white2tea

Gongfu!

This white tea is so fresh and fragrant with varying notes of sugar snap peas, peony, cucumber pulp, honeysuckle, and just a hint of overripe honeydew through the session, all alongside consistent and grounding notes of sweetgrass and fresh cream!

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/COWRAA-AtTS/

I had originally set out tonight to have this session at my usual hilltop tree stump, but when I passed this patch of gorgeous purple flowers I couldn’t resist having it there instead!!

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJDlhcj4_Ys&ab_channel=AstrachanMusic

Sipdown!

I figured since I tried the 2018 version of this (I think) a few days ago, I would knock this one out as well while it’s still fresh in my mind, for comparison’s sake. Using one coin for a ~16 ounce glass tumbler and steeping grandpa-style.

But really, it’s very similar, unsurprisingly. Not unpleasant, but very generic with a sort of bland hay-straw-wood flavor profile. Hints of dried apricot and a touch of astringency at the end of the sip. Some bitterness also started to come out after it steeped for a few minutes, which I don’t remember experiencing with the 2018 version.

Overall, it’s fine but not something I would purchase. But the good news is, there’s a lot to improve on for the other few white tea coins I have! :P

Backlong: Not quite as good as the first time, but reliable tumbler and western fuel with an occasionally solid gong fu session. Consistent chocolate malt notes, and some tannin/bitterness here and there. 1/2 way done through it, and flavors not lasting quite as long as I’d hope, leading me to rate it an 84-85. I need to finish it quickly, then. Great for the price.

I started out with this tea on the current nice fall morning. Dropping temperatures were pretty sudden here in Michigan from the humid 87-90 F weather last week to the temperate and chilly 72 and 60s this week.

I gong fu’d it this morning, and I’ve tumblered/grandpa’d it over the past few months. It did pretty nicely gong fu, but wasn’t too different western. Grandpa yielded a lot of smoothed out chocolate cherry flavor when I went medium to light leafwise, and gong fu added a little bit more bitterness and dryness. The previous review nailed the drying hay quality the tea sometimes has. This time, the chocolate notes were more along the lineso of dark chocolate, and the berry notes were bordering on jammy. I’ve been tempted to put blueberry as one. I usually am careful with “jammy” teas because they tend to be a little bit more astringent like in a ceylon or Assam category, but it works with the chocolate and caramel notes insanely well.

The tea really didn’t last beyond four steeps. It’s still a comfort tea that hits all the right spots for my palette in black teas. I’m not sure what to rate it. I can see a rating in the 80s because it’s a daily black that’s not super complex or long lasting, but in terms of flavor and aroma, this is almost a 100. I basically rate teas based on whether or not it serves the purpose I got it for, and I think this is one of the few cheaper versatile blacks I’ve gotten that hits the high notes of more expensive teas.

Ooooooooooooooooh I like this one. I like this one a lot….I might love it. I bought 100 grams for just over $12, but should have gotten the bigger package. It definitely compares to more expensive black teas.

It’s solidly in the elusive “chocolaty” category of Fujian teas. The dry leaf is incredibly aromatic, smelling like chocolate covered fruit. The taste is not quite as dense as the aroma western, but it was very flavorful and naturally sweet. There was not too much complexity, but the light malt, heavy caramel, medium milk to dark chocolate, honey, citrus and hinting berry notes with a slight drying finish were really nice. It’s fairly forgiving, but has enough black tea bitterness to give it some edge. Chocolate notes were the most dominant in the first cup, fruit ones in the second, and maltlhoney in the last. The tea did not have too much staying power, but it was a happy medium that was very satisfying.

I need to gong fu and grandpa it before I rate it, but I’m already very satisfied with this tea. I think it might solve my black tea cost woes if it’s still around.

Sipdown! (2 | 279)

Grandpa-style tea of the day! This was a swap sample from an Instagram tea friend.

Very enjoyable! I admit, I have little experience with yancha, so I don’t really have a good palate for it. But I found this to be quite pleasant – smooth, woody, and roasty with a sparkling minerality and a floral uptick at the end of the sip, and a delicate fruitiness. I see the description mentions red fruits, I’m not sure I can identify that specifically. There is definitely a tartness to it that could be strawberry or red currant, or perhaps an underripe stonefruit. But it’s quite subtle to my palate.

Anyway, tasty! And took very well to grandpa-style, even though I forgot about it a couple of times.

Sipdown! (not including in count since it wasn’t entered in my cupboard)

So I have a variety of single white tea coins from white2tea, most of which I ordered as a sampler set a couple of years ago. But this one was (I think) a free sample? I’m also not positive which year it is, as the coin only has the image on the front with no text. But I ordered in early 2019, and the other teas in my order were 2018 teas, so I’m going to assume this one is as well? (shrugs)

Anyway, steeping this grandpa-style today in a glass tumbler. It seems quite generic to me? And that’s not to say it isn’t pleasant, just not very exciting. It’s mellow with mostly hay, straw, light wood, and raw grain notes. A bit of dried apricot and some astringency in the finish. And that’s about it really.

Fine for mindless sipping, but quite unremarkable. :) I think I have a coin from the sampler that’s the 2017 pressing, hopefully that one is a bit more… something.

Finally got my White2Tea package!

Alright, so this is not going to be a waxing poetic note. I was not a huge fan of this one. The packaging and presentation were awesome-I love the fox wrapper and the the gold and black tea coin.

Trying it out…eh. I plopped the coin and wasn’t sure what direction I’d go. I let it sit in 195 water for about 15 sec…and not much. Tannin, wood, cherry, and thinness. I then decided to go western for 2 minutes, and that was a bad idea with a 7 gram to 5 oz ratio. The tea came out bitter, woodsy, and a little bit flat. It’s got a nice malt and thick dry Yunnan quality, but it’s heavy with the tannin.

I tried again lighter with 30 seconds, the same bitter malt notes came up with some tomato. I haven’t touched it since.

I think I probably brewed it wrong, but I kinda expected more versatility. A part of me wishes I bought the Snowflake Dancongs instead. I’m holding off the rating to see if the second brew with my last coin is better.

Sipdown! (68 | 272)

Another generous swap sample from an Instagram tea friend!

I’ve been sipping on this grandpa-style this morning, in a glass tumbler. I always make the mistake of using water that’s too warm at the beginning, and then it steeps for a long time before it’s drinkable for me… XD

Luckily this tea can’t really oversteep so it’s still lovely. Very earthy with plenty of musty hay and wet wood notes. It’s like a lovely combination of moody forest petrichor and sunny barn loft. Interwoven is a soft dried apricot flavor, more tart than sweet but with a nice richness to it. A hint of pepper perhaps? I do feel like I’m tasting the bamboo, as a sort of sweet grassy-woody note.

So pleasant, and still going now at 2 PM! I predict that I will give up before the tea does, ha ha…

Sipdown! (67 | 271)

My swap sample of this was actually from the 2019 pressing, but that doesn’t seem to exist on the white2tea website or Steepster, so I’ll leave the note here.

Steeped the little chunk using 200°F water for 10, 10, 15, 20, 30, 45, 60, 90s.

It was tasty! Very smooth and creamy with nice sweet hay and rolled oat flavors. Some stonefruit notes came out a couple of steeps in, giving it more of a peaches ‘n’ cream sort of feel. I also got a little floral hint at the end of the sip, which was nice.

I feel like I don’t have a good palate for these aged white teas, as they always taste similar to me and I didn’t detect much shift in flavor during the session. Next time I’ll have to remember to try grandpa style instead.

https://www.instagram.com/p/COOtJ5Ugym7/

Gongfu!

Morning session from my second day working on location! The studio I was at had this GORGEOUS hand painted stairway leading up to it and when I saw it the first day I knew that I wanted to bring teaware with for the second day and have tea on the stairwell at some point. Such a beautiful urban aesthetic!!

I caked this rich and aggressively woody shou after trying one of the Minis last year and it does not disappoint!! Aside for camphor notes from the first infusions up until this last; this rich brew is drenched in petrichor, decaying wood, and all the flavours of the dark part of the woods! I felt like it was a pretty average session length for a shou of this style, and having something deep and burly like that felt good as a morning kick in the butt/wake up tea.

Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CN5MmjvgfUH/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpwzaYDhtfI&ab_channel=paulwoolfordVEVO