white2tea

I am going to be broke(Paul take all my money)

*Soapbox
I am literally upset I did not find this site earlier. Paul has consistently good tea and honest descriptions with accurate tasting notes. Best of all you get what you pay for which leads me to this tea. I dare you to find a better tea at this price range, it is not the most complex, ethereal elixir of the gods but if you drink enough puer where you go through a few cakes-tong a year this can easily get my vote for staple. I don’t trust myself to store puer yet being in a very dry climate and my rather experimental 75% RH pack semi- sealed storage. Otherwise I would definitely purchase a bunch of this stuff and happily drink there the mountain of samples I have to keep me happy for the a long while.

*Tasting notes
A common theme of this tea seems to be me casually brewing this hungover sunday mornings so I don’t dare to claim to know it but I have picked up on a few consistent pleasant features. First off it steeps better with more leaf/water ratio (usually I go g/15mL of water as a starting point) but with this one closer to g/12-13 mL with good results. I consistently got a sweet taste and a nice slow pouring viscosity the oil present are hinted at the stained cake wrapper. Not as thick as a bu lang but much thicker than say most autumn harvests. The taste was not bitter at all but if you pushed the steeping time it got a little smokey which may or may not be your thing. Very versatile as the just nice sweetness and no smoke is not present if you flash brew. I was not able to taste any fruitiness as I have in the past but my taste buds are fried and it was more casual chug then a slow concentrated “gong fu” session.

A nice middle of the road versatile daily drinker that is priced perfectly and very approachable sweetness that is hard to offend most taste buds. Not super complex, I would say fairly one-note but then again I don’t want to have to concentrate/focus to enjoy some teas.

Update
Went for more leaf this time around with great results. Smoothness that comes with age a decent body but a very brief sweetness was something I had not tasted prior. Even though it was faint and short lived, it was a darker fruity (date, currant, jam) sweetness with a preserve-like tartness that made for an interesting brew. Getting the hang of this tea…. of course right I tried to overbrew it to bring out some bitterness but ended up with a smokiness I had not tasted before. So still learning the ins/outs of this guy but happy with my blind buy of a cake for the right price.

Next time I will just KISS keep it simple stupid, g/10ml and <20s short steepings

First session had a little bit of cold so wont comment of flavor.

According to the description this was “aged” maocha pressed into a cake and I am not sure if that has anything to do with the lack of longevity or not but I really only had colored infusion from maybe 5-6 steepings. Also more of a reminder to myself if seemed to be astringent on the first few brews quick quickly dropped off. I like my tea on the “strong” side especially pu erh so I will try to adding more leaf or extra time to each steeping.

Still to early to review but from the little that I did taste it was fairly unique and I am excited to take my time and master brewing this tea as I bought a whole cake.

Burpin’ Ole’ Book

Finally learned how to store and brew this guy which makes me a happy camper because I took a risk based on the price going up and bought more. I still wrestle with perfect steep time to acheive white whale nirvana which is a slightly tannic slightly fruity thicker smooth luscious cup. If I over brew it is a bit astringent and fruitiness is drowned by old book taste. Under brew and it’s a boring thin bland brew. I still sporadically smell and burp the old book taste hours later which is fun.

At the current price I like the yangpinhao better but I am spoiled to say this will be my daily drinker.

Huzza!

Finally got through the attic taste! Too tired to write anything worth while but how I “fixed” the tea was breaking it up to little sample size chunks and leaving it in a humid (75%) container for a week or so. It was not terribly complex nor did I get any of the intriguing sherry, red fruit flavors this time but Im happy to say it does not taste of dusty attic either. I am willing to amp up the steep time and leaf next session to see if I can coax anything pleasant out of it, all I tasted this time around was ever so slightly fruity old book but in a nice way.

My standard reference point for aged puer and I will except nothing less.

All I taste was attic…. hoping this is “storage” i will let it air out for a week before I retry

Temperature: Boiling (Subsequent infusions at 190oF)
Brewing Time: Fifteen seconds ( + five seconds for each subsequent infusion)
Aroma: Smoky
Flavor: Smoky, Malty, Toast, Tobacco and Damp Earth
Tasting Notes: I loved it. It has a nice staying power, according to my notes I got twenty-three infusions out it before I stopped taking notes. This is a tea that you shouldn’t drink if you have things to do, it just has so much to give. I didn’t finish this tea I had stuff to do and frankly it just lasts way to long for me. I have a little left over I might experiment brewing with for longer times. The Smoky tastes starts to disappear after the fifth infusion, but besides that it stays pretty constant. I didn’t notice the taste starting to thin out, which is ridiculous, generally I like to see teas change in later infusions, but I doubt I’d be able to distinguish the sixth infusion from the twentieth.

Definitely worth buying! $18 for 100g is nothing. I haven’t tried the other teas that TwoDog sent me yet, but I have a feeling this might be the one to beat. The bar is set pretty high with this Old Bear, while my only criticism of it is you might get bored since the tea doesn’t get better the more you drink. I am curious if this tea will age well, I generally like young Sheng Puerh, but I wonder if this is type of puerh you want to buy and forget about or the kind you drink immediately.

More at http://rah-tea.blogspot.com/2014/12/white2tea-2006-little-gold-melon-old.html

Dry Leaves: It took me a while to break a chunk off this little tuocha; I started off trying to break a fourth of it off, but I ended up sawing it with my puerh knife. The tuocha didn’t have a strong smell, but it smelled a little smokey.

Temperature: Boiling (Subsequent infusions at 190oF)
Brewing Time: Fifteen seconds ( + five seconds for each subsequent infusion)
Aroma: Slightly Fishy
Flavor: Sweetly Smoky, Earth, Woodsy and Licorice
Tasting Notes: I started with two thirty second rinses, since the item listing recommends a long rinse. Immediately I knew this was way too dark for me, but I soldiered on. I was surprised by the licorice taste I could distinguish in later infusions, although this doesn’t have a lot of staying power, I got eight infusions out of it. I was kind of surprised by the aroma, while it wasn’t fishy enough to be off putting, there was a slight smell, although this might have been caused by the thin wrapper.

I probably wouldn’t buy it again, I am not really fond of Shou Puerh, but I was surprised at how creamy it was. Maybe if I used half as much tea or brewed at a lower temperature I would consider buying this, but for $1.99 for a 20g mini tuocha, it isn’t a bad deal. I just happen to like teas on the greener side.

More at http://rah-tea.blogspot.com/2014/12/white2tea-2006-little-gold-melon-old.html

It’s funny how different this sheng is from the one I drank yesterday. So mellow and smooth and sweet. I am enjoying it!

Personal rant, not meant to offend anyone: I really wish that the owners of tea companies would put their teas in the database. I get tired of having to enter the info on every new tea I sample, and sometimes lately I don’t bother to write a review, because I’m busy, I’m tired, & I don’t really feel like doing it. I’d rather just enjoy the tea.

And I did enjoy this one, another sample from the tea club. When I opened the envelope, the aroma drew me in, heady & rich, almost like a perfume (but not grotesque, like perfumes are to me). Multiple steepings carried me through the morning & had a cool soothing effect, like the feeling of clay, even though the tea was actually hot, of course. Kind of sweet, reminiscent of Mandala’s Black Beauty (but different), never bitter. It’s lovely..

This is for the mini-cake of the same name, which was included in the January edition of the tea club.
7G + 4oz or so yixing (rinse) X 15/30/45/60 sec, etc…

Wood…that’s the first note here, deep woodwinds come to mind, & some low strings. This has a pleasing darkness to it, like a rich well aged compost, that you can’t help running your fingers through & smelling before you mix it into your garden. I’ve had a rough day, & it is immediately grounding & satisfying, welcoming me home. There’s a darkness & slight bitterness to it like a cup of coffee, or a square of unsweetened high quality dark chocolate.

This tea doesn’t have any unpleasant qualities, however there is a slight metallic taste, at least to my tastebuds. It’s in the background, with a silvery quality to it, as if a bright sounding flute tried to join the soothing ensemble that I have created in my mind, & I’m not sure how I feel about it’s presence.

Imagine yourself in the cool dark by a lake, surrounded by trees, feeling soothed & at peace. Then you notice a neon light, flashing through the trees. It’s not quite what you had in mind, but you do your best to ignore it. Anyway, that faded after a couple of steeps, and now my ensemble of mellow sounds is playing more softly, and includes a loaf of nutty whole grain bread, a hint of clay, & well oiled & aged leather.

And I’m getting a pleasant buzz, so my day is much improved. :)

This tea is excellent. It does not have the typical Dayi security marks. I don’t know which Dayi teas from 2011 glow green is the thing. In any case its quite good. There was a moderate amount of fermentation flavor in the early steeps. By the fifth steep it was gone. There was a sweet flavor too. Another person apparently described it as figs. While I might have said dates or plums this is close too. It emerged in the later steeps. For a tea that only costs $14.50 or so this is quite good. I really enjoyed this tea. I would have steeped it four more times or so but I didn’t want the caffeine.

I steeped this six times in a 220ml gaiwan with 10g leaf and boiling water. I steeped it for 10 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 30 sec, and 1 min.

This tea isn’t bad. I am not that much into semi aged sheng but I enjoyed this tea. It has a heavy smoke flavor mixed with other aged flavor. I didn’t have that sweetness I like in certain young shengs. Still it was good.

I brewed this four times in a 220 ml gaiwan with 10g leaf and boiling water. I steeped it for 10 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, and 20 sec. There were a lot more steeps to this tea but I have to watch my caffeine.

Aged sheng appears to be growing on me! That or I’m starting to find styles I actually enjoy.

I stole this sample from Marzipan when I went to her house a few weeks back :D Ok I didn’t steal it, she was very generous and willing to split some of her White2Tea samples with me!

I am drinking it today because Cheri was drinking it yesterday and the day before and talking about how awesome it is on Steepster chat! I agree, this is a very nice one :)
Still having trouble describing aged flavors. This one is sweeter and “cleaner” tasting than some of the others I’ve had. I guess some aged sheng tastes like raw, green lumber to me and this woody taste is more of a ripe, almost fruity wood with a more complex taste. Like the difference between the smell of a cheap piece of plywood and a fancy piece of apple or cherry wood maybe? I’m getting a little abstract here, sorry!

90 for the tea. 100 for puerh wrapper art work!

Love this tea – it starts off like amber insence – amber and a bit of smoke with a super slick texture. Middle infusions got pretty dry, but smoothed out at the end with pear sweet, mineral, wet leaf notes, with a floral aftertaste. Final infusions (12th and 13th) where milky smooth.

Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/white2tea-club-december-2014-featuring-2008-often-raw-puerh/

I have been wanting to try this tea for a while. Picked it up with my Black Friday order to White2Tea. Just now getting around to trying it. It is not bad. The aged flavor is strong. I was going to describe the aged flavor as a bamboo taste but I think the Steepster writeup has a better description, wet wood. It starts out with this note and its quite strong. By the second steep it began to dissipate and be replaced to some degreee by a sweet note, but not the sweet note of a young shou. This has a definite aged flavor throughout. By the fourth steep this note was almost gone but not quite. As I have to sleep tonight I only gave this four steeps. To be honest I didn’t like it enough to steep it more anyway. This tea was definitely worth trying. I just didn’t like it as much as I had hoped.

I steeped this tea four times in a 220ml gaiwan with 9.3g leaf and boiling water. I steeped it for 10 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, and 20 sec. This was a very strong tea and I could have gotten a lot more out of it, probably eight more steeps.

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A sample from “Pug”. Very soft and gentle, not much in the flavor profile to exclaim. A starter sheng for sure for those not used to pu erh. The leaf material was of good quality and the spent leaves were still strong.

Woo woo in a cake.

Here are my notes and impressions:
- dried leaf smells fresh and fruity
- wet smells like leathery dried apricots
- Broth color is pale yellow
- Feels nicely woo woo

As I was drinking this and skypeing with MzPriss, I found myself losing track of the convo. Luckily we do text chat, so I could go back and see what she was saying LOL

I wish I could do a whole cake of this. It’s a winner fo sho and I think it’s going to age amazingly. Like me. But at least I am happy I got to try it, and for that I am grateful!

This is a good tea but I don’t think I will drop $285 on it. I bought the sample in the White2Tea Black Friday sale and am just now getting around to trying it. I would describe this tea as a mixture of mild sweetness and aged flavor, I don’t know a better way to describe the aged flavor. There was little bitterness in this tea although the aged flavor was strong and in some ways bitter too, if that is a good description.

It seems that I am simply not meant for the effect from tea that some here report getting. While this tea had a relaxing effect on me I can’t claim to have gotten tea drunk. Perhaps 6.6g tea for 150ml was not enough tea, perhaps next time I will use more. I have enough of the sample left for at least two more sessions.

I brewed this eight times in a 150ml gaiwan with 6.6g leaf and 200 degree water.I rinsed this tea and gave it a ten minute rest. I steeped it for 10 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, and 1 min. I have saved the leaves and will go back to this tea later. Hopefully I have gotten all the caffeine at this point and the rest will effectively be decaf.

I liked this one quite a bit. Smooth and easy drinking, and just a touch sweet. I got several infusions out of this one.

My gongfu session lasted right about 2 hours

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and Penny joined me for my tea:
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