Bamboo Dove

Compared to Turtle Dove, this one is noticeably darker and much sweeter. As expected, it has more of a woody character as opposed to the floral one on display in its sister tea. The aroma is somehow more funky and almost fermentation-like. The body is thicker in Bamboo Dove, which is definitely a plus and it also has notes such as molasses and nuts which are not present in Turtle Dove. One thing that I did not expect is that it seems to get a harsher bitterness with aggressive brews as opposed to the unroasted version – that one tends to have more astringency.

Overall, I find Bamboo Dove more enjoyable to drink right now than Turtle Dove. Nevertheless, neither was so good that I would consider purchasing larger amounts at the moment.

I am still making my way through the white teas and did not find my niche. Most of them feel promising and enticing but lack the heft and robustness that I appreciate so much in Fujians, Yunnans and puerhs. But that is not true for this powerful white and that’s why I liked it quite a bit.

I had it both western and gaiwan and it IS well-suited for gong fu: it lasts multiple infusions and has enough complexity and changeability through them. The best part is its smell: both dry leaf, wet leaf and in the cup. It is distinct and complex, with different strands fitting well together. There is honey, caramel, bread, sugar, roast, raisins, green wood, hay…

The taste follows the nose with sweetness of different kinds, malt, sourness and bitterness… And a nice lingering complex aftertaste to boot. The best part is that this taste/aftertaste is constantly changing and evolving, creating a lot of space for exploration and experimentation.

Solid and satisfying.

Bought this because a bamboo roasted Turtle Dove sounded good and I really like it. I let it rest several months – it lets the roast die down & I rarely get to new tea soon.

Western 212F, 2 min, some random chunk amount
1. fruity, hay, hint of roast, thick, bamboo
2. coating, fruity, bamboo
3 & 4. same flavor notes

I had more of this in a cart at White2Tea, but didn’t pull the trigger. I will purchase more of this some time this year.

7g 100ml at 100C.
I was feeling a bamboo day, trying this and another white2tea sample that were stored and/or roasted in bamboo. Anyways, first off I have to say that the aroma of the dry leaf (chunk?) on this is absolutely bonkers. Smells like a nicely aged white already even though this is 2017 material. I went with a 30s rinse to try (in vain) to loosen the chunk. The wet leaf smells strongly of glazed donuts, its so sweet it almost stings the nose!
No rinse
Steep 1: light, sweet, airy, smooth. Totally wowed me, hadn’t had something like that before. Still had that sort of doughnut smell too.
Steep 2: at 25s, I was at the border of astringency though its starting to open up. MAYBE slightly mineral but this serves to only add more complexity.
Steep 3: medicinal, umami, some slight saltiness, sweetness, smooth: overall very nicely balanced. The rest of the session continued from here but… I was enjoying this too much to save my notes. I will say I had to take the chunk out to break it up more because it was just not breaking apart…and then once apart the material was lawnmowered to hell which is clearly a bummer and started extracting more astringency than I wanted though I’m a baby about it. I value smoothness without astringency a lot. Regardless, extremely enjoyable stuff.

Wow! This has to be my favorite white tea to date! Like drinking a malted milkshake. Sweet and lovely with incredible depth of the roast and bamboo. Finding loads of raisins in rum (called boerenjongens here in the Netherlands being a old fashioned delicacy) with some astringency that gives a complete cup. Mouthfeel is full and viscous. It last me around 8 infusions before it tapered of fast.

My new year’s W2T order came today, oh the wonders of EMS shipping! My free 100g cake (they had a promotion going on) ended up being the Lincang/Mengku from the terior set. I find it slightly ironic that a company that generally doesn’t tell you the terior of their teas has a terior tasting set…

Anyways, this tea came in compressed cylinders that smelled like slightly roasty aged white. I was pleasantly surprised that that carried over into the taste as well! Tastes of raisin, malt, minerals, and apricot supported by lesser notes of roast, bamboo. Slight medicinal taste. Like an aged white despite being 2017. It excels when pushed for longer steeps; it gets thick and honeyed without getting bitter.

Now I wish I had gotten some of the Turtle Dove to compare. I like this tea a lot, and am definitely going to buy some more.