BAI MU DAN/ PAI MU TAN White tea

[BioHorn]

BAI MU DAN:
Please post your experiences and reviews here.

I'll begin with two recent white tea purchases from Upton Tea.

Brewed up about 4 grams each of their "Pai Mu Tan" China Special White, ZW56, 40 grams for $5.80, and "Pai Mu Tan" China Select, ZW66, 30 grams for $7.80. The latter was a higher grade with more intact stem to buds and rich pungent aroma. Pushed hard it brewed up a bit astringent. ZW56 was a more typical jumble of stems leaf and bud with more subdued yet deeper and almost malty fragrance. It's brew was also more subdued with baby powder aroma.

Other whites I have had have been very bulky and stemmy. The wholeness of the raw leaf of this variety of tea is an enjoyable aspect. These two teas were broken up to pretty small pieces (ZW66 a great deal less so.) Maybe their foil packaging had seen rough treatment or this was tea from the bottom of the bag.

What really got me after drinking these teas (and a Shou Mei ZW24) was the mental effect. I am of the opinion that certain teas have a chemical composition which may weaken the boundaries between conscious (ego) and subconscious (id) states. I would further liken the effect to that of MOA inhibitors or other anti-depressants (maybe Entropy or other members can chime in here.) These teas possessed such a component. I will spare you all the details, but is it not great that such a superficially meek and mild thing could deliver such a wallop?

Images here:
https://www.instagram.com/p/_nbV6DvV2z/

[kuánglóng]

...
What really got me after drinking these teas (and a Shou Mei ZW24) was the mental effect. I am of the opinion that certain teas have a chemical composition which may weaken the boundaries between conscious (ego) and subconscious (id) states. I would further liken the effect to that of MOA inhibitors or other anti-depressants (maybe Entropy or other members can chime in here.) These teas possessed such a component. I will spare you all the details, but is it not great that such a superficially meek and mild thing could deliver such a wallop?
...

I have a nice selection of Bai Mu Dan and Shou/Gong Mei bings in the cellar and have experienced a variety of peculiar reactions to those teas that are pretty similar to you-know-what - glassy eyes and the rest. I'm personally not to keen about getting ....ed from tea or anything else anymore, but I'm not overly surprised that some of my friends can't get enough of my Bai Cha.
I'd really like to know too what exact components or specific combinations are at work here and trigger those reactions. Since white teas are the only teas that don't undergo any heat treatment (kill-green, baking/roasting/firing) and I don't get these effects from any other tea I'd exclude the usual suspects (amino acids like L-Theanin, ...) and would look somewhere else but then I'm no biochemist.
Maybe they're just cooking up their own funky pesticides in Bai Cha county/north Fujian

[BioHorn]

...
What really got me after drinking these teas (and a Shou Mei ZW24) was the mental effect. I am of the opinion that certain teas have a chemical composition which may weaken the boundaries between conscious (ego) and subconscious (id) states. I would further liken the effect to that of MOA inhibitors or other anti-depressants (maybe Entropy or other members can chime in here.) These teas possessed such a component. I will spare you all the details, but is it not great that such a superficially meek and mild thing could deliver such a wallop?
...

I have a nice selection of Bai Mu Dan and Shou/Gong Mei bings in the cellar and have experienced a variety of peculiar reactions to those teas that are pretty similar to you-know-what - glassy eyes and the rest. I'm personally not to keen about getting ....ed from tea or anything else anymore, but I'm not overly surprised that some of my friends can't get enough of my Bai Cha.
I'd really like to know too what exact components or specific combinations are at work here and trigger those reactions. Since white teas are the only teas that don't undergo any heat treatment (kill-green, baking/roasting/firing) and I don't get these effects from any other tea I'd exclude the usual suspects (amino acids like L-Theanin, ...) and would look somewhere else but then I'm no biochemist.
Maybe they're just cooking up their own funky pesticides in Bai Cha county/north Fujian

Kuang Long,
Your response is so very much appreciated. I drank this tea again to try and confirm, but only after ordering more! It seemed to impart a different sensation apart from other varieties.

Sometimes it feels lonely here trying teas, feeling the effect and wondering if it is rational! Hearing your observations make it less distanced.

I went about eight years without having white tea. So the effect of cha qi, or whatever one wishes to call, it was like a ton of bricks. It was so obvious that this was another animal. Younger puerh can give one that manic high. Sometimes Phoenix Dan Cong gives me an alert widening focus, but this was more...almost insidious! To be clear, I had drunk 12 grams of three bai chas over a period of 4-5 hours before going to bed. That night's sleep was an interesting voyage into waking consciousness. So maybe if you want a real hit, do it before bedtime.

Upon reading a bit, it seems this tea is considered cooling. The effect on my kidneys seems different from other teas.

Do you store your Bai Bings with Pu Ehr? Thanks again.

[kuánglóng]

Kuang Long,
Your response is so very much appreciated. I drank this tea again to try and confirm, but only after ordering more! It seemed to impart a different sensation apart from other varieties.

Sometimes it feels lonely here trying teas, feeling the effect and wondering if it is rational! Hearing your observations make it less distanced.

I went about eight years without having white tea. So the effect of cha qi, or whatever one wishes to call, it was like a ton of bricks. It was so obvious that this was another animal. Younger puerh can give one that manic high. Sometimes Phoenix Dan Cong gives me an alert widening focus, but this was more...almost insidious! To be clear, I had drunk 12 grams of three bai chas over a period of 4-5 hours before going to bed. That night's sleep was an interesting voyage into waking consciousness. So maybe if you want a real hit, do it before bedtime.

Call it cha qi or whatever, BH, the effects are there and can't be denied. At the moment I have all my lab gear in storage, ready to be shipped to my new home but I'll come back later next year with some details.
Regarding other teas I don't get the same combination of reactions that my system gets from Bai Cha; in my case the dosage doesn't play that much of a role. Sometimes I brew them up western style - 2-2.4g/200ml but more often I start out with about 5-8g in a 100-150ml gaiwan, short steepings and relatively low temperatures - 65-85 deg.C.
As to drinking tea before going to sleep that's what I do every day, lol, mostly with Himalayan teas but I'll definitely try a decent hit of Bai Cha over the holidays - thanks for the tip!

Upon reading a bit, it seems this tea is considered cooling. The effect on my kidneys seems different from other teas.

Cooling definitely more than the other way around and I notice a bit of a positive effect on my urinary system; I wish I could experience the same with Darjeelings but alas ...
I'll keep observing those effects on my system but can't wait to have my new lab set up next year and see how those and other tea related reactions can be objectified.

Do you store your Bai Bings with Pu Ehr? Thanks again.

No, I store my Bai bings stacked in round tin boxes with a bit of air around them and they're doing just fine.
Thank you for starting this interesting thread.

Just in case ... this is not my favorite Shou Mei taste wise but it consistently triggers the strongest psycho-physiological reactions; my friends love it
http://www.ebay.de/itm/2013-yr-300g-Sup ... 1465607489

Happy holidays!