2015 Colbert Holland 1945

Not bad, this one. Quite powerful from the 2nd steep onward. Dry leaf has a scent of caramelized sugarcane and grass. The brewed leaves are largely intact. Nice aroma of ripe plums, tropical flowers, brewed mint tea, nutmeg, and sweet steamed Chinese greens.

The tea brews a deep golden hue and with good clarity and viscosity. This is strong tea that can hold its own. I was drinking in the presence of my loud family, but the cha qi was what won my attention! Nice cooling effects going on here, too. There’s a good earthy-bitter base here, with notes of sweet grass, canned pineapple, dark fruits, gasoline, brown sugar, spicy arugula, green apple, forest moss, and minerals. Huigan is nice and the aftertaste lasts for while after drinking, especially in the throat.

I’ve noticed a certain metallic aspect in some of W2T’s young sheng about which I am undecided. It’s definitely present here, but for now the awesomeness of the Colbert’s cha qi makes up for it.

This tea is an interesting one. My first real foray into any of W2T’s higher tiers. It took a couple sessions with this one for me to really figure it out at all. After the first session, I was slightly underwhelmed. The flavor seemed a little bit lighter than I expected and it was rather unremarkable. I think I just didn’t pay it enough attention the first time, as the second session was much better. To me, this tea was a bit more about feeling and texture than overt flavor. I think I was more homed in on this fact the second session, which helped me get more out of it.

I didn’t find this tea particularly bitter, as some people have mentioned. There certainly is some bitterness to it, but was rather tame to me. Flavors were vegetal, normally with a slightly fruity finish. In later steeps, it was more like wet hay in the front instead. If I had to characterize the fruity notes more specifically, I would say like dried pineapple, but nowhere near as sweet. In early steeps, I also got an interesting sweetness I would say is reminiscent of baking spices…like I was drinking a snickerdoodle.

As I said above, I think this tea was more about the feeling and texture than the taste. It was thick, but not oily. In some steeps it seemed to be an almost buttery texture. Made my mouth feel tingly and numb for most of the session. In some of the middle steeps, I could also feel it more in my belly – not tingling, but like a warmth (separate from the actual warmth of the liquid) dropping down there. It was a relaxing tea, not making me feel hyper, like some teas do.

This is definitely a tea I had to pay more attention to than I do many of the other teas I drink. I think I’m going to find that the case with most of the higher end sheng that I’m starting to get into trying. This one kind of struck me as Milk, Cream, and Alcohol’s bigger and more complex brother. It is more subtle, but has some of the same attributes going for it. Perhaps unsurprising, as they’re both Menghai material from the same year sourced by the same person.

I followed boychik’s suggestion and tried 6g of leaf as opposed to 8, and did get through it this time, in 15 or so steeps. It was a lot less thick and fruity at the beginning, and tapered off into soft floral perfume at the end. In this it reminded me of a couple of last year’s Yunnan Sourcing teas, ones that are labelled “gu shu” and sold at about $100/400g.

I think I prefer the higher leaf ratio, and in the future will go back to that but with a more cautious steeping schedule.

This tea is just short of perfect. I think I have a new favorite, or at least a going in my top 10. The dried leaf is massive. This cake has long and slender shining maocha that is loosely compressed. This long haired beauty has an enticing aroma of sweet forest moss and cedar in the background. I pulled apart a generous chunk and placed in my warmed yixing and gave it a shake. I haven’t had a sheng session in a little bit, so I was missing my sheng pot. It was nice that we got to spend some time together. It might sound weird, and I don’t know if there is anyone else that feels this way, but I get to know my teapot and I miss it when I don’t sit down and just chill with it. Anyways, the warmed leaf smelled amazing! They gave off a sweet and deep floral scent mixed with a green aroma. It was like the forest floor after a summer rain. There was just so much intensity with this aroma. I washed the leaves once and prepared for my session. The brewed leaves gave off a heavy vegetable aroma and sweet spiced tone. The brew is a translucent pale gold. The taste is something spectacular! This is exactly what my body has been craving. This brew has so much intensity and flavor. The taste begins sweet and syrupy, but it mixes with a light bitterness and vegetable background. It has characteristics alike a Nepalese green tea. Then, the brew reforms to a potent sugarcane with a moss floor. It’s earthy, sugary, and slightly sour. The brew continues this way and grows more and more sweet with each steep. There is a lasting huigan after each steep that is, OH SO GOOD! The qi is quite potent, as most Menghai brews are. It begins without notice and then slams full force. It grabs your mind and lifts off. This qi continues to build with each moment. This is a wonderful tea. It gives a high quality brew without the stress of it being too pricey. The leaves are beautiful. I spotted complete and whole leaves and buds mixed within my yixing. Their color are a pale vibrant jade. The only downfall with this brew is that it falters after some steeping. The brew still delivers a tasteful drink, but it is nothing compared to the first three steep sessions. I believed this brew would last a bit longer. I am still in love with it. I am very happy to have more, and it is definitely going in a top 10 best for me.

https://instagram.com/p/7v8JX6zGZF/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

Thank you Boychik for this sample. This is an outstanding raw tea. It is strong and punchy sheng. There was a fair amount of bitterness to the early steeps. I gave this tea fourteen steeps in a 50ml gaiwan. I would say I found bitterness in the first eight steeps. Then the transformation began. There was still a potency to this tea even in the fourteenth steep. It became something quite pleasant but still strong. I suspect that this tea is a good one for aging. Its strong and slightly bitter character makes me feel this. This one has a potent aftertaste to it also. After fourteen steeps I am starting to feel its qi. This is one I would consider buying if WHite2Tea has any left during their Black Friday sale.

I steeped this fourteen times in a 50ml gaiwan with 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, 2 min, 2.5 min and 3 min. I think this tea would have gone 20 steeps and I may save the leaves for tomorrow.

The early steeps of this tea were what I would describe as ‘juicy’. They were interestingly sour in a way that many fruit juices are. It produced a feeling on the tongue and in the bottom of the cheeks that was pleasantly drying and slightly cooling at the same time.

Very thick at first, thinning out a bit in later steeps. The tea coats the tongue and makes it feel flush or slightly swollen. It is similar in character to the w2t Tuhao, although this is not as throaty of a tea, and the huigan is not as strong.

What was most intriguing was the complexity of aroma in the gaiwan. Each steep brought out something different, sometimes drastically different than the last steep. Overall a very enjoyable tea.

Flavors/Aromas: Steamed Rice, Pipe Tobacco, Masala Spice, Grain, Minerals, Grape, Apple

From the S&S TTB #2

Thanks to Rich for the generous addition to the TTB.

This tea is the reason I love sheng. The tea is rich and complex, with every one of at least 10 steeps showing a subtly different character.

The first steep (some would call this the rinse) was light but delicious with floral highlights. 2nd and 3rd were rich, complex, and powerful. Middle steeps (3,4,5) were woody and tannic, presumably suggesting an ability to age. After the 5th steep, the steeps became soft and round and sweet. The combination of the flavor and the cha qi leaves me sitting on the sofa with a smile on my lips.

I enjoyed this one quite a lot. It is suggestive of deep green stewed vegetables, or dank moss, somewhat like a Japanese green tea but with a thicker body and strong bitterness. Indeed, it is not a ‘sweet tea’, but it has a smoothness, complexity and depth that is not easily matched by other puerhs. It has conventional Menghai character in its tobacco and malt flavors, but is not overtly fruity like the Milk, Cream and Alcohol is. Instead, it tends much more towards dark green flavors noted above. I’d recommend at least sampling this guy.