white2tea

Brewed gongfu at 205 in a yixing.

Rinse (20s): Pot aroma is surprisingly like a hojicha, maybe a little smokier. Liquor is pale/transparent orange. Taste is a bit like a rained out ashtray.

First steep (15s): Liquor is more pumpkin orange. Pot aroma is cigarettes and hojicha. Taste is burnt charcoal briquette right up front with some appreciable notes in the middle and after that I’m having a hard time placing – theyre warm/toasty. I fear this tea will go the way of firebat where its appreciability is ruined by the dominance of cigarette ash notes.

Second steep (15s): Liquor: orange with a tint of brown. Pot aroma more like hojicha again. Same ashiness dominating the palate, with some warm oolong-ish vaguely sheng notes in the background

Third steep (20s): Liquor orange. The flavor is still sharp with the bite of bitter ash. The note is fading however, giving way to the mid notes. The astringency of young sheng battling for attention with the in your face charcoal ash does it no favors.

Fourth steep (30s): The ash is finally at a reasonably settled level, giving way to, honestly, not really impressive background notes that are still quite astringent

Going to give this a couple more steeps but its clear to me the experience is not to my liking, I am mostly suffering through each steep

Overall: suffers from overpowering ash notes. It’s only chance for salvation is possibly aging enough to let the base ash notes die down and hopefully have the aging mellow the astringency mellow to make the sheng portion more appriciable. Until then, it’s a 1-2 punch in the face. But some people might be into that :)

I really underestimated how much shu I bought last month. Add to that my recent haul of 1/2 of the Kuura Esprit de Corps, an Old Way Tea Club, and some Mei Leaf white tea, and it seems like I’m pretty well-prepared for the teapocalypse. Civilian, like Lesser Evils, is another small batch shu production by W2T that is available in mini cakes, which spurred my purchase of it. This production brings more of what I expect out of a strong shu than what I drank last night, with earthy notes that are on the middle and tip of the tongue. I would still consider this easy drinking, with an oily mouth feel and vanilla taste profile, but I think there’s just enough here to take this tea to the next level as opposed to Lesser Evils.

All the way back in August, when my dad asked me what I wanted for my birthday I sent him a link to white2tea’s black tea page and he picked some out for me. It took a while for the tea to arrive from China, and I’m just getting around to reviewing some of these teas. It’s interesting that this is a cake, and that it was smoked, but I don’t find this much different from a regular lapsang souchon. Its not all that smoky and it is very smooth, so I could drink more of this. I steeped this western style, but I might try grandpa style with some of the remaining sample. It is certainly smooth enough and won’t get bitter as my last steep was over 20 minutes.

The mornings are beginning to get cold, and the sky is beginning to look gloomy. Autumn is here, and it’s time to start delving deeper into all the W2T shu material I purchased last month. Lesser Evils is marketed as a higher end small batch production, yet still marketed at a very reasonable price point of under 40 USD for an entire cake. I have been pleasantly surprised by the quality to price ratio that some of these have, even if there are some duds in the lineup.

The impression off the nose for the leaf is very light and confectionery, while the liquor evokes a rich vanilla cream. The taste is a little on the lighter side for my liking; I’ve come to really appreciate the dark and heavy shus that are almost a delicacy in that they are one of the few tea types that is truly inaccessible for some. It reminds me of a stripped down version of Mei Leaf’s Milk Float Nomad from a few years back, an excellent gong ting shu production with lots of golden buds but also almost double the price. Indeed, it lacks the richness of the higher-tier Mei Leaf shus, but again, price goes a long way especially in these current times.

I would say the main thing this shu brings to the table is accessibility. It is a very inoffensive production of this tea type, and is easily drinkable. However, it lacks the special character that would warrant special mention. It is like drinking a glass of warm milk, but instead of putting you to sleep it will keep you awake. I’m aware this is a characteristic of higher-grade puerhs, but I’ve had some pretty darn good material, and I came away from this session feeling pretty meh. It’s still good for the price point though.

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DPkCGTwEs5T/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-2IicaWmQY

7g dragon ball in a 110ml glazed gaiwan at 205F.

Steam: Pinesmoke and fruit, surprisingly. And a hint of zoo smell.

Rinse (10s): gold-brown-orange color. Sipping tastes brothy, like a watery tomato soup almost, not quite as smoky as I’d expected. Honestly not at all the taste I expected in general. Lid aroma is also tomato-y.

Steep 1 (10s): Liquor is a light orange. Tomato note is up front. Smoke in the mid/back. Theres some other flavors in there, mostly savory.

Steep 2 (15s): Liquor is pumpkin orange. Lid aroma still has the strong pumpkin note. Still strong tomato note, bit of smoke, some fruit notes in the background.

Steep 3 (20s): Dark pumpkin orange liquor. Lid aroma same. I feel like I’m going crazy with how much this just tastes like tomato soup to me.

Steep 4+: The flavor isnt evolving much. I don’t know if there’s something up with my tastebuds this morning but It just tastes like a tomato tea, so I’m going to stop taking notes.

Overall: I don’t think I’ve ever had a tomato note in a tea before. It’s not bad but I’m not sure it’s my thing? It almost confuses me. I was expecting more of the Yunnan black chocolate note.

Brewed gongfu in a 120ml yixing dedicated to sheng, starting at 195F, planning to move up to 205 later.

Steam scent: Honey and flowers/rose(?)

Rinse (15s): Liquor is orange-green, a bit cloudy. No aroma from the pouring out the fair cup. Pot aroma is young floral sheng and a tobacco note. Tea is still reasonably compressed. Sipping the rinse is mostly water and vague floral sheng.

First steep (15s): Liquor is gold-orange. Pot aroma is citrusy, tobacco, floral notes futher back. Tea is mostly loosened, still a bit of self adherence. Flavor: Bit astringent, light honey floral flavors.

Second steep (10s): Pot aroma: lemon-citrus. Liquor is gold-orange. Flavor deepens a bit, less astringency with the shorter steep. Flavor is lemon-floral sheng, mild sweetness. Previous steep has more honey, this steep is a bit more floral-hay ish.

Third steep (12s): Liquor is gold-orange, maybe a touch lighter. Lid aroma is similar, lemon-floral-tobacco. Flavor: Astringency up again. Honey-floral notes are more forward in this steep

Fourth steep (15s): Same color, pot aroma is almost same, maybe a bit deeper. Flavor has balanced astringency, slightly deeper flavor is a bit rounder this steep, similar notes

Fifth steep (20s): Same color. Flavor is less astringent, the body takes precedence – same floral sheng notes with a bit of honey in the background.

6th steep (30s): Slightly lighter color, slightly lighter flavor.

7th steep (30s, up to 205F): Color is vibrant gold. Pot aroma mostly floral with some lemon in the back. Flavor is less bright, makes the florals less prominent, with a bit more honey and hay.

8th steep (60ish?): Brain farted on this steep and likely over steeped it. Liquor is again vibrant gold. Flavor is surprisingly not that astringent. Bright notes are even more supressed.

9th steep (60s): Slightly lighter gold. Flavor lightening up – both less astringency and less body.

Going to do a couple more steeps but I think the tea is on the way down now!

Overall – pretty decent sheng, nothing mind blowing. A Little on the astringent side – I guess at 5 years of age, it’s at the “awkward” stage, but still enjoyable. Mostly floral with a bit of honey and lemon-citrus.

Brewing gongfu in a glaized 110ml gaiwan at boiling.

Steam: Smells like Shou Spirit.

Rinse (15s): Liquor a little darker than pumpkin orange. Sip: Watery shou – wood note sticks out, and an assortment of complex warm tones.

Steep 1 (15s): Lid aroma: wow! I’m not sure how to describe it. In the background is typical shou, but something different is really there. Like graham cracker and dough, and something else I cant put my finger on. Never had a lid aroma like that before. The tea in the gaiwan is still loosely compressed, so sitll opening up. Liquor is opaque brown with a hint of orange. Taste is dominated by a fresh dough note, with a cherry wood in the mid field, and molasses in the background.

Steep 2 (16s): Lid aroma: Bread and a hint of chocolate. Liquor: Stale blood brown-crimson, almost opaque. The tea is thick and soupy. The fresh dough steps back to level with some of the other midtone shou notes. Earthy, hint of wet soil, molasses, maybe a hidden cacao.

Steep 3 (20s): Lid aroma: Same. Liquor: Same, shade darker. Taste is similar, dough going further back, dark warm notes coming further up front, molasses and caco. My fiance, coming in blind, said it reminded her of the beach, like the aftertaste of a shimp tempura. I don’t eat that, so I wouldnt know what that means :P

Steep 4 (23s): Liquor: almost black. Slight astringency on the back of the throat. The notes have generally kept similar but on an evolving trajectory.

Steep 5 (35s): Liquor: blood black. Similar notes, Theres maybe abit more sweetness. The mouthfeel is still thick. warm dark notes, earth, bit of cherry wood, molasses

Steep 6 (50s): Liquor – dark brown-crimson – basically lightened up a tad. Similar notes though they have shifted and evolved a bit in this steep. Wood and leather is a bit more noticable. Still slightly sweet and thick,

Steep 7 (1:10), Steep 8 (1:40): Brew is slowly lightening, but mostly containing a simlar tasteprofile – I can tell its starting to go on its way out

going to do a 9-10 bute I think the tasting notes are over :)

Overall: a really enjoyable shou at the low-mid price range from w2t ($50/200g cake). Very dark, good fall winter tea. Mild sweetness, even more mild bitterness. Its just an overall solid shou with great base flavor and reasonable complexity.

Raw Pu-erh. It started out very fresh and floral forward with a smooth buttery finish. Then the next steeping, the bitterness started to come out and it become more astringent and the floral notes really really popped out. As you keep steep, the floral notes become subdued and it becomes smooth again and the freshness comes forward again

Yet another one of the many W2T teas I sampled for this winter, largely shus but this one presents itself as a bit of an oddball. It’s a sheng and shu mix; the idea on its own is a novel one, bordering on the sacrilegious, but I was open to giving it a shot. Jamrock Steady is designed to mimic the profile of an expensive aged sheng, and it is in this pursuit that it falls flat. The first few steeps, where the shu component is most evident, tastes a lot like Mei Leaf’s Playground Rendezvous, an experimental shu which was fermented in kombucha. I was not a fan of that tea, even though it presented an interesting flavor profile which reminded me of the dark colored Airborne gummies that I used to snack on (yes haha) as a kid.

After the first few infusions, the sheng takes precedence, and in that it does taste like an aged sheng, but a wholly unimpressive one. It was an interesting concept, but one I doubt should be tried again. Best to classify this one in the wacky tea experiments category and move on.

Ugh, I lost my tasting notes about 3 steeps in because I accidentally clicked somewhere.

I’ll try to summarize.

Brewed gongfu in a 170ml pot, boiling water.

Rinse (30s): faircup aroma was very bbq, with a funky note in the back. Sipping the rinse was bbq smoke and old books

Steep summary (20s, 35s, 50s, 80s): More or less start with bbq smoke dominant, old books, with herbal-woody incense in the back, and with each steep, the smoke steps back and the incense steps forward. The old books note moves much further back by 3rd steep. Liquor mostly dark brown, almost black on second steep, more brown amber on 3rd. Lid aromas pretty consistent with smoke and herbal-woody incense. spicy back-of-throat note in the aftertaste.

Later steeps (1:30, 2:30, death steep): More of the same flavor profile, just not as heavy bodied.

Overall: Really solid daily drinker if the idea of a smoked shou sounds appealing. Given the affordable cake price, I’d highly consider it just as a daily drinker stock that’s fairly unique in what it offers. Not rated higher due to lack of complexity/evolution in steeps, but there’s a time and place for everything.

Brewed gongfu in a 110ml yixing (sheng dedicated), 205F/96C

Rinse (30s): Liquor is a golden yellow. Fair cup aroma after pouring out smells sweet young-sheng. Lid aroma is similar, bright, vegetal, an unexpected toasty note, and florals in the background. A sip of the rinse is a little bitter (was a longer rinse to be fair), honey and floral notes, and a fruit somewhere in there. Inside the pot, the tea has opened just about fully – I cracked the dragon ball before entering it.

First steep (10s): Lid aroma is floral-vegetal with that toasty note, smelling strongly of stale cut flower stalks. Color is a similar gold, maybe with a touch more orange this time. Flavor is on the warm side, floral, honey, a spice note. There’s a fair bit going on and I don’t have the skill to parse it all out. A bit of astringency still in this short steep, but not problematic – I’m sure some would consider it enjoyable. The after taste has a distinct characteristic wit ha bit of cooling sensation on the tong, but not in the throat.

Second steep (15s): Color is now closer to orange, a sort of ocher-orange. Lid aroma retains that young sheng floral-vegetal scent, though the toasty note is gone in favor of a syrup-sweet note. Astringency has stepped up almost dominating the flavors. Behind it is a similar warm vegetal-floral bouquet familiar to young sheng. Not as much spice note as last steep. The floral note is sharper.

Thirs steep (12s): Color is a similar orange-ocher. Lid aroma is similar but leaning further into a warm-sweet territory. Flavor is warmer with a hint of citrus mixed into the vegetal-floral bouquet. Not quite as astringent this steep, but still prominent.

Fourth steep (15s): Color is back to gold, slightly pale. Flavor is more balanced with the astringency

(went for 8+ steeps)

I’m going to give up on tasting notes to focus on my morning – Overall: a fine sheng, but nothing that impresses me too much. I could see it ageing well, and when I drink my other sample ball, I will likely try steeping at a lower temperature to see what comes out, to lower astringency in favor of the other flavors. The astringency has made the tea a bit less interesting than I’d prefer, inspite of using a seasoned yixing to brew it.

Brewing gongfu in a 110ml glazed gaiwan at full boil. Was curious to try out some higher grade shou. While I’ve had quite a bit of shou, I’m still developing my tasting palate, so my ability to parse notes is not the most. I’m curious to try this again later as I develop more.

Steamed scent after warming the gaiwan: Deep earthy notes with a hint of fruit in the back. Not even a hint of bad storage scent. Definitely a shou in scent though!

Rinse (15s): Lid aroma is not particularly powerful – just getting shou, maybe with a bread note. Liquor is pumpkin orange. The cake is fairly compressed, so the tea still has yet to open up. Sipping the rinse reveals a soil and leather flavor, but fairly watery as expected.

1st steep (15s): Lid aroma is earthy shou and butter. Color has darkened a shade, in between burnt orange and pumpkin. Leaves in the gaiwan still remain somewhat compressed. Flavor is warm, lightly earthy, with some mid-notes I cant yet place. The flavor is still light. I’m getting the sense that this is on the lighter side of shou fermentation, which perhaps will allow the underlying leaf to reveal its character vs pure fermentation notes?

2nd steep (20s): Lid aroma same. Liquor is now a maroon-brown, like the shade of a patina’d brown leather chair. The body of the tea has deepened a step. What’s interesting is I don’t get a dominant note like many teas, but instead, there’s a diaspora of notes in the mid range and its really hard to tease them apart even though I can sense they’re there. It’s not so typical shou, though the character is all there. It’s earthy, buttery, little bit of fruit and nut, light leather aftertaste.

3rd steep (25s): The tea remained loosely compressed, so I fused with it a bit to get it to come apart more, as I prefer to hit the body of my tea earlier before I lose steam in tasting and have to focus on other tasks. Lid aroma is earthy and leathery, a slight fish scent, and a bit of sawdust. Liquor is an opaque dark brown leather color. Flavor is deep with more savory fruits, butter, leather in the back, light dough note. Theres a camphor/woody note somewhere in there, but its mixed in the background somewhere.

4th steep (30s): Lid aroma same. Liquor is a similar dark brown, but with amber at the edges. Similar notes as the last steep – overall dark and earthy with a dark/savory fruit body, woody note comes forward with a bite of spice. Comparing to the previous steep, theres a more notable leather-spiciness to it. Butter note is pretty much gone.

5th steep (40s): Lid aroma same. Liquor is now dark amber rather than dark brown, still almost as opaque as the last two steeps. The leather spice note continues to come forward, with the savory fruit in the background. Comparing ti the previous steep, the spice note is more forward.

6th steep: (50s): Lid aroma and liquor similar. Flavor has a bit more spice and incense in it than the last steep. Comparatively the previous steep was fruitier.

7th steep (60s): Got a bit distrcted at this point,

8th steep (~70s): Color has lightened a shade. Flavor is flattened a bit in complexity, bringing it to a more typical shou territory, but not watery or dying out just yet. More or less tastes like an earthy shou.

9th steep (2m): I’m out of time so thought I’d push a final steep. In spite of this, the color is back to the 2nd steep sort of pumpkin-burnt orange and is no longer opaque. Tasting note follows a similar trend from last steep – most of the complexity is gone, giving way to typical shou territory with a prominent but not excessive bready shou note.

Overall: Really great shou. I’m not sure I have the discernability at this point in my journey to justify the cake price, as the base experience is not exactly mind blowing, but I can see why the complexity of flavor would be particularly enjoyable for soeone with a more discernable palate. Still very nice quality nonetheless!

I’m a sucker for heavier shu puerhs with exotic profiles, from the antique to the woody. Camphornought, like white2tea’s Lumber Slut, is said to fit the profile of the latter. Camphor is a compound found in many species of trees, such as eucalyptus, which can be found on many pastures in my part of California. While these trees are not native and should be uprooted due to their penchant for being highly flammable, I still enjoy the smell of walking in a grove of them.

Camphornought is one of the best shus that I’ve tasted from W2T yet (admittedly, it’s not that many, I still have many to try over the winter). It’s very dark, has a strong body, and brings the woody notes as advertised. Immediately off the nose I smelled the old wooden fireworks stands which used to pop up in my town before the Fourth of July before they were banned due to forest fire concerns (well-warranted). There are the marks of a conventional shu puerh, such as the lingering baked starchy sweetness, but the smell of a Pacific Northwest rainforest every time you smell the wet leaf takes the cake. I only got minis of this one, but I may have to invest in a cake… or two… or three.

Brewed gong fu in a glazed 110ml gaiwain at boiling.

This is my second try at a w2t smoked tea, first was firebat, so I imagine I’ll be contrasting that (which was so ash-y that it was hard to enjoy until the later half)

Cup aroma after heating the cups then putting tea inside: Pine smoke, deep forest in the background

Rinse (15s): Lid aroma isnt as smoke dominant as fire bat, which is promising, but nonetheless the smoke note is the dominant note. Tea has moistened but not fully opened up. Liquor is orange-brown, not clear but not muddy

1st steep (15s): Lid aroma is about the same, with a foresty note lingering in the back. Liquor color is burnt orange, not fully opaque, but next steep will probably be. In the light the same not-muddy-but-not-clear. Taste: Not as smokey as firebat, not with its strong ash note, which is very welcome. Actually a really nice smoke note in comparison. That said, the smoke note is dominant for sure. There are kind of typical dark shou notes lingering behind it escaping definition, but not particualrly bread-y like some shou. Almost kind of liek a barbecue.

2nd steep (15s): Lid aroma remains the same. Liquor has darkened – mostly black-brown like a dark leather sofa. Flavor has depened, but still a smokey barbecue up front, with the shou notes in the back coming forward a bit more. The flavor is more full bodied than the last steep and honestly quite delicious – much more like what I expect of a smoked puer compared to firebat

3rd steep (15s): Lid aroma same, liquor a shade lighter, looking like a dark amber amulet. Flavor: More or less the same profile, not as full bodied as the last steep. Maybe a slight spice note coming forward?

4th steep (25s): Lid aroma same, liquor dark brown. Smoke note has stepped back a bit now, revealing more of a wood note – bit of pine but not strongly pine.

5th steep (45s): Lid aroma is soft smoke with, interestingly, a seafood aroma (but not like bad fishy puer?). Liquor is a dark maroon-brown, still not as dark as 2nd steep. Wood, soil, forest, smoke and burnt incense in the distance.

6th steep (60s): Same as last time, color same. Flavor is a bit more watery, and I’m actually getting a slight shou bread note. Still smoke around the edges

7th steep (1:30): Lighter color – tea is on its way out. Very light astringency, flavor is petering, but smoke is almost gone, giving lingering shou notes.

Did a couple more long steeps but nothing notable developed

Overall – Actually quite enjoyed this, but I tend to like smoked teas. I was shocked with how much I disliked firebat, and was worried the other w2t smoked samples I got would suffer the same fate, but alas not! That said, it is very smoke-dominant (on the bbq side), and I kind of wish there was at least one other strong semi-dominant note to share with the smoke. So far this is at the top of my running for picking up a cake, but I have many more smoked samples to try out :)

Brewed gong fu in a 170ml unglazed interior teapot at boiling.

Bought this cake blind based on all the really positive notes on it. Not expecting it to blow my mind, but I don’t mind having a solid shou in my cupboard. The cake smells woody and slightly musty, which concerns me slightly, but thats somewhat common with puer

Rinse: cup aroma after feeding to my tea pets is like a distant campfire, not too smoky though. Liquid is a transparent red-orange

1st steep (15s, ~65% full since the tea hasnt opened yet): still orange-red, not as transparent. Pot aroma is like old books. The tea hasnt opened up yet still, which is apparent in the flavor – shou notes, but a bit wattery

Steep 2 (17s, full): Color deepens to a blackened orange. Not completely opaque, but getting close. Pot aroma is old books and tibetan incense. The flavor is still curiously a bit light. The tea still hasnt fully opened up in the pot, so I think that’s part of it. mostly just distant shou notes, but not really bready at all.

Steep 3 (25s): Color is basically opque black-brown, burnt orange at the edges. I jostled the leaves a bit in the pot with my finger to encourage them to separate a bit before this steep. Flavor is finally remarkable – the musty scent note reveals itsself in flavor, spread amongst maybe a soil and sandalwood with an incense spice. A wood note in the mid level. Not at all bready in contrast to the shou I had yesterday.

Steep 4 (30s, 70% full): Color is a shade lighter, in between steep 3 and 2. Flavor has the wood note coming forward more in this steep. Musty notes have mostly moved to the back. Overall flavor is dark, wood notes (not pine or cedar, maybe oak)

Steep 5 (50s, full): Getting the sense I need to push the tea a bit based on the last color. Wood and incense/sandalwood notes forward here, but flavor has weakened.

Steep 6 (1-2 minutes maybe): Color is a shade lighter still. wood and spicy incense notes forward, no must.

Steep 7 (long time): Color is dark amber, but not as dark as the darkest steep. Considering I let it steep for around 10 minutes, I think the tea is done here. The tasting notes are a bit stronger than the last steep, same wood and incense spice, oak further in the back

Overall: A good non-bready shou, which is nice to have in my stock, but honestly, at least from this first experience, not remarkable. I’m not upset for buying it especially at the price I got it, but I might not have opted for it in search of something a bit more compelling. I saw a lot of people talk about smoke notes, and maybe its because I drink a fair number of actually smoked teas, but I didn’t detect any smoke apart from distant notes in the pot aroma. To be clear its not bad in any way, just I think a bit over hyped in the grand scheme, maybe properly hyped for the price-to-quality ratio if you don’t have a lot of shu already

Brewed gongfu in a 170ml pot with unglazed interior at boiling.

Rinse (10s, half full): dark orange/amber tone

1st steep (15s): Pot aroma is shou with a maple syrup note. Color is a couple shades darker than the rinse. Flavor is similar – syrup/waffles, with the typical bready shou note in the mid/back. I havent tried the w2t waffles just yet, but if you told me this was it, I’d believe you

2nd steep (20s): Color is similar – dark amber, close to fully dark brown in the center of my glass fair cup, the edges are burnt orange. Flavor is similar but slightly darker – the bread dough note is more dominant than the syrup note now.

3rd steep (20s): Color similar – shade darker, maybe slightly more red note. Flavor is bread dominant, syrup in the background, and maybe something like a dark cherry note in the background.

4th steep (30s): Pot aroma still has the sweet maple syrup note. Color is a shade or two lighter. Same with flavor, although I think its revealing more of the background notes that I cant quite place yet. I think I need to push the tea a bit more

5th steep (45s, less water): Darker color again. ran out of water in my kettle so I only about half filled. Despite this, the flavor is still diminishing – mostly shou notes getting on the light side

6th steep (~75s): lightening again, I think this tea is just about done – back end of shou type notes

7th steep (didn’t count, around 2-3m): Lighter color yet, just normal amber, slightly darker than the rise steep I think.

Overall opinion: I started a bit more excited, but was disappointed that it quickly steeped into typical bready shou territory. To be clear, its a perfectly good (not excessively) bready shou, no bad notes at all. Just nothing spectacular to pull me into buying a cake whenever they reproduce it.

Gongfu brewed in a 170ml teapot at 205F. I cracked the ball in half to help with opening faster, since I’m brewing at a slightly lower ratio

Rinse: transparent white

1st steep (~12s): transparent yellow, not too pale. Aroma is about what you expect especially if you’ve smelled the tea ball – smoked pine, with a bit of sweetness in the back. Taste: campfire and tobacco ash. Has a slight burn sensation in the back of the throat. I actually quite like smoked teas, but even this first steep is pushing my limit – not bad, but the smoke note is fairly bitter with the ash flavor.

2nd steep (22s, lowered temp to 195F): color has deepened to a golden yellow/ocher. Scent is less smoky than before but definitely still plenty of smoke. Much more bitterness/astringency in this steep, though not enough to ruin it entirely. Just has a very strong bite with the smoke notes and lingering subtle sweetness. Tastes kind of like what I imagine it would be like if I put out a burning stick of palo santo on my tongue.

3rd steep (16s): Slightly paler ocher with a hint of green. Lower brew time was a good idea, it backed off the astringentness. Much more enjoyable, but the ash note is still a challenging flavor.

4th steep (20s, temp back to 205): Pale ochre. Smoke and ash as stepped down one notch, to my pleasure.

5th steep (25s): Same color. Scent has smoke stepped back, giving way to the smell of an lakeside pine cabin. Bite in the flavor has returned, ash is more forward than smoke, but both have stepped down considerably, giving way to indiscernable vegetal notes

6th steep (30s): Slightly paler. Dare I say this tea is finally actively enjoyable. Ash is mostly gone leaving way for smoke with a background of sheng notes, which is more of what I was looking for in a smoked tea.

7th steep (40s): Same color. I think the tea is petering out a bit – same notes, a little bit of bite and astringency from the added time I think.

8-10th steep (longer brews): did the last few steeps over a few hours for maybe 1-3 minutes each – similar notes to the last few steeps – softened flavor profile that makes it a bit more enjoyable than the first half.

Overall: This is an oppressively smoked tea. I love smokiness, but the ash note is so strong for the first 4-5 steeps that its like drinking an ash tray with notes of smoked pine, with little else appreciable. The back end of steeps has the smoke calm down and is actually enjoyable, but I think there are other teas out there that start here, rather than you having to crawl through an ashen warzone to get there.

Got a coin of this in a pack I ordered from white2tea – I was supposed to get a stack of coins, but they only shipped one – great customer service, they refunded the amount and offered free shipping for my next order!

Brewed gongfu at 205F in a 110ml glazed gaiwan.

Rinsed once to let the tea open up, but the steep was already a little bit darker than I expected

First steep (10-15s) is a golden color, slightly pale. Notes of hay and farm animal (?) its quite noticeable and I don’t think I like it. It tastes like a petting zoo.

Second steep (10-15s) deeper gold – surprisingly deep color for a white tea, Same weird farm note up front, but with honey/honeysuckle forward in the mix, and a very distant floral note

Third steep (10s) gold color again, a bit light due to shortening the steep. The farm note has gone further back, hay and honey are further to the front, again with a floral note in the distance. The coin is still surprisingly packed at the core, although a lot of the leaves have shed off and opened.

Fourth steep (20s): Deep golden hue again. Farm note is almost gone, thank god. Starting to become a nice white tea on the deeper side of notes as opposed to just floral/crisp like many white teas. At this point the note is prominently honey/honeysuckle, with a bit of hay in the distance.

5th steep (30s): same hue. Farm note fully gone, but also the taste is starting to fade, despite the color remaining the same. tad more dryness/astringency

6th steep (40s): deeper orange hue now. The coin remains compact, which I think is preventing the tea from unlocking all of its flavor. Pried apart much of it now by hand, we’ll see how it affects the next steep. Despite the deeper hue, the flavors are fading.

7th steep (40s): Flavor has returned now that I manually pried the leaves open a bit. No major change of notes – mostly honey with hint of florals

8th steep (50s): High notes are now missing, still mostly honey-floral

9th steep (70s): I think the tea is officially over, getting the “kicked tea” flavor.

Overall, not my favorite, but it did better than I initially thought once the “petting zoo” note faded out. If you’re looking for a white tea that’s on the darker side of the flavor profile, this would work. Personally, the farm note is not quite worth the rest, I’d rather drink a white tea that’s nice all the way through.

The last of my green tea haul from W2T that I did earlier this April (and had to wait over a month to receive due to tariff issues). With summer coming to a close, it’s time to clear out the rest of my greens and get ready to lean into those heavy puerhs and yanchas for the winter. I saved the best for last – a high quality picking of Guizhou’s Mao Jian, dubbed mao jian king.

Right off the back, some excellent umami and edamame sweetness. Despite it being so late in the season (this is a PQM green) it still tastes fresh and has a youthful, exuberant character. You have to really focus to pick up the more vegetal notes, a quality I prefer in green tea, and something which really sets apart the Chinese greens from the much more popular (at the moment) Japanese greens which are steamed as opposed to roasted.

I recall this being an expensive tea, and the less expensive alternatives (he had a gan lu which was comparable and while still pricey, not as much so) held up to it well. Despite not being known for green teas, I feel like W2T nailed this limited release and I’m excited for its return next Spring.

7g Mini. Gongfu in a 120ml gaiwan. Started with 180F but upped to 195 F second steep onwards.

My floral and fruit palate is not very developed, so I have a hard time being specific on tasting notes, sorry.

Rinse: almost transparent, very faint greenish yellow. Ball remained pretty tight.

1st steep (~10s): Looks a bit more green-yellow in liquor but still quite pale. The mini ball was still quite packed, and playing with it with my finger doesnt help to loosen it at all, its as hard as a rock. Flavor has familiar yunnan white notes – kind of floral and sweet, but I know the tea has much more to offer once it actually opens up

2nd steep (15s): tea ball is finally just starting to open up, but 50% of it is still packed tight. Liquor is proper golden, slightly pale, just a hint of green. Lid aroma is floral and sweet, touch of rose and another flower I can’t quite put my finger on. Taste is similar to the first steep but with a bolder step.

3rd steep (15s): I have never seen a compressed tea have such difficulty opening up! It opens further with some light prying, but the center is still practically glued shut. Liquor is a step darker in gold, but is not as dense as I know it could be. Lid aroma has the floral note even stronger. Flavor is still quite floral, and I’m starting to get a slight fruit note, like a citrus with something non-citrus. Much better compared to the previous steep

4th steep (25s): Lid aroma has softened to something like a floral baby powder. Liquor is now looking proper gold. Tea ball opens up a bit more with some light prying, but its still quite dense. Thinking of pushing the next steep. Flavor has deepened – its now a bit more to the back of the throat, I don’t have the word for the note, but it tastes more “orange” – the color, not the fruit. There’s a slight dryness in the texture, but it’s not bitter at all.

5th steep (40s): Lid aroma has stepped away from the bright floral and into the deeper “orange” colored note. Liquor has also deepened to gold-orange. I finally have opened the ball – the last interior leaves are still dry, stiff, and white! the rest of the leaves have become green-to-purple. Taste – floral note is there, but back seat, making way for the deeper note as the frontrunner. There’s a slight honey. Mouthfeel has thickened – less dry. No sign of bitterness.

6th steep (45s): Lid aroma is now fully deep, with a green note – floral is there but much further back. Liquor is now proper halloween orange. Taste is deep and a new floral note has emerged – a powdery floral.

7th steep (45s): Lid aroma has lost all the high notes. Color is still a Halloween orange. Deeper “orange” tasting notes reign, slight note of pear.

8th steep (1m): Same color as the last few steeps. I swear each steep less liquid comes out – more mass of the tea finally expanded? The taste has taken a surprising turn – honey notes with a new floral flavor emerges, a less bright floral note than the start. Tea remains medium juicy, no bitterness or astringency in this steep

9th steep (1.5m): I’ve limited experience in compressed whites, but I’ve certainly never what a white steep this much before! Perhaps the first 3 steeps don’t count. but even then. Lid aroma – the deeper note is now giving way to the vegetal note that typically indicates to me the tea is done. Liquor is the same orange color – given the steep time, I think this tea is finally on its way down. Taste – Astringency has stepped in a bit, although this is my fault for pushing the time out significantly from the last steep. Similar notes to the last steep – a deep and floral note with some honey and pear.

10th steep (1.5m): Very slight lightening of liquor. Tastes is now vegetal-floral, with the vegetal note come much closer to the front. Less astringent than the last steep. Almost slight spice note creeps in the background.

11th steep (1m50s): Last steep since I don’t feel like reheating more water. More vegetal-flower taste. Reminds me of the stale aroma of my father’s flower shop – a vegetal-flower aroma from cut stems and petals on the floor, both fresh and baked into the floor over decades. It doesnt have quite the vegetal flavor of a tea that is “done” in my experience, but it’s getting close.

Leaf examination: green and purple medium sized leaves – 1 leaf 1 bud. A couple 2 leaves. Not an intense purple, some are more purple-brown, others are more green with purple edges.

Overall – Actually a really enjoyable white. Usually I have issues with white becoming bitter/astringent, particularly in later steeps, but this stayed bitter-free throughout. Any astringency was mostly my fault, and even then not anywhere near a problematic astringency – this tea is quite forgiving, I think. I am annoyed with how long it took to open up though – the first 3 steeps were less than stellar just for this, feeling like I was wasting time and hot water. I’d be willing to bet this would be better in cake format than this super compressed ball. Given the price, I don’t think you could go wrong with this if you’re looking for a daily drinker white – it’s not cheap, but its very good for its value, especially considering how much you can steep it for!