2005 Tei JI tuo

I received this tea as part of the White2Tea club box.

I’m not sure why, but I usually end up drinking this tea in the evening. I find it relaxes me somehow. As I begin writing I’m on the 2nd steep of this 60ml session and I can feel some warmth coming into my chest and up into my cheeks. The taste seems more mellow than the first couple times I brewed it when it arrived. The wet leaf still has a light smokiness and tobacco scent. I can feel the sides of my mouth and jaw being stimulated. Onto the 3rd steep the taste is still fairly light in bitterness and is a bit difficult to describe. It feels as though this tea has some age on it but retains some of its brash youthfulness. I can imagine this tea would have been a teeth clencher in its early days. It’s too bad there was such a limited supply, as the only ways to obtain this tea from white2tea would have been to spend a handsome sum and receive one for free during the 2015 Black Friday event, or to go through the club. I would be very curious to taste this tea in another 15 years with good storage. Unfortunately at the rate I’m drinking it I will be lucky to have any left after 5 years let alone 15. My mind is starting to wander and I can’t help but think that this loosely organized stream of thoughts will soon fall apart so I’ll have to cut this rambling short. This tea is very special to me. From the moment I opened it the smell of the wrapper and tea were intoxicating and the liquor it produces is so relaxing and comforting. As others have pointed out it’s a bit difficult to put a finger on what the flavour notes might be, but I can say that this is a tea with an inoffensive taste that lets the drinker wander off without demanding attention.

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.

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.

I’m really not certain if I liked this tea or not. It had definitely aged a fair bit. Very dark colored tea soup and plenty of aged taste. The problem is I don’t know how to describe the aged taste. It had no wet storage taste. It got better as I resteeped it. I guess I might hazard to say notes of hay and tobacco? Don’t know if that is an accurate description. I’m on the fence about this one in general. I have not completely decided that I like aged sheng or not. It’s nice that there were no notes of wet wood in there anyway. Usually White2Tea’s older stuff is wet stored so that is surprising.

I steeped this ten times in a 120ml gaiwan with 8.2g 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, and 1 min. The tea was starting to lose some color at ten steeps but I’m sure I could get a few more out of it if I hadn’t already had too much caffeine.