Old Whitey

So, this was my first tea of 2019!

It’s not so much that I picked this specifically for my first tea – but I know I wanted to have something compressed and drink it Gong Fu because I usually like my “firsts” to have some sort of symbolic meaning. In this case, I’d like it to hopefully be representative of more of a shift towards drinking larger amounts of straight and traditional teas at home instead of just at work.

Apart from that, I chose this because I’ve owned this cake for like three years and never touched it & based on reviews it seemed like it would be acceptably with the champagne infused cheddar I had also purchased to start the year off with.

Around nine or ten steeps in total; and a hefty amount of cheese also consumed throughout the session. I did find that the tea wasn’t super “stand out” in terms of flavour; not anything wrong with it but I feel like I’ve also just had far better offerings from White2Tea in terms of the white teas that they carry. I found it fairly sweet and floral, with some stonefruit-like fruity elements in the undertones becoming more prominent throughout the session. I think I just wanted more “life” and brightness to the tea’s profile overall.

Cheese was also really good, though I didn’t find that the “champagne” in it was all too strong/clear. As tasty as it was, I felt like maybe it was more gimmicky and meant to rope people into buying it specifically for the thematic tie ins for NYE – just like it did for me.

I’m a sucker for a well put together symbolic gesture/theme.

The cake is lightly compressed with beautiful color.

I often use boiling water or off the boil and found this tea held up well with quick steeps in my Ruyao Xishi Teapot.

Dates, thick, sweet, a little drying toward the end of a long session when some bitterness crept in, expected because of the hot water. A pink grapefruit aroma throughout.

I found this an interesting white, nothing boring about it. Apparently it was a small production.

BF 2017: Ordered another cake.

I had first steeped this gong fu style and didn’t come away too impressed. I had a feeling I made a misstep which is why I didn’t review it at the time. I know that sometimes with white tea gong fu works nicely and with some other white teas, western style seems to get better results.

So last night, I brewed this western style for my tea book club. We read Devil in the White City which is why I picked a white tea as one of my teas. I made a point to overleaf in the pot and it paid off. The brew was thick and flavorful. And well received. We brewed two rounds of this last night. I had forgotten to empty the leaves out of the pot last night so I decided to see if I could coax a third brew by steeping it for about 8 minutes. It was still delicious.

I’m excited I found the best way to brew this because it is really good when done western style.

This one is surprising me a little, but I really wasn’t sure what to expect.  It says 2016 so that means it’s not an aged white.  Leaves are completely different from a moonlight. 
It doesn’t have the old book, library thing that great aged whites have.  It doesn’t have the super sweet honey apricot thing that great moonlights have.  So it’s not really like either of those.  So what is it…..
It’s fantastic is what it is.  Light fruity juicy hint of hay (but in a fresh summer way).  It’s absolutely beautiful.  I’m going to steep it a little hotter next time and see if I can coax out some honey.  If not is still amazing the way it is.  Thanks so much Caile for sharing.  
 https://www.instagram.com/p/BNdFGwwArFq/

A very interesting tea for me. I am not used to white tea, nor am I used to compressed white tea. The cake was semi tight compressed and carried a light floral squash flower scent. I can hint at some hay, oak, and an almost citrus (orange) tone in the background. I warmed up my gaiwan and placed a chunk inside. The scent opened into sweet sugary dates, hot hay, plums, and honey. The aroma was very sweet and very tangy. I could already tell that this was going to be interesting. I washed the leaves once and prepared for brewing. The taste began as super sweet. The hot hay tone showed up in the finish with a dry brisk swish on the tongue. The floral note pronounced itself in the second steep. The brew is thick and full in the mouth. A strong flavor of fresh fruits and dates appears later on. The soup progressively gets heavier and thicker as it goes on. Then, the drink shifts to a dryness with woody tones. The fruit medley retreats to the background. The small bit of cake that I had lasted quite some time. I liked sipping on this, and I actually enjoyed this tea. This was surprising to me, for I usually don’t care for white tea as much. I’m glad I was given the opportunity to try this tea.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BJjUvydAOE7/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

I love aged white tea and tasting Old Whitey I got some light date and medicinal notes in the 8 and 9th steeps – this guy has potential! Other notes of amber, linen, rock sugar with a creamy texture.

Someone put Old Whitey in a time warp 5 years! AGE FASTER!

Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/september-2016-white2tea-club-feat-2016-old-whitey-hoplite-oolong/

Old Whitey was something that threw me completely off. I wouldn’t say i’m the biggest fan of white tea, but this one completely blew me away. I first want to say that this tea came off very dense, yet sweet. It had a very smooth and thick body and honey bush, flowers, and honey. The combination of flavors kept making me want to drink more. Although white tea is temperature sensitive, this tea still holds its own if it’s overstepped. Just for kicks, I experimented with steepings and overstepped the jesus out of it, and it still had a very smooth and everlasting flavor.

Bravo White2Tea!