2018 Turtle Dove

Preparation:

- Temperature: 185°F / 85°C
- Time: 10s, 15s, 20s, 25s, 30s
- Tea Amount: 5 g
- Water Volume: 3 oz / 100 ml

I brewed this tea using the Gong Fu style, hoping to explore its depth through multiple short infusions.

- Color: White wine
- Flavor: Very superficial, with hints of wool and mustiness without much definition.

- Flavor: The mustiness is now complemented by a very subtle sweetness that appears only in the aftertaste. There’s also a faint earthiness that requires careful attention to notice.

- Flavor: Similar to the previous steep, with pronounced notes reminiscent of pungent meat and wet wool. Despite these strong flavors, there’s no bitterness.

- Flavor: No significant change from the third steep. The same musty and wool-like flavors persist.

- Flavor: The flavor profile remains unchanged, continuing with the same musty and wool-like notes.

In conclusion, the 2018 Turtle Dove by white2tea was not an exceptional tea. While it had consistent flavors across the steeps, these flavors were not particularly enjoyable or memorable.

- Flavor Complexity: 10/30 – The tea lacked distinctive or exceptional flavors.
- Brewing Forgiveness: 14/20 – The tea’s flavor did not evolve significantly with different steeping times.
- Consistency Across Infusions: 15/20 – The tea was consistent, but consistently unimpressive.
- Overall Enjoyment: 10/30 – The tea was drinkable but not enjoyable or exciting.

- yaro

Gongfu 85°C, rinse 5s, prima infusione 10s, successive +5s. (Infusioni totali: 10)

Secondo assaggio, sto dubitando che il te precedente sia lo stesso (ho due mini cakes diverse).
Questo a differenza del primo è molto più delicato, le note di frutta come albicocca, pesca e un pizzico di ciliegia ci sono, sono invece totalmente assenti le note di terra, astringenza non pervenuta.
Anche al corpo è molto diverso e ha una durata di infusione molto più bassa.

Costs: 0.1$/gr

Received this as a mini/sample from White2Tea in a package from Teawarehouse. I’m not well-versed in white teas, so I was interested in trying it.

Flavour: tree bark on the nose, something nutty at the back. Medium astringency.

All in all not my style and nothing to write home about.

Sipdown! (not including in count since it wasn’t entered in my cupboard)

So I have a variety of single white tea coins from white2tea, most of which I ordered as a sampler set a couple of years ago. But this one was (I think) a free sample? I’m also not positive which year it is, as the coin only has the image on the front with no text. But I ordered in early 2019, and the other teas in my order were 2018 teas, so I’m going to assume this one is as well? (shrugs)

Anyway, steeping this grandpa-style today in a glass tumbler. It seems quite generic to me? And that’s not to say it isn’t pleasant, just not very exciting. It’s mellow with mostly hay, straw, light wood, and raw grain notes. A bit of dried apricot and some astringency in the finish. And that’s about it really.

Fine for mindless sipping, but quite unremarkable. :) I think I have a coin from the sampler that’s the 2017 pressing, hopefully that one is a bit more… something.

Sample from VariaTEA. Sadly i had this one a number of days ago so i don’t recall a lot other than it was a reasonably enjoyable cup but nothing that blew my mind. I had a bunch of steepings over the day and i’d consider trying this one again once i get through my current stash of puerh.

Gongfu!

Not writing anything elaborate – tasted exactly like the 2017 pressing to me. Maybe I’d notice differences if I did a side by side, though. I don’t like the 2017 pressing of this tea very much though, so suffice to say that I wasn’t heavily into this one either.

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/B3ZmpxYAHl7/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi8BhoiYYx4

Dry leaf scent: honey
Wet leaf scent: familiar
Soup color: rich orange amber
Reminds me of: Hot Brandy
Caffeine levels: feels very very very high

The taste of this one is overwhelmingly that of honey for me. Is this normal for sundried whites? I’ve been drinking “moonlight” white almost daily and the difference is certainly very stark.

Just like Hot Brandy, TD comes across as a blue collar energy drink, perfect for people who need to physically work their asses off in the next few hours. I will try to only drink this in the mornings. Do NOT drink this before bed or maybe brew very lightly. I guess 6g is more than I normally make of a tea.

Soooooo caffeine buzzed right now. It is 7:30pm and I feel ready for a 3 hour hike or some sort of dance marathon. Home Depot (where I’m headed next for a thingamajig to fix my dashcam mount) had better watch out. This tea should be called Rabbit Cheetah.

Song pairing: 흔들리는 꽃들 속에서 네 샴푸향이 느껴진거야 – 장범준

Edit: Oh, right, turtle doves are actually one creature [https://www.britannica.com/animal/turtledove]. How did I forget when that song for the 12 days of xmas specifically mentions them? On the 2nd day of xmas my true love gave to me, two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree~~ yes yes. Well for one, I don’t believe they ever appear naturally in North America. Anyway, is the tea sweet enough that your true love might give you two bricks or cakes of it for the holidays? Sure. But from the monstrous energy levels available therein, it would seem that your true love might then expect you to do all the snow shoveling and gift wrapping this winter. Or did they mean the all-white domesticated hybrid that magicians are famous for using? I just want answers!

Edit2: What a rabbit hole. Okay. At first, I thought it had to be the magicians because of the turban. But the origin of the W2T Turtle Dove art is an 1800’s (Victorian era) tradecard and advertisement for Hall’s Vegetable Sicilian Hair Renewer
[https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/halls-vegetable-sicilian-hair-renewer-471419639] He cropped out only the lady from “Japan” and kept the other 4 for the brick label. In more recent years, it’s mostly Persia who graces the center of the Turtle Dove cake wrapper.

Edit3: As long as we’re looking up W2T label art origins, Nightlife wrapper appears to be a fun, star-spangled alteration of a June 1914 American Vanity Fair cover, itself digitally restored. [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vanity_Fair_June_1914b.jpg]

Edit4: Splendid’s old lady in a bonnet AND spectacles AND shawl are from this 1881 Currier & Ives print. [https://bit.ly/2k1ldOf]

Edit5: Pussy’s woman w/ two cats is a May 1897 cover by Edward Penfield for Harper’s Magazine [https://bit.ly/2kesKcF]