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This is a tea I have a hard time defining. It’s sweet, rich, savory (in the green/raw way), and hearty. It’s comforting in a way that raw and ripe aren’t on their own, uniquely its own and greater than the sum of its parts. I find myself reaching for it not (just) because I can’t decide between ripe and raw, but because it satisfies in a unique way.

☑ Berry
☑ Malt
☑ Black

Have to love a tea that delivers what it promises. Very prominent raspberry/blackberry, turbinado sugar sweetness and fruity/funkiness, and a malty backbone. Perhaps a touch of licorice in the later steeps. Mild, pleasantly tannic.

This has more fruit flavor than some flavored teas.

Sweet, creamy, vanilla, cherry cola, some mild herbaciousness, some cocoa. Later steeps have a sweet, somewhat floral quality. Brewed this up grandpa style and was hit with a flavor like classic glazed donut. It’s not the most complex shou, but it’s very satisfying. If this tea sat and brooded a little more, getting a little more heady I wouldn’t mind.

This is a tea I kind of forgot I have, which is surprising because my collection is not that big. I just don’t drink a lot of white tea. I bought it either year of or year after and it’s picked up some odor from my tea drawer. Zip-locks permeate odors, folks. The first couple steeps where storage flavor is present aren’t that interesting otherwise, anyway, mostly just sweet.

As I said, I don’t drink much white tea so I don’t have many reference points to draw on. Reminded me a lot of the Taiwanese mountain oolongs I used to drink. Notes of pine, slight citrus zest, general floral notes (maybe orchid, gardenia, jasmine, maybe violet) and nice sweetness. In the later steeps it’s stronger on the tree-vegetal/pine notes. Pleasantly dry, with a mouthfeel that moves from round to softly dry. I was able to push the temp on this pretty hard in the later steeps, going from 185-205’F which brought out more pine and green wood notes.

I remember this tea being more astringent and vegetal, and less sweet when I first tried it, so I think aging has helped it a bit.

Overall not bad, but too smokey for my taste. The smokiness overpowered everything else for me. I am a pu noob, but I was surprised by how green this tasted for its age. YS says dry-wet guangdong, so I guess that would explain it. Flavor was again smoke, musty/mushroomy wood, damp hay/barnyard, something savory/meaty, and some citrus or spicy fruit – maybe grapefruit. Mid steeps leaned towards darker fruits. Pleasant round mouthfeel. Slight tartness as it cooled. Satisfying returning sweetness. Not much here that I haven’t found elsewhere, but I will revisit it.