white2tea

Are the visions of gyrating California Raisins and the nose of dried grapes influenced by the purple wrapper? Possibly. But once rinsed it won’t matter because the memories of grandpa’s cheap cigars and grandma’s cheaper black tea will take over. And this ain’t entirely a bad thing! The tea for the children is the tea for the future, no?

A dark and heavy mouthful that keeps the gongfu going and going and going. Bready, sweet dough. A molasses ale that bakes well in the oven. The longer those later steeps go might just be what the innards need.

Gongfu!

This unique tea that is somewhere between a white tea and a black tea started off softer with warm, buttery and slightly savory notes that intensified over the course of the session into a well juxtaposed mix of brothy miso, green beans, and artichoke and rich butterscotch and English toffee. I love that sweet but salty and umami rich blend. It’s hard to say I’ve tasted another tea quite like it! It’s a good thing I’m working at sipping down some of these minis because I just placed quite a large Shulloween order!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DBj4vZKStz8/?img_index=1

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

Gongfu!

It’s officially Shulloween, which means peak ripe pu’erh weather, and it’s a good thing too because I just grabbed SO MUCH new ripe pu’erh in my last order. Pretty Girls is always a gem when you brew it up, though! Thick as mud with a semi-sweet earthiness and, dare I say, bit of a buttery taste and texture. The real star is the dark and fruity undertones of raisins and jammy, cooked down black cherries. As far as shou goes, it’s very indulgent and great for looonnggg steeps stacked one on top of the other!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DBo1xCVyQyi/?img_index=1

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

Sip Down

Sometimes with gongfu’d sessions, I get lost in the moment with the tea (or my ADHD kicks in, and I’m simply lost. Ha-ha). I noted that this was a 72/100 (I’m not sure why I added the 2%, on the account I like to rate on the 5% scale (e.g. 70, 75, 80, etc.)…), which means I had enjoyed the tea enough to rate it over 65%.*

I’m giddy that I have 5 days off from work! 2024 has truly blessed me with more time to take off work than any year prior. Sure, I appreciate my job, but I need a better grasp on the work-life balance, you know? I love life way, way, way, way, way more. Ha-Ha.

Wet Leaf: Melon rind, menthol, medicinal (Nyquil cough syrup).

1st thru 8th infusion: Lotus flower, floral, old honey (such as the one that is placed far back into a cupboard, forgotten, and starting to crystalize), black pepper, & medium-to-heavy mouthfeel.

*After attempting to edit my profile, to no avail, anything beyond 70% is superb, and has the likelihood of me obtaining more. No tea will reach 100%. If it did, then I’ll say good-bye to all other teas, and stock up on that one tea alone. 65% is standard; right in the middle of the road. It’s not bad, but nothing I’d purposely try again, unless offered, or pushed to try it again to reconsider my thoughts.

Aroma: Beefy, BBQ sauce, and smoky.
Taste: Smoked meat, teriyaki sauce, BBQ, campfire smoke (on clothes…and if it had a flavor. Lol).

Backlog

Petrol, whiskey/scotch, & a lot of body from the mouthfeel.

Backlog

Notes: Floral, dried grass, foliage, barnyard, & hay.

Backlog

1st Infusion: Floral, lilacs.
2nd infusion: Hay with lilacs.
3rd Infusion: Edging toward bitterness, a bit of astringency.
4th infusion: Bitter in a good way?
5th infusion: Astringent; bitter in less of a good way.
6th infusion: Called it. The flavor was lost.

Sip Down/Backlog

I didn’t take too many notes on this one.

Notes: Typical fu flavors – wheat, grains, nutty, oats, corn flakes, cereal, & plain rice cakes.

I got this as part of the October tea club (with “Fruit Bomb”, “Strawberry”, and “Traditional” lapsangs. It’s what it says on the tin: lots of medicinal herbs and spices over a fruity, malty black tea. The leaves are beautiful, uniform in size and fairly small. It stands up to several steepings.

Someone compared an earlier year of this tea production to “elevated Lipton” and that’s a great description. The gongfu session didn’t have the complexity of some other stuff I’ve had, but it did provide several steeps of pleasant if unremarkable tea. Very sweet overall, a lot of sugary maltiness. I intend to buy a cake of this, for stressful days where I need some tea but don’t have time to sit around appreciating it.

This is from Cameron B!  Thanks again!  I always wanted to try these little guys.  I was intrigued to see if the flavor was anything like pancakes, or just that the shape it’s in is like a tiny pancake.  I will say, it’s one of the sweeter raw pu-erhs I have tried… very agreeable… at least on the first steep… though not unraveled quite yet.  The second steep is also very sweet!  The third gets a typical “you’re-rushing-it” raw pu-erh harshness, but that is always my fault, every single time.  I always go too hot on subsequent steeps.   The fourth steep just seemed muted, which I guess is better than harsh.  The first and second steeps were the best.  I think I’m still ruining raw puerh by steeping them badly after ALLL these years.  I just don’t think sheng is made for western steeping, making them never really something I want to drink.  These steeps weren’t even a minute long!  So possibly on the next little flapjack I will try even shorter steep times.
Steep #1 // 35 minutes after boiling // 55 second steep
Steep #2 // 32 minutes after boiling // 45 second steep
Steep #3 // 22 minutes after boiling // 40 second steep
Steep #4 // 22 minutes after boiling // 45 second steep

Good stuff. Really smooth texture with a lingering cooling sensation. I’m not picking up fruit here, more coffee and dark chocolate, but not too bitter at all.

Pleasantly sticky with nice fruit undertones. The leaves are durable and hold up well to several steepings. More bitter than I like, though, I might prefer this with some age on it.

I’ve been enjoying this material in mini/dragonball form, but since I don’t want to drink through all my minis just yet, I figured it was finally time to crack open this cake. Literally. The smokiness, which is reminiscent of the fresh steam caused by dousing a summer campfire, really hits you across every part of the sip, though it waxes and wanes at different moments. The top notes are sweet and mildly fruity with elements of honeydew melon and pears before getting crisper and more intense, marrying snappy cucumber pulp and skin with the dense blanket of smoke. The finish is woody, before trailing off into a lingering haze of petrichor and tobacco. I don’t know if I’ve ever had another tea that tastes as much like the look and feel of a heavily foggy day as this one does, which I mean only as a compliment.

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C__QUa9yZhY/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GZu5aoG4eY

Backlog

Sheng/shou blend which lands flat and surprisingly bitter with a sheng bite. I’d’ve imagined this to be more balanced, but the sheng takes charge, and it’s not very good. I think the idea of blending sheng and shou is interesting, on account, Yunnan Sourcing succeeded with their 2015 Green Miracle; however, I’ve not had anything like that since then.

Dry leaf: Fruit by the foot, fruit leather
Wet leaf: Glazed donut, instant coffee, coffee shop, cinnamon, leather, floral
Flavor: Sweet, green florals (orchids), mildly bitter
Mouthfeel: oily, astringent
Rating: 65/100

Sip Down & Backlog -8/29

I really enjoyed this tea. I topped it off Western style on Sunday because I wasn’t particularly in the mood to gongfu. I hadn’t made any notes on the session (or sessions prior to the last) regarding any flavors, etc.

Not certain which year I have of this, but it tastes pretty young so I’m guessing it’s the 2024. Not particularly thick in texture, but nice and flavorful, getting some fruit and floral things going on here. Easy to brew, easy to drink.

Super dark brew, looks fantastic. I don’t get much of the molasses flavor on the front but the mouthfeel of the tea is sticky. While it doesn’t specifically remind me of gingerbread (or any other Christmas spice), there is an undertone of baked bread. For the price, this is an great shou, just don’t expect a super gingerbread-y flavor.