white2tea

This tea is really good. I find myself liking sheng more than ever before. It was a little fruity as the description says and there were slight notes of apricots. It was just a tiny bit bitter in the first steeping. This was gone by the second steeping. By the fourth steeping it was very smooth. It was slightly sweet too (not meaning sugar sweet). It was good.

I steeped this four times in a 140 ml yixing teapot with 5g leaf and 200 degree water. I steeped it for 15 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, and 20 sec. It had a very pale yellow color.

This is the most intense tea I’ve tried to date. That is, the stoner kind of tea. 8 grams per 125 ml of this and I become unbearably wonderful. And I can’t shut up. Also, I crave salty snacks and chocolate. After 8 steeps I turn into Spinoza and start writing mystical essays.

I can only attribute the effect this tea has to the small mountain tea leaves of the wild trees on Naka mountain, as opposed to the plantation or terrace type of teas produced in the same area. I compare two cheaper Nakas and even sent a sample of this to a friend to be sure I’m not crazy.

If the price of this tea scares you off, I can recommend the 2007 Spring Naka Qiao Mu Bamboo Raw from Chawangshop which also appears to be the small mountain leaf, and I got a bit of a buzz on that, nowhere near as intense as this tea. But an okay substitute, and I have reviewed that here too. This 2005 Naka has a slight humid storage which I prefer to the drier storage of the Chawangshop bamboo.

More comparisons on my tea blog, http://deathbytea.blogspot.com.

Dry – Sweet, fruity, refreshing, buttery?, bitter floral and slightly nutty.
Wet – Warm sugar sweetness with very apparent tobacco and some faint smoke, fruits, cream, floral and nutty.
Liquor – Light amber to Amber.

This notes is a summary of two separate sessions in porcelain gaiwan

The first steep in both sessions were sweet and mellow with a fast overtake of the tobacco notes up front. As it went down, the texture was thick/creamy while still wearing the tobacco notes, yet it feels sweeter with fruity and nutty notes.

Following steeps switch to a tobacco front with the sweetness coming in second together with bitter-tobacco and bittersweet floral notes and some nutty and herbaceous hints up front. As it goes down, it has a thick and almost creamy texture, but has some minor astringency to it. The fruity and floral notes a more apparent as the liquor washes down, yet will continue to hold the tobacco notes.

Final steeps are about the same in terms of the notes you find and the order, but much more mellowed down and a refreshing finish easier to detect.

Final Notes

I liked this one, It has strong tobacco notes, but is not overwhelming. I’d say this is definitely stronger than the Repave, but WAY gentler than a Xiaguan the same age would be and has a lasting Huigan.

This pu’er doesn’t quit! I got 17 infusions!

2002 White2tea White Whale has plenty of camphor minty notes, some woodsy enoki mushroom and a hint of smoke. Later steepings the tea smooths out, gets sweeter but the refreshing notes remain (and don’t go away). A little bit of dryness, but still very easy to drink and forgiving to steep.

For $15 for a 100gram cake (price going up sooon!) this is a great deal for a cake with some age on it, especially if you are new to pu’er. Recommended!

Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/2002-white2tea-white-whale-raw-puer/

This is a pleasant enough shou. The predominant flavor is definitely wood with perhaps a little leather flavor. This tea really is very smooth. Almost too smooth for my liking as there is very little that really stands out in this tea, but maybe that should be expected for the low price, which is really exceptional at just $12 a cake. I have had better luck brewing western style which produces a more flavorful cup. Because of the low price I have also enjoyed messing around with cold brewing it after a couple quick rinses which resulted in a pretty interesting iced tea. To give you an idea of how hard it is to get flavor out of this I steeped 7 grams in 24 oz. water for 48 hours to produce a flavorful enough iced tea. It was a fun experiment.

In the end I don’t think I will buy this again, but I surely do not regret the purchase. As the website says, this may be a great starter tea for those new to puer but i feel I am perhaps past this point in my puer tasting journey.

So this was a sample from the lovely and wonderful MzPriss.

At first I didn’t smell the tobacco, but once it was pointed out, I picked it up right away. I do enjoy this one, but I didn’t fall in love. So while I’m quite happy, I went with other White2s in today’s order. :)

I really, really, really, really loved this sheng. I can’t EVEN believe this is 2014 tea. It does not taste like baby sheng at ALL (and I <3 baby sheng by the way). It is so smooth and so sweet – there is hardly any bitterness and a very nice mellow body feel. Warm and contented.

But HOLY SHITAKE!!! This bad boy costs over $120 for a small cake. Sobs. I had to decide between this and the Little Yellow Mark and the Little Yellow Mark won. But this is EXCELLENT and I wish I had more disposable income at the moment, or a cake of this would be mine.

Today is a Smokey Robinson kind of day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly8G9Psdqxw

I did Sary’s combo method for this. The liquor is pale yellow and the aroma to me is almost completely tobacco. Not a strong overwhelming tobacco, but that is the main aroma to me. This is quite sweet and fairly smooth, especially for its age, but I also taste tobacco with a very slight bitterness and no astringency.

It will interesting to see how this turns out in a few years. Just for fun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oVBvxA0mm0

I like this! I’m not finding it quite as punchy as some – it’s definitely in your face and all over the place. Yeah, it’s bitterish at first but not in a bad way and I LOVE the sweetness. Love it. It’s a baby now, but I think this is gonna be a badass in a few years.

There is an almost grapey flavor, but not quite. There is very little smoke, but some nice tobacco and it keeps getting sweeter.

I’m having a good time with this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBShN8qT4lk

Well dadgummit! OF COURSE I like $150 a cake tea. There is astringency and a not unpleasant bitterness in the first few steeps, but it mellows into sweetness. There is very little smoke and around steeps 5-6 it becomes very charming. Still a little astringency, but a sweet smoothness as well.

I have a little catch at the back of my throat and a very, very nice chi buzz. A fabulous all over body hum that is making me very, very happy. Happy to the point I may have to figure out how to afford this. Maybe split a cake Sarsy? I’m Smokey Robinson happy: y’all: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI_0tQdEA5k

Holy moley, I may just go lay down and enjoy this. Happy Sheng. Of Happiness!

Holy crap.

I just had a shou epiphany.

A rinse and rest is not enough to stop shou from tasting like I licked the pots at the plant nursery. I did a 10 second rinse, then a rest. Then I tried to brew 10 and 15. That earthy flavor is front and center and I can’t get to the flavors BEHIND it.

Dumped those. Then I brewed another 10 second. Dumped that. THEN I brewed a 10 and 15. NOW there is some actual flavor beyond just something dirty. It’s very sweet and mild. I mean, it’s still a LITTLE dirty. But now there are other flavors, like caramel and dark candies.

I have a long weekend and I’m going to spend at least some of it re-brewing shous I kind of liked, along with those that I didn’t even post b/c I just couldn’t stand them.

I may actually start to like shou. And it’s about damn time!

Oh my. Potting soil.

But it does have a very sweet start, and a sweet aftertaste. It’s what is in the middle that’s just not working for me.

I guess this makes me a dry storage kind of girl!

Maaaaaan. I wish I had $150 just laying around to buy a whole cake of this tea. It’s very good!

I was hoping I wouldn’t like it b/c of the price, but that didn’t work out for me. The aromas and flavors here are very different from many pu’s I’ve tried, which is intriguing. I love the smoked apricots I get in most shengs, but this goes beyond that. And it’s SMOOOOOOOTH, like buttah!

It’s sweet, with no real bitterness, just mellow yumz and lovely soothing feelings. It’s definitely a happy tea. Of happiness.

The only sad part is that I only have enough tea for one more date!

This tea is a swift kick in the nuts. Woo!

The aroma is very light smoke, but very strong apricots. There are so many flavors that it’s hard to pick them all out. Let’s just say that everything blends together very nicely. It had a stronger bitter finish at first, but it’s only on certain sips and seems to be calming down. It’s not an unpleasant bitterness… it’s hard for me to explain. Some teas have a yucky bitterness that makes you go blargh. This is different. It’s quite nice.

I’m only on steep 3 and this already has my heart pumping. This tea assures me that I am ALIVE!

This was a great way to start the weekend!

I have come to appreciate and admire Paul at White2tea because of his firm commitment to uncovering fine teas at very fair prices – this little guy is a great example. I actually picked it up months ago when I placed my first order with him. I could not believe that an aged tea at this low price could be worth drinking. This is definitely a tea to be valued and enjoyed.
I was able to pick off quite easily layers of tea from this little brick. There is definitely the aroma of smoke in the dry leaf but it is not overwhelming – more of an accent. Two short rinses and then let it sit for 15m while the leaves opened a bit. That low level of smoke remained but it was even more subtle when leaves were wet. The tea soup is rather clear with a solid brownish orange tint. The sip offers a woody flavor with that light smoke accent and a bit of camphor thrown into the mix – complex enough for my palate to make it very enjoyable. Note: I would not describe this as a “sweet” tea but the flavor is quite appealing.
Due to all the recent chatter about this tea, I used a lighter amount of leaf (5g) but I think I’ll increase the leaf amount by 50% during the next session just to discover the difference.

There has been a lot of buzz about this tea and I finally got a chance to break into my brick tonight. Is it the best puerh that I’ve ever had? Of course not. Is it the best $15/100g puerh that I’ve ever had? Absolutely! The taste was thick and earthy with lots of camphor and even a bit of piney smokiness. In a way, I’m reminded of the rosin that I used to rub my violin bow with back in grade school. It’s been too long since I’ve been able to indulge in a halfway decent puerh and this one went straight to my head.

Reading White 2 Tea’s blurb about the tea, it stresses the price/quality ratio. While I understand that is important…sometimes I just want to drink a good tea regardless of the price.

While this is supposed to be a raw, it certainly reminded me more of a cooked pu-erh. I think this is the Hong Kong Style coming out. I got the cedar, but more than that I got camphor and fish.

I still have a couple infusions to go on this, but so far this has been my least favorite of the three teas.

With my new ranking system I would give it

70 for the taste
16 for the price
75 for the representation

53.66 new ranking (70 old ranking)

This was a potent tea! A small amount of leaves really carried a lot of flavor, and brought a small amount of nice bitterness. The flavor was one that was very new to me and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It seemed to have a very satisfying element to it. Maybe that was just because Ive haven’t had too much Pu Erh in the last month… I also found it incredibly intoxicating, sinking me deep into the chair. My mind was buzzing and very relaxed. The color of the liquor was also a beautiful golden color like a brandy or whisky.

I think I liked this one a little more than the Repave I tried earlier; but I can’t tell if it is because this one is more aged!

It started off with a faint camphor that then grew into a butterscotch sweetness in later brewings, the 4th brewing still brewed a strong color but was a bit light on the taste.

Updated Ranking

Taste = 84
Price = 23
Quality = 78

New Rank 62 (old rank 84)

I have had this tea for some time and have had a chance to spend a lot of time with it. Looking at my email it seems I first tried it on September 29th of 2013 to be exact. Looking at my very first notes on the tea, it appears I was not satisfied in my first session. I was terribly mistaken and must have been half asleep or not used enough leaf because when I tried it again the next week it blew me away. It really stands out in the category of potent, bitter young raw Puerhs made with high quality maocha. The flavor, smells, texture, and body response for the tea really create a personality that I thoughroighly enjoy.
It starts off strong with sweet peach and cotton candy flavors and then fades into an even stronger bitter, burnt coffee flavor that last a long time in the mouth. There is also a delayed bitterness that lasts throughout the second wave of flavor.
The highlights of the tea are the scents that come with the fantastic flavors. Immediately when you wet the laves they smell like candy and fruit that would be almost too sweet. It doesn’t smell like tea. The liquor and scent cup accent all the flavors described above and also radiates a honey/syrup smell when the tea is hot.
I have noticed that after 8 or so months the tea is starting to slowly lose some of the fruity flavors which are being replaced by new cooked peach flavors and drowned out by a growing coffee flavor. Still very similar though. Maybe a 9.3 instead of a 9.5
I highly suggest this tea to anyone that likes their tea very strong and doesn’t mind taking two or three sessions to really pinpoint what you like about it. A little side note: If you enjoy this tea I guarantee you will love Tea Urchin’s teas made with high mountain maocha and Miles’ Birthday Blend.

If you are someone other than MzPriss, TTF, or ost and I promised you tea samples, holla back. I am prepping samples now!

Method: 6 g, 6 0z, 195 degrees, rinse-10-10, sheng yixing

Aroma: smoked apricots

Flavor: This started to calm down at the 3-4 steeps. I didn’t finish the first two because they were pretty bitter, even at only 10 seconds. Now I am onto the 5-6 steeps, each were 15 seconds. The tea is a bit more brothy now. It still has a little kick at the end, but nothing drastic. I like this tea. It’s quite good. But I didn’t fall in love with this one like some of the other White2’s.