I obtained some bagged tea marketed by Triple Leaf Tea, Inc named on the carton as 'White Tea ~ White Peony Tea'. It's price in the supermarket for
20 bags aroused suspicion: only US$3.30. White peony tea is normally the most expensive Chinese variety. Granted that this brand is offerring tea dust, not whole leaf, but so is Republic of Tea (RT) in their Emperor's White Tea bags, which costs considerably more. It is not even found at the Triple Leaf Tea (TLT) web site
This tea from TLT is a mixture of dark olive green dust and an estimated 5% beige cottony looking agglomerations. I know that true white peony does have a fine gray-white down on its young buds, but I've never seen beige fiber masses such as this in a teabag before. It certainly does not look a bit like the white peony dust found in the Emperor's White Tea bags.
When 2 of the TLT bags are steeped in 10 oz water @ 180°F for 10 minutes (the way I prefer my green/white teas), the result is an *amber* colored infusion and noticably robust tannin flavor that I'm not accustomed to in other green/white tea brands. It should't be so dark unless it has undergone considerable oxidation/fermenation. Both the appearance and flavor of it seems comparable to that of an Oolong. And I immediately felt almost nauseous after drinking only about half of the serving. Was that pesticides or some sort of additive, which caused my reaction?
I've read that there is a type of white tea that is more specificly named Shou Mei
However, Pai Mu Tan translates to 'white peony', whereas Shou Mei translates to 'Noble, Long Life Eyebrow'.
I'm also aware that April 1st is quite out-of-season for white peony, so any inventories of it cannot be expected to be fresh. However, it should not be so oxidized/fermented after only 13 months of normal commercial storage that its variety is unrecognizable. So evidently it never was white peony to begin with.