Orthodox Smoked White Tea

A tea from derk, so a thank you is a must :)

I probably never had smoked white tea before, but I wanted something refreshing (re-building the compost in the afternoon), but hearty (as in the evening a rain shower came) and I wanted to drink something gongfu, if possible without splitting into two sessions. So, those 4.4 grams from California, sounded like a good fit.

It was probably a good fit, or I just liked a gongfu session after very long time, or I just liked a good and quality othodox tea after long term, I really don’t know; but I ended up fascinated and happy.

This tea is definitely more smoky than expected, but it still keeps their white tea flavours — cucumber with its skin, some gooseberry (I read sender’s note and I just have to agree); but also somehow woody and resinous. Liquid was thicker and with long mouthfeel, smoky, but without any ash or roughness on the tongue. Long aftertaste, covering throat with resin flavour and I can imagine drinking this tea somewhere in the middle of the forest with a campfire.

As I wrote, steeped gongfu with various lenght of steeps, starting with 5+ seconds, then some longer, back to shorter sessions. Probably 5 sessions or so. Mind calming.

August 2020 harvest

On a roll today with Ketlee notes. Here’s the current cup, brewed western in a mason jar. If there is one thing consistent about my enjoyment of tea, it’s that I prefer white teas brewed in glass. Anyway, I picked this up because I fell in love with Old Ways Tea’s 2018 White Tea, which was a gently smoked white from Fujian, China.

What a cool tea! The smoke of the dry leaf attacks the nose. It’s savory like smoked paprika and mesquite wood. I guess it could smell like unsweetened powdered BBQ spice mix. The woodsmoke carries through into the cup, sharp but smooth and softened by petrichor. I also smell something very fruit, almost like a tart quince-apple mixture. Earthy-spicy-woody like cumin.

The sip is just as rich as the aromas, warm and savory, lightly viscous, exploding with hot sun, tall grasses, dry earth, a cooking fire. Massive woody resins. Tangy, almost sour fruits and red berries. Faint roasted fennel bulb. It’s invigorating and comforting at the same time. A tea that’s intensely rustic but - GAH! This is so good.

On the second cup and equally as good. More mineral and thinner, still tangy like cucumber and gooseberry, with a nice finishing astringency. Eucalyptus. Now drying but not bitter.

Picked out some wet leaf to smell. Under the savory woodsmoke, I can smell sweet redfruit, leather and eucalyptus.

Lotta strength to these leaves.

This tea is not going to be for everybody but if you want a bold and rich smoked tea, this is a great pick.

[see https://www.worldteanews.com/Insights/wild-forage-tea-indias-manipur-forests]

Gongfu!

I’ve been curious about this tea for a while and somehow I managed to miss sampling this one in my last order, so teajay9 kindly shared! It’s a nice gentle smoke and, while I usually crave something far more heavy handed than this, it was really unique getting to taste the lighter pine-y smoke notes with the distinct taste of the white tea base. At times it was like smoked cucumber pulp and others it took me to the nostalgic memories of walking into my grandfather’s woodshop as a small child – resinous wood and sawdust, in the best way.

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CTuVsEIgfz4/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1dtRs_vN6Y&ab_channel=RemiWolf