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I’m very excited to see this Kuura and White2tea collaboration with “Heresy”, a spring 2022 raw pu’er cake. These are two of my favourite tea dealers and they take quite a similar approach to their craft. I finally had some dedicated time to try it out today.

The description provided on both vendors’ sites is identical and even more scant on details than usual for them (which is really saying something).

I scanned the QR code on the wrapper, which took me to a Soundcloud page with a 2 hour soundtrack that I fired up to listen to during the session. There’s quite a range of different and enjoyable but mellow music on there, I assume curated by both Ayden and Paul. (I could be wrong but it seems to be a mix of American and Australian artists, and at least one Chinese.)

The initial steeps are very sweet and the fairness cup smells like fairy floss/cotton candy. It wasn’t too thick though.

The sweetness eases off a bit in the mid steeps and astringency rises, but bitterness remains very low. The taste remains really nice through the whole session, with the late long steeps sweetening up more again and giving rise to that plummy/raisin kind of taste that I really enjoy but don’t often find (especially in such young material).

However most notable was the body-feel. I found this tea to be incredibly doping/relaxing from the mid steeps onwards, to the point where I don’t think it’d be safe to drive.

This tea is a great representation of what these two vendors stand for and bring to the table. Save it for when you have time for a long session (and don’t have to drive anywhere immediately after).

I’d love to hear other folks’s experience with this tea as well. Happy holidays!

Despite being spring 2017 material (acquired by the vendor about 8 months after picking), it tastes like it has a bit of humid storage on it, which matches with the darker leaf colour.

It has a fairly thick, creamy texture with accompanying sweetness. There is no bitterness and only some light astringency. Menthol/camphor aftertaste is immediately present. Later, longer steeps are even sweeter and plummy.

There’s some huangpian present and it’s quite stemmy, but also includes some buds along with fairly small leaves.

I think it is a good introduction pu’er. The price is quite high, so might be more suitable as a gift.

Some good complexity of taste for such a young raw. Initial few steeps had a bit of a smokiness to it that disappeared later. Overall it was quite sweet with not much bitterness and relatively little astringency. Later, longer steeps were beautifully full-bodied and sweet with strong returning sweetness and pleasant menthol aftertaste.

I was pleased to be greeted with a very thick body and sweet floral taste, but with some unexpected complexity. I thought it might have had a couple of years of age on it, but it’s all spring 2017 material. Once the leaves had opened up, the bitterness was quite strong, like when you don’t quite swallow a pill properly and it gets suck in your throat. The astringency wasn’t too strong and built slowly.

Continuing to flash-steep, the bitterness was there ready to jump on me if I over-brewed even slightly. Even so, it was still quite strong, but I found it to be quite enjoyable. The hint of complexity persisted and trying to put my finger on the nature of it during the session was a lot of fun. The body of the tea remained quite thick and the sweetness level remained fairly constant – present but not strong.

Extended steeps brought out slightly more sweetness but not as much as I expected. After the session I was left with a ‘spiciness’ on the tongue and a light menthol sensation going far down the throat. I didn’t feel much energy during, but I felt energised after the session for some time.

Whether this tea would be good to introduce to a new young raw pu’er drinker, I think that depends a lot on their tolerance for bitterness. If high, this would be a great option. I think more experienced drinkers (especially those who enjoy young raw) will appreciate it a lot. Well worth trying!

Another 2018 Sheng Olympiad session today with a sample of the Bitterleaf Teas 2017 Huangpian brick.
It has a fairly thick texture, very light but sweet & floral taste without the face-punching bitterness of a typical young raw. Decent chaqi off it too. Impressive for the price at 10c/g.sw

200X ‘A’ from the 2018 Sheng Olympiad. An Yiwu raw puer stored in Hong Kong for over 10 years. I don’t have much experience with HK (i.e. humid)-stored pu’er but I enjoyed this one a lot.

Very thick body, a little sweet, reminded of honey a bit, but also dark wood (especially at the beginning). It reminded me of my rosewood tea table. No bitterness and very little astringency. Energy was calming. Lasted a long time and faded out slowly, with the final weaker brews reminding me of the fading brews of a ripe. Taste lingered a long time, but also left a cola-like fizzy sensation in the mouth too.