white2tea

The lapsang of puer

Tasted like a good Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong but unfortunately that was about it. It was a pleasant incense not to over powering that just faded with every brew. I don’t like the blanket descriptor of "smoke"for a group of people that a literal kaleidoscope of scents and flavors smoke seem fairly general anything that is combustible can produce smoke a few pleasant while most are not. This was actually a pleasant incense light silky type smoke. That was until I under poured the steeped it about 15 seconds too long then woooah it was like cheech and chongs van I immediately dumped the cup. Lesson learned do flash steepings and maybe even less leaf/water ratio than normal as this tea has quite the split personality. Sorry for the one dimensional review but I wasnt able to focus and enjoy this tea to discover the nuances of it. The leaf on the tail after the smoke had cleared tasted slightly bitter the kind you would get from a raw kale of other greeny or maybe a spice like fennel/anise/licorice.

This tea for me was too strong for me to enjoy casually by itself but I can see it pairing well with food as I have in the past drank lapsang after a meal with a creamy rich dessert and it really worked well. I enjoy whiskey and pipe tobacco but neither in the middle of the day so too this tea would be a maybe once or twice a year change of pace but I wont lose sleep over not buying a fangcha(as with some of pauls other teas).

Hate to be cliche but the similarities are too strong, if you like lapsang you will like this tea of not then don’t bother. I like a good mild lapsang from time to time but in a black tea not a puer and on very rare ocassions.

Revisiting this YiBang sheng. Full and rich in the mouth, sweet and quite aromatic but yet it has a definite mature aged presence. Copper-tone tea soup which is very clear. Characteristically small YiBang leaves with lots to give. Eight steeps in and only using 8-10 second infusions at this point. W2T has been out of this one for some time now. Fortunately, I decided to take a chance and purchase when he had a few left because good aged YiBang material is hard to come by.

The cake is beautiful and full of pleasantly dark brown whole leaves which offer a nice sweet aged scent. The overall appearance of the cake is neat and uniform. Easy to pick off whole leaves for steeping. I had heard that Yi Bang tea was of the small leaf variety and that is found to be true in this particular cake.
The tea liquor begins with a deep gold color and with additional steepings providing more and more oxidation, the orange and red highlights emerge. The first two steepings had a light bitterness but the tea seems to really open up after this and becomes quite sweet. Very smooth and well balanced with pleasant fruit notes and a gentle honey taste. I experienced a pleasant aftertaste in the mouth and throat and this lingered for quite awhile after finishing the tea session.
Overall the tea is very easy to drink and it reminded me a bit of Jingmai and Yiwu teas. Nicely balanced flavor profile – bitterness and sweetness, fruit and honey with a bit of a nutty accent as well.

This morning I am enjoying this sample that I got from a Steepster friend, thank you friend!

At about 10 seconds of steeping time, the first two steeps are pretty strong. It is a potent tea with woodsy flavors, a nice fruitiness and quite a bit of bitterness in the finish. It has a bit of smoky aroma, but not too much smoke in the flavor.

I decided to lower the water temp for steeps #3 and #4 to about 200 f. I feel that the bitter and tobacco notes have taken over this one to the point where I don’t really feel like drinking it. Not sure if it’s just the mood I am in or the tea itself, but I think I will try this again on another day, it’s making my stomach hurt a bit even though I already ate breakfast. Such is the dilemma with sheng… but it seems that overall some of the other tasters enjoyed this more than I did.

Baseline woody shu

I remember this being thicker for some reason all I got out of this session was woody shu which wasn’t bad just nothing unique. For my money his old tea nuggets are way better but that maybe apples and oranges as the flavor profile are different but also the variation of shupu. Either way I wont be repurchasing which is fine because paul has boat loads of other great teas.

Did too long rinses 30/piece then started steeping. Short and simple this is a typically woodsy puer with a hint of storage and a nice tail of extremely light roast coffee. Just to claify this tastes nothing like roasted coffee rather the grain/cereal quality coffee beans can have when green or very lightly roasted. Maybe a tickle of vanillin that I sometimes get from yan cha as well but if you blink all you taste is woodsy shupu.

Where this tea shines is in the body department, give it some longer than normal steepings times starting with 40 seconds and add 30-40 seconds per steep you will end up with some viscous pleasant tea. I don’t think I can tell it is X years old although in my experience ripened don’t really ever change that much especially if they are heavily fermented from the start. I can see this being awesome grandpa and/western style steeping (after two long rinses that is).

Solid tea with a nice body and a price to match don’t expect miracles and you will enjoy this one.

Yesterday I thought I’d try grandpa brewing the last square I had from White2Tea’s Tea Club. A quick rinse, and then the little square sat in my tumbler for a few hours as I sipped from it.

Unsurprisingly, it was a really, really strong brew. Dark, earthy, wet rocks. It was a little too intense for me during the first round of grandpa brewing that I poured half the tumbler into a mug and filled the mug up with hot water, which helped a lot. There was a pleasant, light sweetness to it. It was surprisingly crisp and refreshing, like how I’d imagine drinking from a stream would taste.

I have a tin of this on its way. At some point, when I have time (ha), I’ll have to do a proper gongfu side-by-side tasting with the ‘98 White Tuo. There’s something kind of familiar about this tea that made me think about the White Tuo.

Not bad but seriously overshadowed by Pauls’ other offerings.

These are a little under 20g mine turned out to be ~ 17g but super compact I did a double check on my scale when I saw the reading, as I am used to tuos being either 5-6g or 100g+. I broke off 5g and threw it in my gaiwan, after two rinses we were off. I did not sense any pile taste which is to be expected being a few years old. The liqour was black so I am guessing heavy fermentation the tea had decent body as well. The flavor profile was woody but unlike others I have tasted all I can remember is smelling and tasting incense not smoky per say or super woodsy just light and delicate incense flavor if that makes sense. While it was pleasant, just prior I had steeped one of paul’s other ripened that blew my mind in the sweet coaco flavor profile so this gold melon was overshadowed. As a result this tea didn’t get much of my attention as I was still in astonishment at the previous session.

My tea cache is starting to become obnoxious, mostly in part because of puer so I am very picky about my raw and ripe these days. I received this as a sample with my last order and while it was not bad and I will gladly drink it down, it was not worth a spot in pumidor.

Received a very small sample (~ 5g) in my tea of the month package so as a preface I didnt brew it enough times to get to right possibly.

Light roast indeed the leaves became unfurled after 2-3 flash steepings, cant say I got much sweetness or fragrance that I’d normally expect every steep seemed too light and thin after the 3rd steep all I tasted was leaf. The leaf reminded me of the last steepings of a shui xian wuyi, very slight hint of mineral and raw leaf taste.

Grand tea, yunnan sourcing and rishi offered more fragrant, sweeter, increased longevity in their mi lan xiang dancongs, while I just realize rishi’s dancong is almost 2x the cost of this one I think ill stick with puer from W2T and stick with yunnan sourcing us site for budget dancongs especially since W2T shipping is so rough.

Love everything White2Tea has so far(Puer wise) so ill just chalk it up to bad brewing perimeters.

Backlog:

As I mention in my full-length article of this tea: http://sororiteasisters.com/2015/01/15/rougui-oolong-tea-from-white-two-tea/ – I don’t have as much experience with Rougui Oolong as I do with some other Oolong teas, but that wasn’t about to keep me from enjoying it!

This tea is lovely!

Delightfully fragrant, notes of flower and fruit. Because this is a ‘darker’ Oolong, I note more fruit notes than floral. It’s sweet with hints of smoke in the distance. Subsequent infusions proved to be even more delightful with stronger flavors and a smoother delivery and sweeter taste.

A really pleasant cuppa! I highly recommend this.

Been drinking this tea a few times a week for the past couple months—I really like it. Starts out with a slight astringency, a subtle bitterness, but pleasant and sweet. Earthy, a bit minerally maybe… By far my favorite ripe puer I’ve had (although I’ve tasted very few). Will definitely be getting another cake with my next order.

Started brewing in the gaiwan but ended up bringing the cake with me to work where I just have one of those Teavana things that strain through the bottom. Probably used around 8g and steeped 4oz cups for 15, 25, 30, etc., seconds. Lasted quite a while.

First steeps were very mild but i knew its deceiving. on a 3rd steep it hit me. it is strong bitter tea but i like it a lot. only few months ago i probably wouldnt be able to drink it. Besides being bitter its incredibly smooth, even creamy. and there is a sweetness comes in the end of the sip. very happy i was able to try this sample. its a swap from Instagram member. i need to ask him if he is on Steepster.

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5g 95ml gaiwan 205 F
rinse/ pause/ flash steeps , then increased to 7-10-15 secs

This is a tea with nice power – the power of rich content. It begins with a bit of astringency and smoke but quickly they both fade away. Next, the herbal and grassy notes move forward and become more prominent with a lovely sweetness poking through. The sip becomes very smooth by the third or fourth steeping and the sweetness begins to break through. After drinking three cups, I am left with a distinct dryness in the mouth and throat. This cake is definitely made with good raw material but it still has room to mature with more age. I’m going to move this one to the back of the humidity monitored sheng cabinet and let it sit for another year or two before trying again.

The aroma of the cake is quite gentle. Actually, it has a hint of “old library” aroma but rather distant. Lots of nice whole leaves throughout the cake. A lovely clean and clear tea liquor with a distinct orange hue. Low and dark in its sweet aroma and taste – a little nutty and fruity mixed with mellow-earthiness. Good mouthfeel with a smooth texture. Nice full chaqi producing a very relaxed feeling. In about the 9th infusion the tea begins to fade. Interesting tea session which I quite enjoyed. I would not describe this as an “exciting” tea (in other words, it won’t knock your socks off) but I must say that I found it to be delicious and extremely comforting.

This was a free sample from Paul at white2tea and I am very grateful that he sent it to me. It has been lurking in the back of the cupboard, awaiting the time when I might be able to take a moment from my schedule to fully appreciate it. This morning is that time.

The dry leaf smells green and slightly composty with a note of warm horse. It promises much at first sniff. Looking at it, I see brown, green and silver leaf. It’s chopped but not excessively so. The cake is loose. That might be a result of taking the sample from the beeng.

When I pour the hot water onto it, the leaf immediately releases a thick floral aroma. It’s not cloying though. The liquor is a thick amber colour. The website describes the tea as ‘burly’. There is certainly nothing wishy washy about it so far. All of the elements of it are strong and bold. The taste is the same. There is strong astringency with sweet, floral and fruity notes, and strong spice in the aftertaste with perhaps a hint of pepper. There’s a lot going on there, and I am not sure that I am the best person to parse the range of flavours. I am aware of the range, but at a loss to differentiate all the elements. Perhaps I should lay that out as a challenge to others. I really like this tea. It has great body and good legs, both in the liquor and in the aftertaste.

Backlog:

A really smooth, lovely, mellow pu-erh. A sweetness that is somewhere between molasses and a buttery caramel. Only a very slight earthiness which I really appreciated.

Really very pleasant and sweet.

Read my full-length review with details about the many infusions here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2015/01/05/2007-white2tea-repave-pu-erh-tea-from-white-two-tea/

Grrrr….accidentally hit the X while I was trying to switch tabs.

So my re-write.

Thank you so much, TwoDog2, for the sample of this tea with my order. I have never had such an expensive tea before. And yes, it’s worth every penny.

Started out very bold and strong, deep, clear, and incredibly smooth. Staying smooth and strong, it slowly sweetened up over infusion to infusion. And it’s still going strong. Amazingly smooth, delicious. I’ve got to stop for today, but I’m saving the rest for tomorrow.

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DROOL this tea was fantastic! Interestingly, this is from old arbor tree fermented puer made into black tea. The color is a dark orange and reminds me of a gold tipped yunnan black in flavor (creamy, malty) but with a berry fruityness to it. The steeped leaves smelled like raspberries to me. This tea also is a beast of a resteeper – finishing off with buttery flavor. Verry cool. Cry, I need more of this tea and it’s $35 full size and I just did a group order! cry.

Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/january-white2tea-club/ along with the other January White2Tea club teas!

A nice starter ripe pu’er! It had a nice clear tea with a comfort feel with flavors of malt and chocolate. The only thing I didn’t like about this one was I didn’t get that many infusions, it got light within 8 steeps for me.

Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/january-white2tea-club/ along with the other January White2Tea club teas!

I drank this tea all morning. Thanks for the sample Marzipan!

I found it to have smooth mildness like an aged sheng, but with a little bitter punchiness like a younger sheng. Perplexing! Best of both worlds? Perhaps :)

Backlog:

This is the first White Two Tea offering that I’ve tried. I found it to be quite nice. The earthiness of it was rather subtle, which I appreciated.

Earliest infusions were sweet and mellow. The earthiness of this pu-erh is perhaps the most pleasant earthy taste that I’ve yet to experience in a pu-erh. This has a flavor of a mushroom. It’s not briny or fishy. It’s smooth, not bitter, and not astringent.

Later infusions became deeper in flavor but still pleasantly sweet, mellow and smooth. The sweetness develops into a caramel-y like flavor that I loved, and then with later infusions, it became more like molasses (loved that too!)

In later infusions, I also picked up on some raw cacao notes and hints of mineral. There was also a slight citrus-y tangy note.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/12/27/1997-light-green-7582-private-order-pu-erh-tea-from-white-two-tea/

Mobile note so expect typos
in the past i put to few leaves this time I put a sprinkle over 10 g in my 125 gaiwan and it was too much I got a pleasant sweet taste but also astringent and a bit of smoke followed y a pupil constricting tea drunk