white2tea

Really enjoyable young sheng. Bright/sharp high notes with a sweet bite. Apricot fragrance, especially in empty chahai. Slightly dry on the mouth. Straightforward, energetic qi.

Gongfu!

Brewed up an oldie but a goodie today with this white tea – call it optimistically channeling good weather for the week ahead. This is such a lovely white tea with a really soft and creamy liquor. I’ve been enjoying really taking my time and being slow with this tea session, using it as a moment to re-center myself after an especially long feeling week. As I steep I get notes of cucumber pulp, sugary green melon, and honeycomb candies with a long lingering brown sugar sweetness in the aftertaste. Very fresh and light despite the more decadent leaning tasting notes noted throughout brewing…

In the last few years I’ve really slowed down the amount of straight white tea that I’m purchasing because, as much as I love this tea type, it’s just something that I reach for really infrequently. On top of that, when I do buy a straight white tea it’s now almost always compressed for ease of storage – teas like this one which have such a light density just take up too much storage volume. Buuuutt there’s something really special about this tea, and it’s making me wonder if this more practical shift in purchasing patterns has led me to miss out on some other hidden gems. I will be pondering that this weekend, and the next time I see a company I love release a similar, non-compressed white tea like this one I’ll have to take that into consideration!!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C5bvsutOk2r/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3FO46D1dqs

What a throwback!

I found this tea shoved way in the back of a drawer a few days ago and when my “teas I drink in a day” round up on IG yesterday ended up having this kind of weird loose bees, flowers, and sunshine sort of theme to it I decided it was a good excuse to make myself a mug!

I actually ended up drinking this mostly at room temperature just because I ended up stuck on the phone for a long time right after making the mug, but the flavours were still very nice. Sort of a soft dandelion type note with a mix of brown sugar/jaggery and a light peppery sort of citrus that made me think loosely of yuzu.

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/C0H1GnfRlGd/?img_index=4 (4th Pic)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRqKVggwhpk

Last night I was apart of my friend TheOolongDrunk’s IG live show and this was one of two teas that I was drinking during the show. Just made this as a Western tea since it was a bit late and I didn’t want to dive into a full gongfu session. Not for the caffeine, but more just for the time. It was nice. As I’ve always said, I prefer W2T’s Moonlight White over this one – but it’s got a nice warm profile. Like hot dandelions and straw in the sun. Tastes like the way the prairies sometimes smell, y’know!? Makes for a tasty cup that’s just a little nostalgic.

Decided to try this Western style because I couldn’t recall brewing it that way before. I may have made a mistake by making my cup so late at night because I always forget exactly how caffeinated straight white tea can be, but it was a nice cup. I would describe it a little bit like tasting of “soft dandelions” with a straw and slight lemony type of flavour. I prefer the Moonlight White that was released from W2T alongside this one a lot more but this is still a nice production!

Gongfu!

Heavy leaf & long brew times, and the result is a thick amber liquor with syrupy notes of overripe golden/yellow peaches and hints of almond & honeysuckle with the faintest tail end astringency! In a direct comparison, Moonlight/Moonshine white wins every time for me, but I can’t deny that this is a really beautiful white tea.

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CAlOt9YAW3N/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06auOkEIT_I

Gongfu!

An afternoon session at work earlier this week. This is such a nice everyday type of tea to brew & incredibly hard to make an unpleasant infusion no matter how you prepare it! Very bright, light to medium bodied infusions with a very sweet assortment of tasting notes; creamed honey, honeysuckle & other fresh florals, and a hint of fruitiness in the undertone. I do tend to gravitate a little more towards the Moonshine White, but today’s session was a good reminder that they’re both lovely!!

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/B8zjIPKgJlV/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1JQNV8NL3s

Grandpa style.

This tastes a lot like what I imagine it would feel like to be a Scarecrow hung in a cornfield on a warm, but not hot, summer day. In a nice, poetic way.

Not a bad way.

Hot mug – leaves steeped straight in the mug and not strained; almost Grandpa style but I didn’t do any water “top ups” so it was more just a really strong/intense cup of this one steeped a weird version of Western style.

Pretty good – but I think this is better when brewed Gongfu. Tasted like a mix of anise, cream, and the smell of dandelions (the yellow ones, not the fuzzy guys) on a very hot and humid summer day.

A big ol’ delicious Western mug of this tea!

Nothing super complex when you brew this Western (as opposed to the layer and evolution of flavours I experienced with this tea Gong Fu) but there’s a distinct dandelion-like note that I didn’t really get from my last tasting, and it’s totally making the mug for me.

I’ve never really thought about it before, but I think Dandelion is actually a super nostalgic smell and taste for me – sort of reminds me of playing in the neighborhood park with my younger siblings and popping the tops off the wild dandelions growing around. Then, as I got older, the smell has more of an association with the dandelion wine that my step dad tried to make once.

Last tasting note in the queue! Holy crud, I can’t believe I finished all of those tasting notes! That’s like thirty in less than 24 hours!? I drink too much tea…

I moved a couple of my White2Tea whites teas over to work/my desk at work because the giant bags of fluffy white tea were taking up too much space at home. This was one of the ones that I decided to move, and I drank it for the first time earlier in the week Gong Fu at my desk. I absolutely LOVE having a Gong Fu set up at my desk – it’s the best thing.

I drank a lot of infusions of this – well over a dozen, maybe closer to two dozen? I mean, I was really enjoying it. I didn’t take notes because, in between the actual drinking portion of this session, I was doing data entry/actual work and I couldn’t take the time to take my own notes. I was busy being a serious business professional!

From what I recall, this started off pretty soft and floral though – but had some sweetness to the undertones that grew more prominent and took on a sort of honeyed fruit quality in the middle of the session. Eventually the tea took a different route, and it started to steep up increasingly more astringent. I’m not totally sure why. It was a nice astringency initially, but became a bit much. I know I had one or two steeps that got LONG infusions because I was distracted by my work and forgot to pour, but it wasn’t just those steeps that tasted off near the end of the session.

I’m excited to revisit this one though, and see if that quality is consistent from session to session.

Gongfu!

I never know how to talk about this tea without it sounding incredibly pervy…

But with that said; this is a midly astringent sheng pu’erh with a lovely profile of syrupy overripe fruit juices, with just a hint of ‘tang’ to it! Lovely coating back of throat sweetness, as well! I steeped it out yesterday while waiting for bubble tea delivery from Uber eats; definitely something a little bit weird to drinking tea while waiting for more tea but not out of the realm of things I done before, for sure…

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/B-2f69CAE_D/ (The lighting was so good!)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Blf9fLbUZAQ

Gong Fu!

There are just so many inappropriate comments that could be made about this tea. I’ll just leave it short and simple, though: This was my first time trying… pussy.

It was pretty fruity and sweet in the top of the sip, but finished rather bitter. Around eight steeps; good session. I liked the balance of fruity sweet notes and syrupy mouthfeel with the bitterness in the end; created nuance and depth. I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed the session the same way if I was just getting one end of the spectrum and not both.

Pussy Pictures: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bvb-TPEFnd8/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGIkGbs1VEc

I guess a warning that the song could be considered somewhat explicit? No more than this tasting note already is, though…

Drank this in very ideal conditions, my nose was actually working for once, and the sample had spent a few days in my new storage system. For fragrant teas one could get into the habit of priming them with a day or two in extra humidity before you plan to drink.

The leaf and soup both were bursting with that peaches and sandalwood smell. It’s a bright and summery tea, it has a little fruity tang, the liquor is pale gold, and the texture is endlessly thick and oily. It keeps the mouth smothered in oil for a long time. I don’t notice a strong huigan even at high temperatures, just memories of tartness. It also has astringency, I started the first few steeps at 90C and the balance was good at that temperature.

I sort of threw out sandalwood for the smell, it has a creamy and maybe dry incense-like smell. That and the fruit are very evenly melded together.

Later steeps get plenty of young sheng sweetness. At this point the sweetness also stays in the mouth longer. At the limits of the leaf I almost think I taste something that will one day develop into spice.

Steep times:
90C – 10s (rinse), 5s, 10s.
100C – 5s, 5s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 30s

I read some reviews on this one and was warned about the effects of it, hehe. I didn’t get a chill up my spine but I did get a weird head throb, fuzziness, and a small headache. I never get headaches. I can’t even remember the last time I had one. It’s not a bad headache though, and when I walked around and got busy, it kindasorta went away. Made my neck feel tight though, like I slept on it wrong.

This one is kind of opposite to the one I just reviewed 2015 Pin. It didn’t start bitter and it goes away like with 2015 Pin but it starts off mild and becomes slightly bitter. I’m currently only on the 5th infusion of a long series so I just wanted to make a note that I definitely felt something odd in my head like some others mentioned. No palpitations nor strong beating heart though hehe. Decent energy but not like the 2015 Pin earlier where I mentioned it felt like a definite mood lifter… or as derk asked “Did it make you dance?” lol :D

Aroma and taste profile is good. The dry leaves smelled like strong stonefruits and hay. It’s a smooth mouthfeel, slick and it kind of hangs in the back of my throat. Just recently I reviewed a tea where I said I had peculiar mouth sensations, the grandpa one. This is similar but different mouth sensations. Slickness. I did not find it too bitter nor dry as some mentioned, perhaps because I began with near boiling water.

I’ll add my parameters when I finish. I’ll also add more taste notes should anything change (which I believe they will).

Thank you Derk for the sample! :D

I have a ton of raw pu’erh to get through. Good thing pu’erh stores well. o.O

The dry leaves smelled of honey, wood, and hay. Different colored dry leaves from silver leaves to medium green to brown leaves. The liquor is aromatic and smelled of honey and leaves, it was a very light amber color. The taste profile began with a slight bitterness, never a put-off type bitterness but one that felt it belonged there. The slight bitterness came with a light, almost tart feeling on the tongue, you could also feel the sides of your tongue react to the light astringency. There were lots of fruit notes, mainly citrus, stonefruits.

As I progress, it morphed into a thick, viscous, almost syrupy honey apricot-peach tea, and then add a little tobacco and smoke. It became less bitter, and sweeter. Lots of mouth action with this tea, super long sweet finish. Towards the end, a wee bit of bitterness would come in for a bit, but again, not in a negative type of way as it remained balanced from the 3rd or 4th infusion but that long sweet finish was ever so present. :)

6g, 110ml, 205F, rinse, 12 steeps: 10s, 13s, 16s, 19s, 22s, 25s, 30s, 35s, 40s, 45s, 1m, 2m

Backlogged from Friday, because Steepster had the latency of a baked potato and I got aggravated with it.
This Waffles cake is another one that I dug out of my cabinet and decided to try again. I brewed it Western style in my Kati.
White2Tea probably named it Waffles because the cake physically looks like a waffle. It was pressed with a cross-section pattern to make it easier to break into quarters. I don’t think it’s actually supposed to be waffle-flavored. I get no notes of maple, butter, fruit, or waffle batter.
I agree with other reviewers that the first steep has a wet earth-fishy-peaty smell, which then wanders off into caramel and vanilla-land as the liquor cools, somehow. You can tell by the list of flavor notes people have tagged this one with that it’s a bit of an adventure and hard to pin down. It’s complex, it’s fun, it’s fermented, it’s pu’erh. If this one had an astrological sign, I’d say it’s definitely a Gemini because of its duality and refusal to be labelled with either one flavor profile or the other.
You have to be in the mood for it and be open to the journey, is all I will say. Tune up your tastebuds and bring your sense of humor.

Broke off 1/4 of a cake into a 12 oz hot water.
Dry leaf smells very earthy and mushroom-y, with notes of cocoa.
Steeps a ruddy brown, very thick liquor.
Flavor was surprisingly light— perhaps I needed to use a 1/2 cake instead.
Tasted mostly like earth/ roots to me.
Just a typical pu’erh, nothing special or memorable to me.

Leaves were smallish and crumbly, and I rinsed this twice in boiling water, which drew out a bit of bitterness. I don’t have enough knowledge of regions, but this reminded me of a Menghai shou. Sharp bitterness, counterweighted by a dense and smooth mouthfeel from steep 2, soon followed by mineral coolness and sweetness. No wet pile element encountered. The tea soup was very dark, clear, and soil-colored with no red tint. I appreciate black tea that tastes uncluttered like this and I found it very easy to guzzle this. Paired with greasy food it has the function of a sharp unsweetened diner coffee to accompany a heavy breakfast. It has the caffeine kick too. After 5-6 steeps it quickly becomes very mineral and rather dry. The sweetness was less present overall and only really shone in one steep. Age might make this a more relaxing shou.

Additional note:
Sipdown. Last time I tried it grandpa style (cause the name lol) and this time I’m taking it through the full gaiwan treatment hehe. I put the 8g ball in a 110ml gaiwan and doing short infusions with boiling water. Starting at 10s, adding 10s each time.

I wanted to make an additional note for myself (and others) that the aroma that I got after the rinse was soil, dirt (not sure if I smelled the wet leaves before) but the flavor of the first 10s infusion was so clean and it has such a pleasant smooth mouth-feeling.

It is so mellow and carefree. Savory, slightly sweet. Nice cha qi, somewhat stimulating, mood lifting but relaxing. I’m certainly going to enjoy this throughout the night. I think I’ll get a few more on my next order to bring on short trips.

Reading through all the notes, the taste is covered and I agree with most… To me, it’s not a remarkable taste but a pleasant taste nonetheless. As far as energy, it was a comforting tea. Made my hectic day more tranquil. I basically drank it all day. I followed white2tea’s instruction since I only have two of them. I just dropped it in a mug and filled it up over and over.

It’s clean, no strong fermentation notes, slightly earthy, a little fruity here and there but there were very odd but good aromas as well. I think the main reason I enjoyed this tea is the peculiar mouth action. It became smooth but didn’t start that way at all. It had slight drying effects towards the end. It’s really a hard one to describe but I only saw one other that mentioned it.

I’d drink it again :).

One hour sleep last night bleh.

It’s very clean, no fermentation notes, earthy. It was mellow and somewhat light until the 5th infusion then it became rich, thick and creamy buttery mouthfeel. The dark liquor smells of apple cinnamon and earth. Throughout the infusions, there were no particular notes that really stood out, it’s like they said, it’s pretty balanced. With the earth, there is some dried fruit. I didn’t get the bananas but got a little citrus and apple. I noticed some cinnamon and spice notes but they are subtle as well. Towards the end, it did get more peppery. It’s good and I can’t call it ordinary nor can I say extraordinary. I think it would be a good daily tea, during work when you want something tasty but do not need the focus.

Yixing gaiwan, 6g, 110ml, 212°F, rinse, 12 steeps, 5s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 25s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 1m, 1m30s, 2m, 3m

Additional notes: Sipdown but sad to see this go.

It was a very cherry-tasting yancha. A nice and strong presence of dried cherries with wet wood notes, lots of minerals, floral, and barley. Extremely complex, changed every infusion. As before, it was smooth, a good mouth and throat feel. Although complex, the cherry was present throughout all the infusions… Always ending on a fruity note with a hint of barley.

I’ve had to significantly cut down my tea consumption the past few months due to GERD. I’ll be going into surgery in a couple of weeks. Sucks but… I can continue when I get out. :P As always, I keep reading your reviews, working on sipdowns.

Stay safe out there. Delta variant is a nasty one.