white2tea

Gongfu!

From a taste perspective, I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this tea. It comes off more like a rather thin tasting and lightly bodied ripe pu’erh with to me, and as someone who typically enjoys their ripe sessions very heavy-handed and intensely brewed, it’s hard not to immediately perceive this as somewhat watered down. The notes of the sheng is rather lost to me, as well. With that said, I came to two different conclusions the longer I sat with this session and continued brewing. The first was that there was a very strong and grounding body-feeling to this session. Taste typically trumps all for me, but I just started feeling really GOOD as I drank this despite the milder tasting notes.

The second thing I landed on was this sense that this tea would actually probably be quite accessible to a new pu’erh drinker less familiar with shou or who had been turned off in the past by really intense earthy or woody tasting notes and “funky fermentation”, as weird as that might sound for such an experimental blend. The tasting notes I did get were really, really smooth and inoffensive with a bit of a sweet brown notes I’d characterize as carob or date-like. Probably a pretty safe way to dip your toes into the pu’erh world from a flavour standpoint!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DHZbpXMSLun/?img_index=2

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y993yWQUOfc&ab_channel=UnderTheRug

I had a gongfu session with this tea for the first time. I was pleasantly surprised by the texture. It felt thick and silky smooth. There were woody notes with a dark chocolate-like bitterness and a bit of sweetness on later steeps.

I took another Mini, probably my last one to steep.
At first I did a long rinse, I believe it was about 30 seconds long; and steeps were starting on 30 seconds too. I tossed the rinse out and let it absorb the humidity for about 10 minutes.

After first steep, the dragonball was already broken up. And taste wise it was mellow sheng, with stonefruits taste, a little astringent, like unripe stonefruits are. There were hints of bitterness.

Next steeps were equally tasty, with similar flavour profile; but somehow there wasn’t much to focus on this tea. It was just a good, basic sheng. When steeping long, astringency was a little lingering; but that’s pretty much expected I guess.

Grandpa style, smells malty and faintly reminiscent of golden needle Yunnan, but tastes brighter, fruitier and less chocolatey than those teas. Really does remind me a bit of jam. May have to order more of this, seems like a steal.

Grandpa Style!

This tea is thick and oily with a slick mouthfeel and bold aroma that’s both buttery and a little more savory and brothy. The heaviness of liquor is really satisfying with a subtle, more medicinal undertone and slight salinity to the more woody finish. However, there’s also a creeping sweetness that seeks to build sip over sip. Quite bread-like but more of a brioche or sweet bread, in the way a hot cross bun or Hawaiian roll would be with notes of honey tightly weaved in. It’s still buttery as well and combined with the aforementioned notes of brioche, it’s sort of giving laminated pastry!? Like, as if this ripe pu’erh was some type of savory leaning croissant. It’s unique, and tasty, and very well suited for a day spent cozied up indoors!!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DGq_K8SS-Yh/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhP2-qYmfjg&ab_channel=DavidDeanBurkhart

This tea has notes of chocolate with some fruitiness. It has a bit of dark chocolate-like bitterness to it.

The time has come for this Man, Gingerbread Man. Tomorrow he would celebrate his third birthday (pressing date).

I used a whole mini in my gaiwan and steeped with various steeping time. Mostly around 30 seconds, with rather small increments. I wasn’t totally focused to the tea this time, but this tea is rather forgiving.

There is a thick mouthfeel; strong dark shu flavours, and while it is not gingerbread in any way, it is rich and a kind of sticky. I can’t point out any particular flavours, but it made me feel cozy and it was warming me up.

Enjoyable and easydrinking shou and off any funky and off flavours. Definitely it was worth 80 cents I paid for it. Would I get more of this? Maybe… it’s not so expensive and it’s drinkable.

Maybe my expectations for this Mini were too high, maybe I was preparing it wrong…

This is fine tea, and I was steeping it with several 30 seconds steeps (including rinse), and many longer ones. The dragon ball never fell apart; but keeps releasing nice and slightly astringent flavours typical somehow for sheng. And here comes the twist; yes, it’s definitely astringent and there are unripe stone fruit notes; I would describe them as unripe apricots… but there is, in my opinion, slight smokiness (or it’s roastiness — ?). That switches the flavour a little into oolong territory. Later steeps were definitely more oolong like.

I used whole litre in my thermos and honestly, I have to say, this is unique tea but somehow I feel it should be even a bit better. Or it’s again Yancha like and it seems I am not so big fan of those.

I would like to hear other tea enthusiasts thoughts. But this tea doesn’t seems to be for me.
That’s me problem, not tea problem.

I’m drinking it Western style today in a big ol’ mug, and it’s been interesting. A little bit of a lighter body than expected, with top notes a little on the more dark and fruity side but with a bit of molasses in the mix, too. Raisins, dates, fig jam, and jujube. The body is smooth almost to a fault, with clean earthy notes and a woodiness that makes me think of the pine-y sawdust smell of my grandfather’s workshop. It’s not bad at all, but I am finding it just a little bit flat. The fruit could be richer or more syrupy, and the earth and wood notes more dank or mineral-rich. Instead, everything comes off a touch too polished. Perhaps it’s the brewing method, or maybe it needs to keep chilling for a while before it’ll come into its own. For right now, though, this ripe pu’erh is really just leaving me rather “whelmed” feeling. Has anyone else tried this? What were your thoughts?

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

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc1MzpV1XcI&ab_channel=IndiETrap

Gongfu!

Such a soft, silky mouthfeel with a flavour that sits on the line between creamy fresh churned butter, White Rabbit candy, and coconut milk and more cooling, crisp cucumber pulp and skins. With a bit of age on it now, I find this brews up with a bit more body and some deeper, slightly brown sugar tinged peachy and nectarine-like stonefruit notes in the mid sip. It’s still that irresistibly smooth and milky flavour that stays with you post swallow, though, and makes for such a calm way to ease into the day. But seriously, how has it been four years already!? It feels like just a few months ago that this white tea was pressed…

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DGWhDJ3SSQy/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrkAfTz2iYk&ab_channel=CoolBand

Gongfu!

This is a very, very thick and slick shou pu’erh with a virtually jet black liquor. We’re it not for the faintest tinged of red at the waterline, it would essential be like staring in an opaque black hole of steeped tea. Full-bodied, of course, but also really starchy and smooth with a sticky rice like body balanced out on either side by slightly bright and jammy red fruit top notes and more darkly sweet and nutty undertones. Maple sugar, pecans, raspberry jam like what would fill a jelly donut, but also a blanket of silken, grounding earthiness and pandan. Very comforting on this cold, stormy afternoon when I want nothing more than to be swaddled up inside with a cup of something warm and predictable.

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DGJNL5iyolb/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD611geCXGo&ab_channel=Rubblebucket

Grandpa Style!

I was feeling a white tea today, so I spent most of the afternoon sipping on a 2024 Nightlife Mini steeped up grandpa style! Nightlife has always been one of my favourite white tea productions that W2T routinely brings back, and this brew was no exception. Crisp, vegetal and so fresh tasting at first in a way that makes me think of green melons, grapes and cucumber pulp. Sort of cooling with a pleasant bit of green snap and sweetness. As the dragonball opens up I feel like the flavours get more brown and dense. Hints of caramelized sugars blended with the crunch of autumnal leaves. Always smooth, and just really pleasant to sit and sip with over an afternoon.

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DFd1ZzdyFS8/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68YcMOJ9dSQ&ab_channel=Hemlock-Topic

If there’s a tea I’ve been snoozing on, it’s almost certainly NOT Snoozefest. Today, I’m sipping on the most recent pressing, but there are eight years of W2T’s infamous sheng pu’erh cake spanning from 2017 up until last year’s 2024 pressing. The tea is very tasty and accessible given its aggressively affordable price point – if you’re fast enough to snipe one that is. Bright and snappy with fruitier top notes over a greener mid sip.

Taste aside, though, I find it ESPECIALLY interesting to look at the evolution of each year’s wrappers. If you know this cake, you probably associate it heavily with the colour pink, but it wasn’t until I was directly comparing today that I realized how soft and desaturated the shade on the 2024 wrapper is. And of course, the original feels almost naked compared to how busy others have been. My favourite is probably the 2021 wrapper, which is fifth up from the bottom in the second picture. The Peptobismal pink really speaks to me. 2019 was really great too, with the thick blue band around the center!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DFgX6jFSdLt/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHX3G7BjHyI&ab_channel=KendrickLamar-Topic

2022 Mini

First couple of steeps were rather mild/delicate while the ball was still pretty compressed. Mouth feel has a nice thickness to it.

By the third steep, everything had broken up and a strong vegetal flavor comes out and its kind of an unpleasant punch you in the face flavor.

Glad its done, will not be rebuying.

2022 mini

Really should stop expecting that I could make notes on anything on a Monday morning, regardless of how early I get into the office.

Mostly drunk cold because Monday, but I only have one mini left and I want to try to get something in.

Its ok. Not really my thing. Had an interesting flavor when it gets cold but I’m just not able to put a name to it. Gets a bit astringent when it gets cold too. I don’t think it was this noticeable when it was warm.

Grandpa Style!

This is one of the teas that I drank yesterday as part of my “Teas I Drink In a Day” round up and, to be perfectly honest, I was very disappointed in it. The description of it being like tomato soup is so interesting and it made me feel like this was either going to be thick and umami rich or have, like, an interesting balance between sweet, tangy, and savory notes. Just, like, something distinct. But instead I found it rather generically sweet and malty tasting and just a bit of an overall let down? It wasn’t unpleasant tasting, but somewhat flat and unexciting?

Maybe this just isn’t the best method to brew it. So, I’ll try and reserve judgement and keep a fresh and open mint until I can steep it gongfu…

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DFOY8GQSgUp/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ehd5-Xh5WBw&ab_channel=HaleyHeynderickx-Topic

Gongfu!

I found this a little more medium bodied with a more syrupy feeling liquor. It took a couple steeps for me to really start getting into this mini, but I eventually bought in for the more herbal and medicinal aftertaste alone. It was an interesting combination of very lightly cooling mint, pine-y juniper berry, and fresh dill, in particular on the exhale when it came to those more resinous tree sap notes. It’s been a while since I last had the original 2018 pressing of W2T’s Arbor Red, but for some reason my brain kept making a connection with that tea as I sipped on this one – but maybe a little less punchy and intense. I would be curious if they use material from the same regions…

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DFD-yqpSq2_/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezmu0fQGclg&ab_channel=MajakDoor

Gongfu!

It feels like it’s been a moment since I had a nice sheng session, so this morning I steeped up this newer sample I got in a recent order. I couldn’t really remember anything about how W2T had described this production so I was going in pretty blind, and I was pleasantly surprised by how soft, sweet, and fruity I found this sheng to be. Aside from a really fresh and slippery feeling liquor, it had pretty fleshed out feeling notes of candied lilac petals with a gentle, peachy, and floral undertone and just a bit of a crisp, vegetal finish. A bit like snow peas?? It definitely picks up a bit more body over the session, with some thicker stonefruit notes that almost seem to fold in that still fruity but slightly sharper note of peach or apricot skins as opposed to the flesh of the fruit. Definitely different from what I’d expected from the name, but I really, reaalllyyyy enjoyed this session. Just a great balance of body, mouthfeel, and tasting note progression!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DE-tBm7yah4/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJ3SpEonPtw&ab_channel=RITHO

When I got this recent W2T order in a lot of people told me I should prioritize tasting this tea specifically, and I can definitely see why. Though I don’t usually love when teas are this tightly compressed, it was worth the effort to pry a chunk off the bar because this is one heck of a smooth and velvety shou with really rich, chocolate-y notes to it. Definitely reminds me of somewhere between a double chocolate muffin and something just a little bit sweeter like a molten lava cake. Very dense and decadent, though!!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DE0gLaYSSoe/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE_dYOMxvf0&ab_channel=MaxFrost

Quick backlog impressions based on one ball.
Floral, vegetal green teaish notes, upfront sweetness. Low bitterness, astringency is higher when pushed. Light body, some texture byt not too much, no standout aftertaste. The best part for me was some mushroom and barnyardyr funk that showed up quite strongly in some steeps, reminding me of some lower Menghai area teas (but without the bitterness).

Grandpa Style!

I’m still slowly sampling my way through my most recent W2T order, with this 2024 Stagecoach ripe pu’erh mini up next on the list. I’ve brewed it up grandpa-style so that I can more casually sip away at it while reading the first volume of Dandadan. The tea is very thick, with heavy notes of wet forest undergrowth that make up the bulk of the sip alongside a fudgey chocolate note and a hint of sweet yet umami walnut with a lick of camphor on the backend. There’s just a bit of funk to the cup still, but certainly not enough to derail the otherwise very soothing, darkly sweet and earthy flavour composition. It’s got really good bones, so I’m quite excited to see how this one settles and further ages!

I really, really enjoyed the first season of Dandadan’s anime (both the dub and sub) and, since it’s going to be a while until season two, I thought I’d dive into the manga. It’s proven challenging to find the manga here in Quebec as the English volumes have been selling out so quickly, but I finally lucked out and snagged the first volume. So good! Gonna have to keep my eyes sharply peeled for restocks of the next couple volumes…

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DEnp6x8ye1z/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly7nFV6z-6Y&ab_channel=CallMeKarizma

Backlog

“A bitter cup of smoke and charcoal.” – January 3, 2025