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Gongfu!
This afternoon, I’m sipping down a 2023 941 sheng pu’erh mini from @white2tea that was added as a free sample to one of my orders this past year! I have a cake of, I believe, the 2022 production of this raw pu’erh and though I’ve only steeped it a few times I recall really enjoying the soft and sweeter taste and texture. It’s one of those “nail on the head” teas in regard to appealing to my penchat for Yiwu productions.
From memory, this mini is expectedly quite similar with a really gentle overall profile and light notes of dewy fresh pears, snow peas, and a mellow grassy and hay-like midsip that anchors the orchard fruit and cooling vegetal notes. Almost a creamy finish, especially in the late session. However, as most of the more sugary notes sit in the front half of the sip, it’s a creamy tail end that lacks sweetness. If I didn’t have a cake of the 2022 material I could totally see myself adding a few more minis of this to my next order…
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C4TsxeGO7s7/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l81HZfkLwpk
Sipdown, western style. Kinda contrary to normal directions for these, but I don’t do too much gong fu style due to it taking more time/energy than I have sometimes.
Three steeps on this, at boiling for the 1st, then with cooler water for the other two. Flavors stayed the same throughout, just weaker on the later steeps.
Sweet, amber (maybe honey?? not sure what I meant here), sugar cane, chocolate, cocoa. A nice smooth black tea.
Flavors: Chocolate, Cocoa, Honey, Sugarcane, Sweet
Sipdown
From the February 2023 Club
Notes: Cannabis, seaweed, & sweet candied nuts (cashews? almonds?)
Flavors: Almond, Cannabis, Cashew, Seaweed
I bought this for… reason unknown. Maybe I wanted to try fruit filled puerh, at least that sounds like a plausible explanation.
Anyway, I split the mandarin in half and picking some amount of puerh inside with a finger. Also adding some of the peel. I just hope it is intended to be steeped with the tea.
I tried it once before writing this note, but as my 4 years old niece was around, I was rather checking if my cup is far enough from the table border, than checking the tea itself.
Today I prepared 3g/3 mins with 90°C water.
It much earthier than I have expected. I also notice some of the cardboard / paper note which seems like a flaw to me. It’s not what I was expecting, to be honest. Also, earthy note is strong and then it fades into that I wrote about. I do notice some of the orange zest, but rather in aroma than the taste.
As it cools down it is getting better. Not by a lot, though. Have I used wrong steeping parameters? Was I supposed to steep it gongfu only? Was it packed in the paper wrapping for too long? Discuss below.
Preparation
Grandpa Style!
Slurped this back of the course of yesterday afternoon. It’s slick and oily with a liquor that’s practically jet black save for a hint of red-ish brown cresting at the water line. Though there’s an expected smooth, grounding earthiness and minerality I find myself more entranced with the gentle sweetness of fruitier notes of figs and red dates – almost like drinking a Fig Newton in tea form, which I feel I should is a positive. It’s very clean and easygoing, which makes me feel like it falls very comfortably into the “daily drinker” sorta zone for the more well versed pu’erh drinker while also likely making for a more accesible option for anyone who’s been turned off pu’erh because of some of the funkier flavours sometimes present!
Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3_CXinuK96/
I think this is one of the nicest photos I’ve taken in months, though I guess the IG algorithm disagrees. Kind of a bummer when a photo you’re REALLY proud of tanks. Womp womp.
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iJmIL83vas
I tried it grandpa, 3 grams from the chunk and it was surprisingly easy to pry; so I have just “opened the chunk” if you know what I mean.
Steeped for quite long. I haven’t checked; but I assume around 4-5 minutes and I had a great cup of tea.
Quite strong, wet forest floor aroma and taste, along with camphor and I noticed also petrichor (okay, that was maybe the enviroment as in meantime rain came). All covered in somehow lovely sweet smoky element and molasses as Roswell Strange notices in 2021 vintage.
Preparation
Gongfu!
Drank this with some dark chocolate in between steeps! I used to buy a greener and more ball-rolled style of oolong from a now defunct company called Ginger Lily Oolong, and I’m finding this tea reminds me of it in a lot of ways. It’s light to medium bodied with a very mild, gentle sweetness that compliments the subtle spice notes and overall fresh, crisp profile. In particular, I love how the aromatics are so floral and soft, while the finish has such a clean earthiness and mineral quality. Maybe even a touch of petrichor. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this tea quote as much as I have, but it turns out that it’s actually pretty nostalgic, and the subtle sweet earthy notes of ginger are really soothing and cozy!
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C300b4XO_nS/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJpYzxEvWDM
Gongfu!
Enjoyed this shou paired with a delicious soft boiled duck egg (with a splash of maple hot sauce) for a delicious breakfast tea session. Apologies in advance to the anti-runny yolk crowd. This was such a rich and unctuous way to start the day, though!! This shou in particular has a robust earthiness with a smooth woody character and sweeter dark undertones of molasses and brown sugar with just a hint of brothy umami weaved throughout everything else already going on in this complex blend of different ripe pu’erhs. The egg, with its golden and delicious yolk, is just as rich as the tea with a deeply creamy taste and texture alongside its own distinct umami character. So fatty and luxurious!! And of course, a hint of sweet and fiery hotsauce to break up the indulgence just a bit…
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3qmElmuu1U/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWk4IjZHsb4
Sipdown
Sample from the W2T clubI really want to write a lot about this tea, but I didn’t take too many notes. I promised IG that I would add something, but I was too into this tea at the time. I wrote “buttered toast” a few times. The only other notes on my scrap paper were the following: whipped cream, milk, butter, & toast/bread. 6 infusions noted, too.
Flavors: Bread, Butter, Milk, Toast, Whipped Cream
Feel like you want to brew some longjing but you don’t have any? Love a few funky mushroomy notes here and there? This tea is for you! Good energy and duration. It brews like a sheng, tastes most like a green, and smells like oolong. Weird combination but it’s great. It has a tendency to go astringent, so dont brew too hard…unless you like it that way. I ain’t your mother.
Flavors: Asparagus, Hazelnut, Honey, Mushrooms
Preparation
Gongfu!
This is a very soft and gentle tasting tea with a lot of the more delicate and finer characteristics that I love so much about Yiwu productions alongside such a rich, thick and creamy mouthfeel. It isn’t until a few steeps in that the tasting notes begin to paint a clearer picture: dried apricots, apple blossoms, and the smell of simmering brown sugars. It warming, cozy and very peaceful – I definitely felt, as I sipped on the latter infusions, like I’d slipped back into memories of late summer evenings back home in the Prairies. Almost like a merger of summer breaks spent at my Grandparent’s house and the night markets I used to frequent before moving to Montreal. Just a simplicity and easiness saturated in a glowy feeling sense of nostalgia.
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3fyO3PuKqS/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viBbRfstO84
If you are at all a fan of smoked teas, this is a pretty good one. The smoke is there but not acrid, and there are still some interesting tea scents around. Good texture and overall balance for a pine-smoked tea. I like this better than most lapsangs, and this might the one smoked tea I keep in my collection for those cold nights.
Flavors: Caramel, Smoke
Preparation
Late last evening, I opened the second tea from the White2Tea Tea Club. Had I known this was a prized tea, I’d’ve saved it for last. Alas, I didn’t until finally reading the full letter.
I brewed this up to 6 times. Each sip I drank, with the exception of a single (sake) cup. I wanted to dive into it layer by layer, with a proper boiling water palate cleanse.
Cup One: cocoa & sweeten milk
Cup Two: tobacco, darker chocolate, buttery, nutty
Cup Three: Surprisingly less notes than cup two, but mostly the same.
Cup Four: Steeped way longer than expected. Add cannabis and “cooked florals” (whatever I meant by that).
Cup Five: No, no. Please don’t fade out on me, you beautiful beautiful tea.
Cup Six: End Scene.
Flavors: Butter, Cannabis, Cocoa, Dark Chocolate, Floral, Nutty, Tobacco
Sipdown?
This was the first tea to be had during the February Tea Club. It was a terribly windy day. I wanted to drink some tea after waking too early on little sleep.. It was a rough morning and a rough evening, as nobody could sleep last night – the wife sick and I worried. She currently has a fairly high fever, but the doctor advised that if it remains in the morning, it’s recommended we take a trip to Statcare. Poor dear.
Notes: This was a warming tea – both in smell and flavor. I’m a sucker for a yancha and this was the type that really hits the spot. There were ‘soft’ mineral notes and a nice lingering sweet citrus aftertaste.
Flavors: Citrus, Mineral
Occasionally I want the elevated Lipton experience which this offers pretty well. This is the kind of tea I’d drink iced laying out in the sun beside the pool, or after pulling weeds in the garden all day. Naturally bright and sweet. The description on W2T says it’s somewhere between an Oolong and a Hong, but I put it squarely in honcha territory. Solid ‘tea aroma’, but there’s not really any frills here—not a lot of fruit, flower, leather, or any particularly interesting characteristics. Good body and makes a great iced tea, but a gongfu sessionable tea it is not, at least to me.
Flavors: Tea
Preparation
Bamboo is a weird grass. Who thought to shove tea inside and then roast it I guess really liked the flavor. The prominent flavor here is Chinese-takeout chopsticks. I kind of like it—much more than some of the dank lumbery pu`erhs I’ve had. The bamboo is well, woody, but in a tannic-but-not-resinous kind of way. Somewhere past the bamboo there’s a vegetal brightness akin of bean sprouts, and then lingering still there’s a touch of cocoa dust drying the tongue. No dusty basement here. Just thick, well-incorporated, warming, and enduring bamboo. Pretty approachable and something I’d share with friends. Overall I don’t regret buying the full 200g before trying it. The value is good to boot.
Flavors: Alfalfa, Bamboo, Milk Chocolate
Preparation
Sometimes you read a description and decide you need to buy the item described. I wanted to love this. It’s white. It’s black. A mysterious experiment.
However for me, tasting this tea in 2024, it misses the mark. It’s not bad, just not notable. The oxidation is too high and sends the expensive bud material into hongcha territory. The result is strawberry flavored water with an awkward dryness. It’s not a tea to collect nor worthy of serving to guests. It leaves me irritated that it’s not at least the sum of its parts, but instead less than.
I’ve got another 14 grams to get through but I’m just going to give it away and hope someone else finds it to be their cup of tea.
Flavors: Smoke, Strawberry
Preparation
Have you ever found a perfect tea? This might be it for me. It’s loaded with ripe papaya and rose, silky in texture, and lingers without being soapy. It’s not a red, white, or black tea distinctly, but what it is, is nothing short of amazing. Did I mention this tea is just 20 cents a gram?
Flavors: Papaya, Rose
Preparation
This tea is like looking at a flower garden from behind a pane of glass. It wants to be floral, and you can see the flowers, but the aroma and taste are never right in front of your nose. A little more roast could have done it some good as well. It’s almost like it’s a few years old and has faded a bit. The melon flavor is there though—lingering like a candy. That, combined with the low price of this one makes it very worth it. It could be better, but it’s good enough to collect as is.
Flavors: Honeysuckle, Melon, Vanilla
Preparation
You’re hiking along and kicked over a decaying log and you’re hit with the scent of fresh earth. You pick up a chunk of decaying wood and bite into it. You’re either supremely weird or related to a termite—who knows?
This one brews dark and thick. Excellent balance and incorporation of flavor, but the wood is still quite prominent. A subtle touch of warm spice gives a slight amount of intrigue, but otherwise it’s wood and wet moss.
Flavors: Dark Wood, Peat, Peppercorn, Petrichor
Preparation
Aroma of rice husk, forest floor, campfire.
The deep age of this tea results in a flavor profile that’s so deeply incorporated that it’s hard to pick out specifics. There’s some wood in there, but it’s mellow and lingers almost imperceptibly. There’s a touch of camphor somewhere in the woods, near the campfire where you hung up your soaking leather boots to dry. You’re drinking tea still—which some shou pu`erhs forget. The bush is still there in this one though, with a slight astringency after the rest of the warm camp fades from mind. Relaxed feelings devoid of urgency. Overall this is maybe my favorite Shu to date. Who knows where it comes from? I don’t care. Give me more.
Flavors: Campfire, Leather, Tea, Wheat, Wood