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95C

1st Steep (15s):
Light but sweet, with some lemony undertones ? Other than that nothing too interesting about this first steep, very light color.

2nd Steep (25s):
Nice and still, the citrusy taste is still pretty present, I admit this isn’t what I envisioned this to taste like.

3rd Steep (30s):
Some mild bitterness is starting, but for now it’s not prevalent, the citrus notes now fuse with that bitterness, giving a well-dimensioned taste, although most is at the front.

4th Steep (40s):
Not much difference to note

5th Steep (45s):
Now the bitterness is overwhelming, the citrus taste is gone

6th Steep (60s):
Completely bitter, gross.

- Flavor Complexity: 5/30
- Brewing Forgiveness: 15/20
- Quality Across Infusions: 5/20
- Overall Enjoyment: 20/30

- yaro

1st Steep (15s):
Light and Sweet

2nd Steep (20s):
Vegetal and it starts getting bitter for no reason

3rd Steep (25s):
Ouch, too bitter for me.

This is probably not gonna get any better, I know where this is going…

- Flavor Complexity: 15/30
- Brewing Forgiveness: 15/20
- Quality Across Infusions: 10/20
- Overall Enjoyment: 10/30

- yaro

Oooh this is a tea I’ve been waiting for.
One of the cheaper offerings from w2t, yet it sounds like one of the most interesting ones too.

Flash steeps ? Bitter ? God knows I hate those flavors, and that makes me all the more curious. Knowing my bias for bitter teas however, please take this review with a grain of salt.

15s wash.
Before anything, already regarding the smell I feel like we’re going for that everlasting vegetal bitterness that I oh so dislike. From the get go it’s already not a good point for this tea but I’m looking to be surprised.

1st Steep (5s, 93C):
5s is quite short, but this tea although compressed is already starting to reveal itself, now this is really interesting.
The taste is deep, that vegetal smell isn’t showing anything too spicy for now. This is a good steep.

2nd Steep (15s, 95C):
Again, not much, no bitterness, just some really nice character and depth, some things in the front and none of the vegetalness I’ve expected. Well balanced tea and the soup is light, this is very interesting.

3rd Steep (20s, 95c):
Oh, okay now it’s starting.
The bitterness is in the front, I don’t think I’ve ever experienced something like this.
This is definitely a “feature not a bug” situation, the bitterness builds up and then hits suddenly and in the very front as well, while the after-taste isn’t long lasting, the back of the taste is definitely deep, and the soup is so light too huhhhh ? Incredible.
But I know the next steep is were things are gonna hit.

4th Steep (30s, 95C):
That’s bitter, now everything is bitter. It’s so bitter on every level, I’m fascinated by how good this is. I have bitterness but I’m pleasantly surprised.

- Flavor Complexity: 30/30
- Brewing Forgiveness: 15/20
- Quality Across Infusions: 20/20
- Overall Enjoyment: 12/30 – While I really enjoy this tea, in the sense that I find it very interesting, I don’t think I could drink this more than once.

- yaro

New Nightlife review, let’s see what how this year’s batch holds up.

1st Steep 30s:
Nice and light, not any difference with the 2017 Nightlife for now. It’s really nice.

2nd Steep 20s:
Not much to say, it’s a nice tea for sure but there isn’t anything interesting more to say compared to the review I’ve already made of the 2017 nightlife.

3rd Steep:
Same thing again, nothing very interesting to say.
I love this tea, it’s a classic.

Knowing that, I’ll just go ahead and copy the review conclusion i made for the previous version of the Nightlife:

- Flavor Complexity: 25/30 – Offers a delightful range of flavors, particularly in the early steeps.
- Brewing Forgiveness: 15/20 – Can become bitter if brewed incorrectly, but generally performs well with proper care.
- Consistency Across Infusions: 15/20 – The flavors evolve but maintain a coherent profile.
- Overall Enjoyment: 20/30 – Highly enjoyable in initial infusions, but becomes predictable and less exciting.

I deleted my review 3 times it goes something like this

1st Steep:
Honey-like, sweet
2nd Steep:
Overbrewed it but it’s still very good
3rd Steep:
Nice good equilibrium on the top, very round taste, definitely one of the best offering from PDT.

- Flavor Complexity: 15/30 – What it lacks in complexity, the tea gains in balance; it’s on the lighter end.
- Brewing Forgiveness: 15/20 – Seemed to take my 95°C pretty well!
- Quality Across Infusions: 17/20 – Definitely high quality and it resisted by overbrewing.
- Overall Enjoyment: 25/30 – I liked this. It’s a good session, very light, a good breakfast tea.

- yaro

I got this mini as part of a giant purchase of samples from white2tea’s newly released teas ! (https://skoomaden.me/posts/teas-arriving-in-july/)

I actually got two of this mini by mistake lol, nice to note I also got a free 2024 nightlife mini ! (yay)

20s wash 95c

1st steep (15s):
Very bland vegetal green tea for now, nothing note worthy, no bitterness for now.

2nd steep (20s):
Boring, bitter green tea that I know is going to inevitably evolve into a bitter mess of vegetal astringency.
I can’t feel the “blend” part for sure.
Not great.

3rd steep (10s, 87C):
I don’t see where this is going at all, I’m sure a bigger fan of green teas could probably explain to me what’s going on but to me this is just not pleasant. While I admit it’s far from the worst green blend I’ve ever had, this is simply not good.
Bitter, boring, vegetal, the same traits we find in bad japanese greens, I didn’t like this one.

- Flavor Complexity: 10/30 – No complexity I could find at least.
- Brewing Forgiveness: 12/20 – Probably okay forgiveness overall.
- Quality Across Infusions: 10/20 – I mean it’s just boring throughout, and it got worse with time
- Overall Enjoyment: 12/30 – Boring (zzz).

- yaro

90C

1st Steep:
Ooooh complex this one, I really like this !
For a PDT blend I sure expected less, for a first steep this has some light notes of jasmin, just a bit smoky too with the some common features we can find in both greens and blacks. This is a surprisingly good tea !

2nd Steep:
The soup is oddly thick, but in a good way.
I cannot really describe it, it’s just a very satisfying tea, a perfect blend of both tea types where ones doesn’t overwhelm the other.
I wouldn’t be able to pinpoint specific flavors however, it really has a tiny bit of everything.

3rd Steep:
Light, thick and round.
That’s all this is, I love it.
I really love it.
Rare PDT W ?

- Flavor Complexity: 25/30 – This is a rather complex tea, yet it’s very light which makes it very pleasant.
- Brewing Forgiveness: 20/20 – Contrary to pure green tea, this seemed to handle different temperatures pretty well.
- Quality Across Infusions: 20/20 – This was all very surprising, high quality and delicious tea.
- Overall Enjoyment: 20/30 – I really liked it !

-yaro

This is a South Korean green tea.
15s wash

1st Steep (75C, 15s):
Definitely drinks like a lighted roasted tea, so it’s steamy more than smoky (if you get what i mean). Some bitterness on the front, but for now it seems like this is going to be one of the boring ones.

2nd Steep (75C, 25s):
Nothing interesting really, some floral notes that are drowned by the light astringency.

3rd Steep (75C, 35s):
Again, the same. I’m not gonna pain myself any longer with such a boring tea.

- Flavor Complexity: 10/30 – Exceptionally simple.
- Brewing Forgiveness: 10/20 – It seemed particularly sensitive around 75(± 2)C
- Consistency Across Infusions: 15/20 – Consistent, but its sensitivity scared me a bit.
- Overall Enjoyment: 10/30 – A boring tea that’s mildly enjoyable, the subtle traits that are indeed felt aren’t ones I enjoy particularly (I really don’t like boring floral notes that always turn into bitterness).

-yaro

No wash

1st steep (95C, 15s):
This is really good and light, definitely get where the “milky” comes from, this is a very creamy and round tea, light sweetness at the bottom that I have trouble identifying accurately for now, overall, very tasty, I’m glad I drank the wash for this one.

2nd steep (95C, 20s):
It’s definitely subtle, although I did have a smaller sample size, but I don’t think it needs any more steeping than this, it’s very light and pleasant, the perfect balance, I like this, this is probably on the less oxidized side of oolongs, and definitely have some young puer notes.

3rd steep (95C, 25s):
Tea evolves a bit, I’m getting smoked hazelnuts, nothing much other than that to note, it’s just a very correct milky oolong, I’m guessing this is a solid representation of what a generic one would taste like.

4rd steep (95C, 30s):
No particular change in taste, knowing I probably understeeped the tea I don’t think there’s any point in going any further.

Great tea overall.
- Flavor Complexity: 10/30 – What it lacks in complexity the tea definitely gains in balance, it’s on the lighter end.
- Brewing Forgiveness: 15/20 – Seemed to take my 95C (and sometimes a bit under) pretty well !
- Quality Across Infusions: 20/20 – Definitely high quality, and very consistent too.
- Overall Enjoyment: 15/30 – I liked this, it’s a good session, nothing more nothing less.

-yaro

Okay, Round 2.

95C, 15s Wash.

- First Steep (20s):
Very light, transparent so it probably didn’t open up correctly, I’m getting some very vegetal notes not unlike a very light japanese green tea (?), I mean I admit I’ve only tried Palais des Thés’ Sencha Ariake but I guess that reminds me of that. Maybe that’s because of how young this sheng.

- Second Steep (15s):
Oh oh so bland, yeah this isn’t going anywhere, tea still hasn’t opened up and this tastes very generic, this next Steep I’m gonna try longer times with colder water, I wanna avoid bitterness as much as possible because this tea feels like it’s just waiting to become earwaxy bitter.

- Third Steep (35s, 90C):
It didn’t become that bitter, but it’s definitely not good.
Now, this could be due to me putting a minimal amount of tea in (3.5g) but I sure didn’t feel like this tea gave me anything interesting :(
That being said the tea isn’t unpleasant.

- Fourth Steep(40s, 95C):
It’s starting to get bitter and I already see where this is going.
The vegetal notes are gonna keep become more and more bitter and there is no complexity in this whatsoever.

N.B:
I’m not going to rate this tea, mostly because I’m scared I don’t know enough about this tea category to give a formal opinion.