white2tea

This is a very tasty raw puerh that has not completely lost it’s young sheng sweetness. There was a little bit of bitterness initially but not much. It quickly smoothed out. It was clearly dry stored as it has no wet storage taste to it. That in of itself seems unusual for White2Tea. I got this with the club package and am just getting around to trying it. While this would be a good one to buy for some further aging I am not sure if I will buy it or not. It was good though.

I steeped this twelve times in a 120ml gaiwan with 8.4g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse and a 10 minute rest. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 min. If I hadn’t reached my caffeine limit for today this would definitely go a few more steeps.

I don’t usually review teas to a score of 100, but I though this tea was damn good. I’ve been hoarding my beeng of it because I don’t want to run low on it.

I don’t think a tea as flavorful and as explosive as this one will ever be made again. My heart lies with Bosch <3

This is a great little tea sphere. Maybe a bit big for a single session (for me personally, in a 100mL gaiwan), but a went for it anyway. The fragrance is light, fresh, and pleasant. It’s a bit toned down, implying maybe a little bit of aging (I think this is 2012 material, right?). The tea itself is buttery, thick, and flavorful, with no bitterness on the first steep, and just a bit of drying thereafter. This reminds me a lot of the White2Tea Pin cake, which I also enjoy.

This is a tasty black tea. I added a different sweetener to this so I’m not sure how much I’m tasting is the honey crystals and how much is the tea but it is good. It has a certain malty character to it but not too strong. It is good.

I brewed this once in a Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 200 degree water for 3 min.

This is a pretty good raw puerh. It was only somewhat bitter at the start with notes of apricots and stonefruits throughout all twelve steeps I gave this. It had a slightly bitter aftertaste to it. I couldn’t really taste the bamboo one way or the other, I don’t know if this is good or bad mind you. It was extremely well compressed. It took several steeps for this to open up and brew correctly. I liked this puerh.

I brewed this twelve times in a 120ml gaiwan with 8.6g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse and a 10 minute rest. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 min. It would have gone a few more steeps not sure how many. I didn’t get much qi off of this.

This tea is actually really affordable and kind of a cool wrapper too. It was one of my first Pu’er teas but I think I did it okay and got a nice taste out of it without trying too hard. The first brew was tossed (they say to), but each brew after got more and more flavorful until about number 5 when I stopped. Its all personal preference, but htis is one of the better I have had cuz it was sweet.

This was about my 4th session with this tea, probably the best one yet. I was getting a nice full mouthfeel with perfumey sweetness for probably a half-dozen steeps. I kept hitting ‘reboil’ to keep the water temp up.

I could wish this tea had more longevity, or more strong steeps in it, but it really is pretty good.

Nice, very clean dry storage, high leaf grade, fine floral & sweet perfume. Begins to get thin after about 10 infusions, I felt it was played out after 14.

From the Puerh Beginners TTB.

After trying a shou that was included as a sample with an order from Bitterleaf Teas, my interest in this style has been reinvigorated. I plan to include some of that tea in this box when I send it out, maybe someone else will like it as much as me and split a brick down the road. Since I have a bunch of ripe teas sitting in front of me here, I thought I would continue my education.

Now, I am a sucker for packaging so these little wrapped balls immediately grabbed my attention. Plus, someone had already broken some off of one leaving 10g which was perfect for me. The first infusion went instanly dark. I drank this last night and I don’t even remember how many 5 second steeps I gave this. I know I gave it even more 10 second steeps. The deep flavorful infusions just kept coming and coming. When it was all said and done I probably steeped this at least twenty times and could have kept going.

The flavor was deep, sweet, earthy. Clear memories came to me of the wooden shelters on rainy days at camp as a kid. There is a hint of cherry and wood. It is reminiscent of a full bodied wine. This is a great tea. Looks like I just needed to try a new pair of shous…

Awesome little cake from White2Tea. One of my first cakes, and I’ve played around with this one more than any other puer. I’ve learned more about brewing young sheng from this cake than I thought possible.
Quite a bit going on with this one for what it is: a solid bang for your buck. The two main components I get depending on how I’m steeping/the number of steeps I’ve done are a strong vegetal/bean flavor and a distinct sweetness later on. Definitely touchy in early steeps and will get bitter quick if you’re not watching the temp of your water.

Solid little 25 g tuos. I enjoyed these more and more after airing them out for several months. Perfect trade off of quality to convenience that mini tuos strive for. The cake/tuo under 100 g that I see myself returning to most of any I’ve tried.

90% of the time I don’t read reviews prior to writing my own, but this was a rather odd tasting for me… even with two notes on this, I stand with AllanK. This is a very hard tea to define in regards to what it taste like or if those taste are ones that I like.

Only the back of the tongue feels the liquid once it goes down, leaving nothing to reexamine on the tip. I tried to leave the liquid at the front for a few seconds, still the back is the only place holding a feel to which I’m not sure if there is a taste. Very thing texture which isn’t an issue, but I just cannot describe the taste. Taste like a piece of grapefruit skin that was underneath a Hot Wheels car for roughly 20 months and then put into the tea as an experiment. So whatever that says to you. I suppose it doesn’t matter if I like it or not, in a fight Repave wins; round 1,2, and 3.

I’ve lately built an obsession with Poundcake and i’ve already had 8-10 sessions with it. It’s incredibly creamy and smooth, and reminds me of a good milk oolong. This tea os definitely worth the money and is something that i’m going t continue to enjoy in the future.

You can read my full review on my blog-

http://coolcodyc.wix.com/theoolongdrunk#!I-Brought-Cake-to-the-Party/c21kp/56eed8040cf276e9de24959f

Let me tell you a short story:

A friend gifted me some of this and one day I decided to brew it. The thought of it’s taste, aroma, and feeling of fullfilment afterwords as lingered with my for 6 days straight and I keep thinking of when I will drink this next.

The it’s not over yet because this short story requires the author to buy more Dark Feather to keep writing it.
Until then: Dann this is good.

There is no way to do this tea justice with a mere tasting note, and anyway I lack both the palate and the vocabulary to speak with any authority about things like “stonefruits” and “vegetal” and “astringent” and stuff like that, particularly with a tea like this.

I’ll be honest, this is been kind of a crappy year so far. I do believe with all my heart that the secret to happiness is gratitude. And so, I am grateful for many things. And while I try to be zen about things as a general rule (I wear a ring with “this too shall pass” engraved on it), sometimes shit just gets shittier. And when you happen to do what I do for a living, most days you feel like Sisyphus at the rock and wonder why you even try. Which is why sometimes you need to spend the money on a tea like this one, and you need to drink it, because life is short.

Tiger above me
tiger below; slowly now-
fall. This tea is sweet.

wasnt super into this one when i brewed with 120ml vessel, but now that i am revisiting this with my 60ml gaiwan i got today, im more able to drink it, simply because less water.

dry: light- med press based on sample. kind of yellow looking, maybe looks like an owl pellet. smells kind of sour with a floral after effect.

wet: light olive green leaves. a fair bit of stem. aroma more impactful, sweeter, honey, young moss after rainfall.. if i remember what moss smells like.. lol

taste: it is astringent at the front, and bitter invades your afterthoughts, and coats the tongue. kind of makes me press my tongue to the roof of my mouth. i should experiment with temp, as in bring it down some.

i dont think this sheng has much going for it. too young, maybe in time..

but simply because it has some puerh qualities, and i havnt tried a temp change, i’ll give a generous rating.

Below is the review I wrote for a tea labeled “2008 Often” from the PU TTB. Now, based on the reviews from other people, it’s quite possible I got tea that was mislabeled (maybe it was Old Bear?) or stored by someone in a pile of smokey sheng samples. Or maybe it’s just how my palate has processed this tea. So, for what it’s worth:
*
I have vivid memories of my grandfather, who passed away many years ago. He was a gruff old man, and big as a house. My mother and aunt used to joke that they got his pants from Omar the Tentmaker. My grandfather loved an enormous glass of red wine, the kind that comes in the gallon jugs with woven straw bottoms, and he loved his El Producto cigars, which he purchased by the crateful.

When I first brewed this tea, I had an immediate sense memory that took me back to that cramped NJ apartment where my grandfather sat in his recliner, glass of wine in one hand, television remote in the other, cigar clenched in his teeth, most of the time lit, mercifully (but rarely), unlit. The sense memory is not actually smoke. This is indeed a smokey sheng, but the smell is the smell of a my grandfather’s cigar stubs, soaking wet with his spittle, piled in one or more of many gorgeous marble ashtrays he brought back from his trips to Italy. Wet tobacco with a slight whisper of red wine. Wet tobacco tea, utterly smothering anything else there might be, even 10 tossed steeps later. This sheng rivals Old Bear for smokiness.

I cannot say I don’t recommend this tea, because some folks like a smokey sheng. But for anyone who dislikes smokey things like lapsang souchong, lit//unlit cigars, or smokey sheng in general, this tea may not be for you.

The tea was from White2Tea’s Monthly Club.

Right off the bat, I noticed that this tea had a smell of caramel and a straight taste of honey. I also noticed tastes of zest that followed the honey, and a cooling aftertaste that reminded me of mint. After steeping 4 there was a punch of bitterness, but it didn’t last for about 3 steeping.

After around the 5th steeping, I got a nice smoothness that was direct proof of excellent stored tea. It had a fermented taste that really helped this tea along. In the later steepings and even on my last steeping, the tea got incredibly smooth and it reminded me of butter for how thick and smooth it was. It was a very pleasant surprise and it made me want to drink it again.

Overall, I would buy this tea again and plan of drinking it in any further tea steeping.. The process of aging really did help this tea because if it was any younger, I probably wouldn’t be a fan of it.

The residual smoke in this tea is overwhelming for me. The mixture is a bit rough. While it’s quite unique, the smoke doesn’t steep out as quickly as you’d think. This probably needs a lot of airing out and some time.