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The first steep acted more as insight to what the tea would eventually become, as opposed to a defining steep. The tea developed flavors like light vegetation, lingering sweetness, and small amounts of bitterness.

Steep 2 brought everything this tea has to the table taste-wise, and body-wise followed quickly after: Both Steal Boats and Meet Halfway is thick-bodied, with an astringent vegetal character that attacks the tongue sides and throat, while a sweet part of the viscous soup – which I can only describe as delightful – attacks the very tip of the tongue, as hints of smoke go down with the swallow. Other steeps deconstructed this one slowly, but I personally think the best of this tea lies after steep 1 and before steep 6, likely between 2 and 4.

Into steep 3, the bitterness began to fluctuate, while the vegetal astringency continued as an established part of the flavor. The sweetness in the linger also began to ramp up past this point. In addition, the head feelings of this tea became extremely present. After finishing steep 2, I found myself with lots of mental energy, but also with a strange head-based disassociation with my surroundings. It can be best summed up simply with the word powerful.

As the steeps progressed, the tea followed a similar path to many other young shengs: the astringency stuck around for a while, the bitter lower half dropped out, and the sweetness prevailed by double-digit steeps. However, this was not a mediocre tea. It isn’t exactly a joy to drink for any one reason, save maybe hard-hitting qi, but is a pleasure to drink for a multitude of humble reasons. This tea carries all of the best attributes that a young sheng with aged material mixed in can carry; no aggressive flavors, full body, an above-mediocre progression, and a moving trip in the head. A tea I wouldn’t save as the last at a party, but one I’d be thrilled to present midway / late in.

Considering the cost to conclude; this cake (200g) is $85. Do you need to spend almost $100 to get a well-balanced cake? No, and it might be overpriced if that’s all it offered. The sort of place that this tea puts the mind in however, hits – if not significantly hits – above its price. I’ve experienced similar mind-moving brews at price points $40 more. Presenting itself as a well-rounded blend, only hitting 100% in head-feel, this cake is a great price. Overall, an incredibly pleasant taste, paired with a surprisingly strong mental side, makes this a great tea to keep around for anytime you can afford it proper attention.

Specs:

7g / 100ml
100c (boiling) water
Steep time = 5x seconds, where x = steep number

Beginning with steep one, the color of this tea resembled a deeper gold than most young shengs its age. The flavor immediately hit hard, with an aggressive smokiness that brought hefty astringency with it, along with a bit of a vegetal taste. Encapsulated in this was a sweetness that crept up from under my tongue, and lingered. A honey-like underlying taste was present, but was buried in the deep body.

As the steeps developed up to the third and fourth, any vegetal tastes turned into earthy ones. A distinct hint of aged material began to come through as well, but with none of the tame qualities that aged sheng has. The light sweetness continued to shine through, but had a hard time getting through the bitterness and astringency that continued to develop and amplify. The bitterness shouldn’t be feared though, as it had no negative mouthfeel, just a bitter taste. This is something very familiar to good raw puers. After steep four, starting with the middle of my tongue, the bitterness began to plateau.

From steeps five to seven, the tea gave it’s final fights. The sweetness in the tea, when it wasn’t lingering, was still something that needed to be worked towards, as it was shrouded in such a hearty-bodied woody / smokey flavor. By steep seven though, the boldness of the brew began to curb, signaling the end of this tea’s power through steeps.

Between steeps 8 and 12, the liquor thinned and sweetened. While this isn’t unusual for many shengs, it didn’t present this entirely independently; the astringency of previous steeps was so strong, that this stripped-away sweetness towards the end of this brew was still contested by bold smokiness from the earlier steeps. Finishing off the tea, I was left with a resonating sweetness, but a dry mouth.

In conclusion, this tea is a great example of money going towards complexity rather than feel-good taste. It’s intricate, changing, and rewarding for continuing through the steeps, even if just to see how the flavors interact with each other. This tea is too young to say if I’d enjoy drinking it’s bold progression daily, but at $38, it’s an excellent price for a daily drinker, and I enjoyed last years Green Hype very much as well.

Specs:

6.9g / 100ml
100c (boiling) water
Steep time = 5x seconds, where x = steep number

After rinsing the leaves, their wet aroma gave off no alarming or obnoxious smells; some of the immediate sourness and strength, which is present in some young shengs, was not present here. The smell wasn’t necessarily dull, but it gave me nothing to fear continuing. 

The color of the liquor began as a very light yellow, and didn’t stray far from this throughout the session. The tea was clearer than some of the tea I’m more acquainted with, but still wasn’t entirely transparent. Sipping the first steep, there was an immediate sweetness that resonated on the tip of my tongue, and lingered on my lips. As I swallowed the tea, it tingled the middle and back of my tongue. The body of this tea was rather thin, but not distastefully so. The dominant flavor at this point was still the light sweetness, which edged on floral, but was not so bright. The second steep highlighted the lower half of this tea’s flavor, which is a vegetal, somewhat grassy, and slightly bitter, taste. This type of flavor is very common among young shengs, especially ones less than three years in age; however, this component of the tea did not hit as hard as it does in some others like it. The sweetness was not overpowered by this vegetal taste, but it did become clear that there were two fighting flavors in the tea. This part of the tea ramped up against the sweeter counterpart up until steep 6. During this, a underlying and faint creaminess established itself in the brew; recurring, but not very prevalent. Steep 6 was a turning point in flavor, as the vegetal / bitter flavors plateaued, and faded every steep past 6. The sweetness had calmed by this point, but came out on top as it became the dominant flavor in steep 6 +.  This was a nice surprise, and gives the drinker a reason to keep steeping beyond the first few. This said, it is worth nothing that the harder you brew this tea, the more vegetal it will taste; similarly, the quicker you drink it, the less you’ll taste of it’s sweet flavor.

In conclusion, this young sheng doesn’t bring much to the table in terms of complexity or body feel, but it is an excellent value for a daily drinker – $36 for a whole 200g cake, which, at one year’s age, is an incredibly tame young sheng. The sweetness may dull with age, but if the body of the tea is to beef up over the next few years, I could see it evolving into a very interesting brew. 

Specs:
6.8g / 100ml 
100c (boiling) water
Steep time = 5x seconds, where x = steep number

This tea was really great, much higher quality oolong than I’ve ever had personally. Obtained through an 8g sample bag put in my first W2T order. The first steep is a real slap in the face, and I mean this in the best way; all of the colorful flavors and high notes attack your tongue at once, for an excellent floral dynamic. As the steeps continue into the 3rd and 4th, this gets even more diverse, as a very small bite of astringency is present, but is quickly washed away by the sweet notes, offering a very interesting (and good) balance to the tea. Full of sweet and savory syrupy notes with a very floral flavor, this tea left me truly wishing I had more.

8g of tea in 100ml brewing vessel; 5 seconds for first steep + 5 for every after that, till 40 when I switched to 10 second steeps, till 1 minute to 15 second steeps, till 2 minutes to full minute steeps. Ended after 16 steeps.