white2tea

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!

First take on a mini (7g). Brewed gongfu in a 170ml teapot (unglazed Jingdezhen clay interior) on boiling.

Rinsed ~10s to open the leaves

1st steep (~20s) is a dark amber, but not as dark as shous can typically get.Mostly getting the camphor note – its a very woody shou, the backdrop is mostly typical shou notes

2nd steep (~40s) is a proper shou dark amber, not quite full darkness, but close. Camphor notes still reigning, but the flavor has deepened a bit, as expected on a second steep – notes of camphor and mid-ferment puerh

3rd steep (~45s, ~120ml) is about as dark maybe a bit darker. Spicier notes are coming out with a retained solid camphor

4th steep (~50s, ~120ml) – slightly lighter, I think I should increase the time on the next round. camphor and spice notes still up front

5th steep (~70s, ~120ml) – Similar notes, spicy notes have subsided, giving way to a more leathery note

6th steep (~90s, ~120ml) – back to a color slightly lighter than first steep. Mostly leather and camphor at this point, a bit light on taste

7th steep (long time 5-7min, full water) – decided to kill off the steep here, FWIW my teapot is a bit of a higher leaf/water than typical gongfu, so I tend to have less overall steeps since I brew a tad longer, but the volume works out about the same. Final notes: color is darker, a bit less than the darkest steep. The leather note has become dominant, with camphor behind it, and the rest of the typical shou notes pretty light in the background.

Bonus: I gave my GF a cup of steep 4 and 5 – she said it tasted like “a leathery chair in an old cabin, but in a good way” :)

Overall, a solid puerh that isn’t really on the bready side like a lot of shou I’ve had, which is a nice change of pace. I wasn’t blown away by it, but it was quite enjoyable. Bit lighter on the fermentation as well, but not at all like a young-mid sheng

Grandpa Style!

This white tea was exceptional. I feel like I’m reaching for white teas less and less lately. Probably the change in weather!? Because of that, though, it’s so much more important to make those sessions count. This was smooth with a rich, creamy mouthfeel and very soft and milky notes of marzipan, milk chocolate, shortbread, and cherry blossoms. Just a little toasty, but mostly lightly decadent with that gentle floral finish. Honestly, pretty unlike any other white teas I’ve had in recent memory and definitely one of the better “experimental” charcoal roasted offerings from W2T in my opinion!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DOonx9xkphu/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpXeMjVUrHc&ab_channel=TheWhats

I won’t lie, not too enthralled with the idea of smoked shu puerh. I’ve drank smoked lapsangs before and the smokiness dominates the tea in a way that makes it very one-dimensional and uninteresting. W2T has been making a lot of these smoked shu pressings lately so I assume they’re pretty popular with customers. Not willing to commit to a full cake of the stuff, I ordered a couple mini samples of the 2021 pressing of Smokeshou, one of the first experimental releases of this new tea style.

From the dry leaf, I figured the smokiness wouldn’t be too insane, but upon a rinse the smoke came out like a Northern California wildfire, ready to destroy my tastebuds. I tried really hard to smell the puerh but couldn’t come up with anything – oh brother. The first infusion was all smoke, not good, but the second infusion gave me a little window into the appeal of this tea. There was a little bit of puerh behind the smoke, enough to differentiate it from a lapsang. This is truly a winter tea, and I feel like I’m committing sacrilege by drinking it during the Californian indian summer hellscape. I could totally see myself sipping away at this on a freezing day, listening to some depressing slowcore or shoegaze while dreaming for warmer months. I wanted to hate this tea so bad, but in the end it left a favorable impression on me. Not something I’d drink everyday, but it definitely has its time and place.

Grandpa Style!

Did I pick up this raw pu’erh because oh how much I liked the wrapper artwork? Yes, yes, I did. Even if that was what initially, I still enjoyed steeping it up grandpa-style th drew me to it, it’s still be nice to sip on this afternoon though I have a feeling it would shine even better with different brewing parameters…

Even still, this was a pretty punchy tea with deeper fruity notes and a mostly pleasant bitter backend to the sip. Papaya came to mind, but a slightly more green and under ripe papaya that still has a bit of musky and resinous or “piney” quality to it alongside the creamy tropical sweetness. Juniper berries also kept popping up in my head as I sipped this one, too. It’s definitely very interesting. Sometimes, I really like sheng like this that have a balance of fruity and bitter, woody botanical notes, and it seems like there’s real promise to this one. But, I think it either needs a toouuucchhh more time to grow into itself or just a super different steeping style. Maybe both.

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DOekbuckp-6/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE0waEdE2Pw&ab_channel=WednesdayVEVO

Green grapes, with a hint of fermented fruit strength/alcohol, and maybe some osmanthus florals as well. Reminiscent of the Schedule White minis I recently tried, but much much much weaker. I really needed to search for these flavors. This is some weak and not very memorable tea.

I was sad to remember that I had a second mini to sample after I tried the first one, but I figured maybe the tea would redeem itself as they often do – My first impressions of a tea don’t always last. But now I think I can proclaim this tea as a real dud.

The potential is there, maybe, as like I said it shares characteristics with the wonderful Schedule White tea (which costs like seven or eight times as much but seems at least 20 times stronger). Maybe this is just a weak undesirable picking/flush or a bad growing season or something.

Beautiful and light black tea. Light black teas can sometimes seem awkward to me, as the lightness seems to defy everything I might want from a black tea. First flush Darjeelings and a few Yunnan black teas I have tried would be exceptions to this line of thinking. Anyways, that isn’t the case with this one.

The peachy stone fruit and nice syrupy sweet liquor impresses, and makes you forget how light it is. Light but still with some body to the tea. Some malty notes, but they sit mostly in the background. This is a black tea that drinks more like an oolong, for sure. Actually, I thought my first and second steeps (at 2 minutes and 3 minutes, respectively) were more like a white tea.

By my third steep at 4 minutes, the tea has thickened up and darkened quite a bit and I would say is more oolong-like. Also, a small amount of vegetal bite came out at this stage.

I grabbed this one because of the promised “cotton candy aromas,” and, while I don’t quite find cotton candy here, I am still enjoying the peachy fruit notes. At least we are in the right neighborhood.

Autumn and winter are fast approaching, and apart from a few sporadic heat waves, the summer here in California has been uncharacteristically cool. With that in mind, I found it time to splurge on some W2T material – I don’t buy from this vendor as much as the average loose leaf tea enthusiast in the West, mainly because of some bad past experiences with shipping. I won the shipping lottery this time however and received my tea in a little under two weeks (the last shipment took almost two months due to tariff uncertainty).

One of the many shu puerhs I ordered is Pretty Girls, a 2021 production which is marketed as a sweet and velvety tea. It doesn’t break the bank, and was one I got just to cast a wide net of the types of shu this vendor has to offer.

The taste notes of this tea lean largely on the side of baked, yeasty, and starchy notes. It does not explode in your mouth nor is the soup thick, but it is rather smooth. The color of the liquor at its peak is moderately dark, with some light passing through. All in all, the taste matches the pricing; it’s a decent tea that will give you the more accessible characteristics of a shu, at the expense of a truly memorable session.

I didn’t like it at first, but it grew on me. Strong tea that is smoky with a pretty typical apricot fruitiness, but also with savory/brothy notes, some minty herbal tingles, and some osmanthus florals. A good amount of vegetal bitterness, too. It was kind of overwhelming at first and these various elements seemed to be kind of at war with each other, but as I continue to drink it I’ve kind of gotten used to it and found I can enjoy it pretty well.

5.5g, 100 ml duanni

wet: sweet, nutty. light ferm? smells lighter than most shou

1. very bitter, and lingers. woody, background nutty choco. something like goji. a bit heady

2. bitterness. a bit of minty finish when cooled

3. sweet choco and bitter sides are not particularly well integrated. Both present, but disharmonious

4. lightening, more minty sweet in finish in edge that reminds me of oversteeped young sheng

5. woody

6. kill steep since color was lightening significantly. finish has some date/goji notes. Sure, there is some low ferm aged sheng taste, but why not just buy a 7581 with some age and call it a day. Stopped here.

lots of char at bottom of cup. initially brew was a little cloudy. material is mostly small leaves/tippy and choppy, a mix of colors. I really did not like this one, did not feel cohesive but maybe some people will really dig the pill-like bitterness. There is a lot fighting for your attention, and the bitterness does not resolve in an interesting way. It is just there. Maybe age will tie it all together, maybe it won’t. Some warming, very caffeinating. Sitting here seven hours later typing this, completely wired. Was absolutely not worth the $1.38/gram; would take the TWL curated 90s Kunming 7581 brick over this any day. Taishunhe’s 90s 7581 and others (have only tried the former’s) seem to be less heating, but taste wise fairly similar for the 7581 profile.

Underripe honeydew melon/melon rind and grassy notes for sure, as Roswell said. The tea is sweet but it has a fairly strong herbaceous bitterness to match. Maybe some tingles of white florals, but I can’t identify a particular flower. This tea is pretty engaging to sip on, but not sure I’d repurchase at this price point.

Persimmons and an interesting herbal note of anise, this tea does have a good amount of citrus bitterness. Might be too bitter for some, but I feel it is balanced by a decent level of sweetness. The faintest whispers of smoke. Notable maybe for the licorice-like anise note, which I haven’t found in any other young shengs yet, but overall I think the tea is somewhat lacking in complexity and maybe a little boring. It is a strong solid cup of young sheng, though, and that being my current tea obsession I guess this is pretty good.

This is basic smoky sheng to me. Not lapsang smoke of course, but just a little smoke probably introduced during the kill-green process. It has some savory vegetable broth, citrus bitterness, slight amount of orchid florals, and maybe a little apricot fruitiness hiding in there, too. Not a favorite of mine, and I feel there are better options at a lower price. I probably wouldn’t repurchase.