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Tangy redberry shou. Lingonberry jam on walnut bread. Raspberry dark chocolate ganache. Cranberry sauce with chocolate-chip pancakes. Surprisingly light, clean, and tangy, with an aftertaste like faint cranberry juice. Somehow Christmassy. I bet this would age beautifully… I should get a cake…
Flavors: Cranberry, Dark Chocolate, Raspberry, Red Currant, Walnut
Preparation
From the W2T club (not sure which – Feb or Jan)
There are not a lot of notes regarding this one. I wanted to believe that it was going to amaze me, but it fell short. There’s not a lot of flavor and a slight leathery note in the back of the throat (aftertaste). Otherwise, it’s nothing too special.
Gongfu!
Y’all already know the deal at this point; I’m basically predisposed to love almost any tea that’s been smoked. Shou pu’erh just makes so much sense though with its bolder, earthy flavours and rich body. This one was surprisingly smooth, with heavy notes of petrichor, decaying forest undergrowth, and umami broth. The finish was the most smoked tasting, like licks of flame running throughout a densely wooded forest. From memory, it’s a little tough to recollect how this compares to W2T’s two other smoked ripe pu’erhs, but I want to say this is both the smoothest and the woodiest. Definitely one I’m happy to have added to my stash of smoked teas!!
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C5l1dauOG-a/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANI19GbLOAY
An alright daily drinker. Some fruit in the aroma, but the taste is more vegetal and slightly creamy. Decent upfront sweetness, some minerality, leaves a slight vegetal bitterness. Not particularly complex or interesting, but it does deliver a clean modern raw pu-erh with a decent caffeine punch at a good price. Just don’t expect it to taste like a 40$ cake!
Flavors: Fruity, Mineral, Sweet, Vegetal
Sipdown. Tea club
I did not like this tea all that much, which is unfortunate because I usually like white2tea’s black teas. I drank this western style for the entire 50g bag.
Faint peach flavor. Very easy to over steep, sometimes woody. Not a very robust tea and easy to make unpleasant. When it was a decent cup, it didn’t have a lot of flavor.
Flavors: Peach, Woody
I had this mini sitting in the sample pile for sipdowns, etc. I held off for a while to give this a try. I can’t recall when I had received it, but here we are…I had continued this in the wee hours of Saturday. I hadn’t slept very well (my dreams have been strange lately. I’ve been having “what if” dreams where I went into different fields of study during college and the type of careers I could’ve had, had I chosen an alternative field during college. I’ve also been dreaming of old friends, etc.) and I decided that the best time to wake up, despite having gone to bed after work around 01:00, was at 05:30. After hitting the tea some more, I realized my error, sipping on an empty stomach. I quickly tossed back a fruit smoothie and finished off the leaf.
To my surprise – there sat a little tea being, sharing their own bowl. Perhaps my imagination got the best of me or perhaps there are ‘tea people’ who wait their whole lives to venture into their own cup. Luckily, I was there to capture the moment.
It’s been a hot moment since I’ve done this, so I thought I’d do a “Teas I Drink In A Day” roundup a few days ago – no theme. Just whatever I wanted to drink.
I ended up making this as a Western style cup which is something I don’t typically do with W2T’s heicha or, really, any heicha for that matter. I enjoyed the mug a lot though. It was surprisingly very smooth with a more medium body. The flavour had a bit of a pleasant funky and green sweet grass undertone and a nip of spice, but otherwise I kept think about how it mostly tasted like raw/unprocessed dark chocolate and peanuts. Not the first time I’ve gotten that chocolate and nut combo from a heicha – it’s one I enjoy a lot!
Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/C5RdiYtuAuR/?img_index=1 (First Pic)
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2enYNQi7vk
Eating walnuts in a hot sauna. Brewed strong, there’s nice cocoa and saline as well.
The dry leaf fragrance is an antique oak cabinet, a cedar chest full of clean cotton sheets, pine 2×4s, an arts and crafts store, paints and paintbrushes, and a wooden staircase to the attic in an old house.
A lot of raw, fresh, sweet wood. Also some mushroom and dried, brown grass clippings.
The wet leaf aroma: sauna, hot steamed cedar wood, acorns and cracked black walnuts. Very woody, but not dusty or bitter at all. It has a nice comforting sweetness to it, like freshly cut oak planks.
The taste is of black walnuts, cocoa powder, silky saline, charred oak casks, cedar chips, and wood vanillins.
Flavors: Black Walnut, Cedar, Cocoa, Oak, Saline
Preparation
Grandpa Style!
Though I’ve been trying to be more restrained in the amount of compressed cakes I’m buying, I couldn’t resist grabbing one of each of white2tea’s new smoked teas along with a handful of their mini counterparts. This tea order smelled incredible the moment I opened it up, with just a beautiful whispy smoke aroma permeating the air. Though I’ll wait for the cakes to settle, I couldn’t resist brewing up on of the 2024 Great Blue Heron minis in the meantime – I’ve been a big fan of W2T’s other smoked sheng productions so it was an easy first choice.
My first impression of this tea was that it’s quite bold and nippy, with an intense smoke aroma that reads quite heavily of pipe tobacco, oak wood, and peat with greener, more herbal undertones that make me think of smudging. It’s quite astringent, but not particularly bitter. I found myself appreciating the burly texture. I kind of wanted to be drinking it from a rocks glass; there’s just an overall “parlor room” vibe to the tea that practically begs to be accompanied by cigars and whisky. Not for everyone, for sure, but so up my alley.
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C4_kRBiu834/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdEtnnzxcwk
Backlog
I was brewing this late on Saturday evening while playing video games. I maybe had 3-4 infusions and was enjoying the session, however, I stopped shortly after the last steep. I needed to give my full attention to Helldiver II’s Titans and lost track of tea. Jump to 45-60 minutes later and I get back to the leaf. Before brewing this further, I had placed the idea into my head that this was a tea from earlier and the leaf was spent, so I tossed this into the waste bowl. But wait! I found the wrapper sitting on the tea table and realized my mistake.
I haven’t finished the session yet. I’ve made it to the 5th infusion and wanted to make a note before pushing this opportunity back any further. I usually read a book and have tea before heading into the office for the evening on Tuesdays.
I will note that my fondness for Lapsang has taken a temporary step aside these days. Smoked puerh? I had assumed I’d face the same problem on account that I’ve avoid smoked teas as much as possible. However, upon drinking this, I had forgotten that I really find a smoked puerh quite fascinating! It’s less aggressive, while maintaining a strength in smokiness. It’s comparing burnt wood or BBQ (Lapsang) to burnt honey or sugar (smoked puerh). They each have their place and time, but definitely something I don’t indulge in too often.
Flavors: Burnt Sugar, Smoke, Sweet
I am laughing at my tasting notes on this review because the “aroma” at the start of the session compared to the end of the session were waaay different from each other.
Notes: Aroma reminded me of piss and roasted peanuts. I had hoped it wouldn’t’ve tasted like piss (whatever piss tastes like, I do not care to know). After the second infusion, that piss note had left the pot. End explicit content. This tea tasted slightly burnt, but it turned out to be pleasant after the 3rd infusion. I noted that the tea had more of a toasted walnuts and a charcoal flavor profile after steep #3. It was a warming tea and wasn’t necessarily my favorite from the February club.
Gongfu!
This afternoon, I’m sipping down a 2023 941 sheng pu’erh mini from @white2tea that was added as a free sample to one of my orders this past year! I have a cake of, I believe, the 2022 production of this raw pu’erh and though I’ve only steeped it a few times I recall really enjoying the soft and sweeter taste and texture. It’s one of those “nail on the head” teas in regard to appealing to my penchat for Yiwu productions.
From memory, this mini is expectedly quite similar with a really gentle overall profile and light notes of dewy fresh pears, snow peas, and a mellow grassy and hay-like midsip that anchors the orchard fruit and cooling vegetal notes. Almost a creamy finish, especially in the late session. However, as most of the more sugary notes sit in the front half of the sip, it’s a creamy tail end that lacks sweetness. If I didn’t have a cake of the 2022 material I could totally see myself adding a few more minis of this to my next order…
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C4TsxeGO7s7/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l81HZfkLwpk
Sipdown, western style. Kinda contrary to normal directions for these, but I don’t do too much gong fu style due to it taking more time/energy than I have sometimes.
Three steeps on this, at boiling for the 1st, then with cooler water for the other two. Flavors stayed the same throughout, just weaker on the later steeps.
Sweet, amber (maybe honey?? not sure what I meant here), sugar cane, chocolate, cocoa. A nice smooth black tea.
Flavors: Chocolate, Cocoa, Honey, Sugarcane, Sweet
Sipdown
From the February 2023 Club
Notes: Cannabis, seaweed, & sweet candied nuts (cashews? almonds?)
Flavors: Almond, Cannabis, Cashew, Seaweed
I bought this for… reason unknown. Maybe I wanted to try fruit filled puerh, at least that sounds like a plausible explanation.
Anyway, I split the mandarin in half and picking some amount of puerh inside with a finger. Also adding some of the peel. I just hope it is intended to be steeped with the tea.
I tried it once before writing this note, but as my 4 years old niece was around, I was rather checking if my cup is far enough from the table border, than checking the tea itself.
Today I prepared 3g/3 mins with 90°C water.
It much earthier than I have expected. I also notice some of the cardboard / paper note which seems like a flaw to me. It’s not what I was expecting, to be honest. Also, earthy note is strong and then it fades into that I wrote about. I do notice some of the orange zest, but rather in aroma than the taste.
As it cools down it is getting better. Not by a lot, though. Have I used wrong steeping parameters? Was I supposed to steep it gongfu only? Was it packed in the paper wrapping for too long? Discuss below.
Preparation
Grandpa Style!
Slurped this back of the course of yesterday afternoon. It’s slick and oily with a liquor that’s practically jet black save for a hint of red-ish brown cresting at the water line. Though there’s an expected smooth, grounding earthiness and minerality I find myself more entranced with the gentle sweetness of fruitier notes of figs and red dates – almost like drinking a Fig Newton in tea form, which I feel I should is a positive. It’s very clean and easygoing, which makes me feel like it falls very comfortably into the “daily drinker” sorta zone for the more well versed pu’erh drinker while also likely making for a more accesible option for anyone who’s been turned off pu’erh because of some of the funkier flavours sometimes present!
Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3_CXinuK96/
I think this is one of the nicest photos I’ve taken in months, though I guess the IG algorithm disagrees. Kind of a bummer when a photo you’re REALLY proud of tanks. Womp womp.
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iJmIL83vas
I tried it grandpa, 3 grams from the chunk and it was surprisingly easy to pry; so I have just “opened the chunk” if you know what I mean.
Steeped for quite long. I haven’t checked; but I assume around 4-5 minutes and I had a great cup of tea.
Quite strong, wet forest floor aroma and taste, along with camphor and I noticed also petrichor (okay, that was maybe the enviroment as in meantime rain came). All covered in somehow lovely sweet smoky element and molasses as Roswell Strange notices in 2021 vintage.
