2018 White Yabao

Super excited to try this, my first foray into yabao.

Warming leaf — black pepper, celery, tree fruit, figs, rhubarb jam. The leaf has far stronger notes than the soup ever finds.

Liquor is light, even with long steeps, the color of dried cornhusk. Medium mouthfeel, a little drying. Subtle. Light tree fruits, spring flower petals.

This is a refreshing and playful little thing — and interesting, though not big or showy. I can see why LP has had trouble moving these cakes — more of a curiosity than anything, probably. But — if I were looking for caffeine-free in the evenings, I might turn here instead of some gobbledygook tisane.

I probably don’t need a whole cake of the stuff, though. Looking forward to trying the 2006 yabao/sheng cake, as it seems to have had a slightly better reception.

Going to withhold a rating on this session.

The flavor is very light, I tried a few different water temps up to 205DEGF and up to 3 minutes per infusion but only got light wood notes, a bit of floral background, and clear body. On higher steep times there is astringency so I can’t push the temp or time any more than I have already. I don’t have the best sense of smell though so that might be part of the sensation loss.

It’s subtle, or maybe I was just expecting more. The Shou Mei white tea cake I have offers much more complexity and nuttiness for a lesser price.

The one thing that stands out is a nice Hui Gan when steeped on the longer side. There’s one more session at which point I can issue a rating.