a slightly weaker /

more delicate version of the first steep. I stirred in a honey spoon, and the honey spoon totally hid the flavor of the tea, boo! I should have used sugar. So it was a honey water with floral notes and a vegetal after taste.

Resteep: Again, it was supposed to be 8 ounces, 5 minutes. Again I forgot about the poor flower. So after an indeterminate amount of time I got a cup of floral, vegetal bitter tea.

The first steep was enjoyable, and I messed up the second two steeps. This flower does have staying power, and yes It does remind me of a pretty peony when viewed from above after steeping.

Images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/06/chicago-tea-garden-loose-leaf-green-tea.html

Very light, very delicate. I prefer my green teas with a bit more power, but this isn’t bad at all. Pretty tea “flower”, too.