2021 Sunskate Mini

Today, I’m reviewing the 2021 Sunskate by white2tea. I got this tea in a mini form from w2t with the [2018 Hot Brandy](https://white2tea.com/products/2018-hot-brandy) I got this month (https://skoomaden.me/posts/teas-that-arrived-in-june/).

Preparation:

- Temperature: 200°F / 93°C initially, then up to 212°F / 100°C
- Time: 20s rinse, followed by increasing steep times
- Tea Amount: 7 g
- Water Volume: 4 oz / 120 mL

Rinse (20s): The rinse was quite tight, which is expected given the tea’s compression.

1st Steep (20s): The first steep yielded a very faint flavor, likely due to the tight compression even after a 20-second rinse at 95°C. The flavors were barely detectable.

2nd Steep (20s): Despite opening up slightly, the tea remained incredibly light, making it hard to distinguish any clear notes. There was a mild sweetness, with a detectable sweet toasted brioche aroma.

3rd Steep (50s at 100°C): Even with a significantly longer and hotter steep, the tea failed to deliver any substantial flavors. It felt akin to drinking hot water rather than experiencing the lightness typical of white tea. The steep was disappointingly bland, more akin to oversteeped black tea.

4th Steep (1 min 20s at 95°C): The fourth steep was purely a formality. The tea continued to present a washed-out profile, resembling an oversteeped black tea. This was particularly disappointing given my high expectations for a white2tea black tea.

The 2021 Sunskate by white2tea was underwhelming and fell short of my expectations. Despite various adjustments in steeping times and temperatures, the tea failed to develop any significant flavor profile. The experience was frustrating, as each infusion seemed to promise potential that it never delivered. The tea’s tight compression may have contributed to its inability to fully express its character, but even accounting for this, the results were disappointing.

- Flavor Complexity: 0/30 – Virtually no discernible flavors despite multiple attempts.
- Brewing Forgiveness: 20/20 – Surprisingly, the tea did not become bitter, even with aggressive steeping.
- Consistency Across Infusions: 20/20 – The tea was consistently weak and underwhelming.
- Overall Enjoyment: 8/30 – A disappointing experience with little enjoyment.

- yaro

I’ve been trying to save some money by not buying new things so it’s been quite a while since I tried a new tea to review! This was actually a free sample with a white2tea order. I’m not usually a huge fan of sun-dried dianhongs but I liked this one, maybe it’s the lighter oxidation. Pretty sweet, a little bit malty, some of that funky vegetable matter flavor I associate with Yunnan.

Free sample with my last W2T order that I’m just now getting around to. Has a strange front end high note that is difficult to pin down. The overall gist I’m getting from the flavor is cinnamon peach cobbler.

Medium sweetness, no astringency or bitterness. Finish is quite long. Mouthfeel is, when tied to the flavor, like spiced gelatin (think of that gelatinous pie/cobbler filling). No metallic taste, but the front-end note gives a sharp, metallic character.

Overall, a respectable tea from W2T. One of their better ones from what I’ve tried. Not rushing to order more, but might pop a couple of minis in to my next order from there, if any are left.

Dry leaf: Nothing
Wet leaf: Fruity
Flavors: Red licorice, black licorice, walnut, peach, brown sugar, cinnamon, cobbler/pie, gelatin, cherry.

Sipdown (1709)!

I brewed this Grandpa Style, and it made for a really dense and full bodied mug to sip on throughout the morning with an almost eclectic mix of tasting notes such as black cherry, rye bread, bitter chocolate, sandalwood, and leather – all with a brighter, sweet fruity top note though! Hard to pin down that top note flavour; in the past I’ve gotten peaches from this tea but with this brew method it just tasted far more abstract. This tea sample was inclusion in a relatively recent order, and though I do have a most of a cake left of this hongcha to sip through, I can’t argue that dragonballs are just super convenient…

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CfgzJIXOdB2/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuU3jXhgrfA

I wasn’t sure about ordering Sunskate. The description saying it’s kind of oolong-like made me hesitant. I’m still trying to figure out how I feel about oolongs. Every oolong I have ever had brewed western style has been a disappointment. But I’ve enjoyed the few I’ve gongfu-ed. I’m not sure if it’s the particular teas I’ve tried or if I just prefer oolongs gongfu. Or maybe certain kinds of oolong. Sunskate is tasty, though, so I’m glad it got squeezed into my order.

All glass teaware again. I considered using a yixing quick pot easy gaiwan type thing for a change but I feel like the flavors of the clay hide some tea flavors sometimes.

The dry tea smelled like some kind of fruit and something else that seemed familiar but I couldn’t figure out what. The brewed tea has a sweet fresh fruit scent. I’m not sure I get peaches out of it like Roswell Strange mentions in a review for the cake of Sunskate but it’s been ages since I’ve had a fresh peach. Going through a list of every fruit I can think of, nothing is an exact match. The tea doesn’t really taste the way it smells to me. The flavor is more of a grainy, malty lighter black tea than fruity for me. After reading Ros’s notes I’m getting a peachy aftertaste I hadn’t noticed before, though. Power of suggestion? It’s not a super thick and heavy feeling tea but I still get a bit of that nice tongue-coating feeling. I rescued a Walker’s shortbread advent calendar from an after Christmas clearance basket and the tea and cookie went pretty well together. I meant to start cookie advent on January 1 but it was a rough morning (furnace is trying to die and it’s the coldest week so far this winter, out of town family members inviting themselves to visit) so I decided to start my cookie a day early. I think the shortbread would make a great companion to a tea advent next year if I can choose one (just one because I don’t think I can keep up with doing several advent teas every day like some of you).