White 2 Tea

Did too long rinses 30/piece then started steeping. Short and simple this is a typically woodsy puer with a hint of storage and a nice tail of extremely light roast coffee. Just to claify this tastes nothing like roasted coffee rather the grain/cereal quality coffee beans can have when green or very lightly roasted. Maybe a tickle of vanillin that I sometimes get from yan cha as well but if you blink all you taste is woodsy shupu.

Where this tea shines is in the body department, give it some longer than normal steepings times starting with 40 seconds and add 30-40 seconds per steep you will end up with some viscous pleasant tea. I don’t think I can tell it is X years old although in my experience ripened don’t really ever change that much especially if they are heavily fermented from the start. I can see this being awesome grandpa and/western style steeping (after two long rinses that is).

Solid tea with a nice body and a price to match don’t expect miracles and you will enjoy this one.

Backlog:

As I mention in my full-length article of this tea: http://sororiteasisters.com/2015/01/15/rougui-oolong-tea-from-white-two-tea/ – I don’t have as much experience with Rougui Oolong as I do with some other Oolong teas, but that wasn’t about to keep me from enjoying it!

This tea is lovely!

Delightfully fragrant, notes of flower and fruit. Because this is a ‘darker’ Oolong, I note more fruit notes than floral. It’s sweet with hints of smoke in the distance. Subsequent infusions proved to be even more delightful with stronger flavors and a smoother delivery and sweeter taste.

A really pleasant cuppa! I highly recommend this.

First steeps were very mild but i knew its deceiving. on a 3rd steep it hit me. it is strong bitter tea but i like it a lot. only few months ago i probably wouldnt be able to drink it. Besides being bitter its incredibly smooth, even creamy. and there is a sweetness comes in the end of the sip. very happy i was able to try this sample. its a swap from Instagram member. i need to ask him if he is on Steepster.

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5g 95ml gaiwan 205 F
rinse/ pause/ flash steeps , then increased to 7-10-15 secs

The aroma of the cake is quite gentle. Actually, it has a hint of “old library” aroma but rather distant. Lots of nice whole leaves throughout the cake. A lovely clean and clear tea liquor with a distinct orange hue. Low and dark in its sweet aroma and taste – a little nutty and fruity mixed with mellow-earthiness. Good mouthfeel with a smooth texture. Nice full chaqi producing a very relaxed feeling. In about the 9th infusion the tea begins to fade. Interesting tea session which I quite enjoyed. I would not describe this as an “exciting” tea (in other words, it won’t knock your socks off) but I must say that I found it to be delicious and extremely comforting.

This was a free sample from Paul at white2tea and I am very grateful that he sent it to me. It has been lurking in the back of the cupboard, awaiting the time when I might be able to take a moment from my schedule to fully appreciate it. This morning is that time.

The dry leaf smells green and slightly composty with a note of warm horse. It promises much at first sniff. Looking at it, I see brown, green and silver leaf. It’s chopped but not excessively so. The cake is loose. That might be a result of taking the sample from the beeng.

When I pour the hot water onto it, the leaf immediately releases a thick floral aroma. It’s not cloying though. The liquor is a thick amber colour. The website describes the tea as ‘burly’. There is certainly nothing wishy washy about it so far. All of the elements of it are strong and bold. The taste is the same. There is strong astringency with sweet, floral and fruity notes, and strong spice in the aftertaste with perhaps a hint of pepper. There’s a lot going on there, and I am not sure that I am the best person to parse the range of flavours. I am aware of the range, but at a loss to differentiate all the elements. Perhaps I should lay that out as a challenge to others. I really like this tea. It has great body and good legs, both in the liquor and in the aftertaste.

DROOL this tea was fantastic! Interestingly, this is from old arbor tree fermented puer made into black tea. The color is a dark orange and reminds me of a gold tipped yunnan black in flavor (creamy, malty) but with a berry fruityness to it. The steeped leaves smelled like raspberries to me. This tea also is a beast of a resteeper – finishing off with buttery flavor. Verry cool. Cry, I need more of this tea and it’s $35 full size and I just did a group order! cry.

Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/january-white2tea-club/ along with the other January White2Tea club teas!

A nice starter ripe pu’er! It had a nice clear tea with a comfort feel with flavors of malt and chocolate. The only thing I didn’t like about this one was I didn’t get that many infusions, it got light within 8 steeps for me.

Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/january-white2tea-club/ along with the other January White2Tea club teas!

Temperature: Boiling (Subsequent infusions at 190oF)
Brewing Time: Fifteen seconds ( + five seconds for each subsequent infusion)
Aroma: Smoky
Flavor: Smoky, Malty, Toast, Tobacco and Damp Earth
Tasting Notes: I loved it. It has a nice staying power, according to my notes I got twenty-three infusions out it before I stopped taking notes. This is a tea that you shouldn’t drink if you have things to do, it just has so much to give. I didn’t finish this tea I had stuff to do and frankly it just lasts way to long for me. I have a little left over I might experiment brewing with for longer times. The Smoky tastes starts to disappear after the fifth infusion, but besides that it stays pretty constant. I didn’t notice the taste starting to thin out, which is ridiculous, generally I like to see teas change in later infusions, but I doubt I’d be able to distinguish the sixth infusion from the twentieth.

Definitely worth buying! $18 for 100g is nothing. I haven’t tried the other teas that TwoDog sent me yet, but I have a feeling this might be the one to beat. The bar is set pretty high with this Old Bear, while my only criticism of it is you might get bored since the tea doesn’t get better the more you drink. I am curious if this tea will age well, I generally like young Sheng Puerh, but I wonder if this is type of puerh you want to buy and forget about or the kind you drink immediately.

More at http://rah-tea.blogspot.com/2014/12/white2tea-2006-little-gold-melon-old.html

It’s funny how different this sheng is from the one I drank yesterday. So mellow and smooth and sweet. I am enjoying it!

Personal rant, not meant to offend anyone: I really wish that the owners of tea companies would put their teas in the database. I get tired of having to enter the info on every new tea I sample, and sometimes lately I don’t bother to write a review, because I’m busy, I’m tired, & I don’t really feel like doing it. I’d rather just enjoy the tea.

And I did enjoy this one, another sample from the tea club. When I opened the envelope, the aroma drew me in, heady & rich, almost like a perfume (but not grotesque, like perfumes are to me). Multiple steepings carried me through the morning & had a cool soothing effect, like the feeling of clay, even though the tea was actually hot, of course. Kind of sweet, reminiscent of Mandala’s Black Beauty (but different), never bitter. It’s lovely..

This is for the mini-cake of the same name, which was included in the January edition of the tea club.
7G + 4oz or so yixing (rinse) X 15/30/45/60 sec, etc…

Wood…that’s the first note here, deep woodwinds come to mind, & some low strings. This has a pleasing darkness to it, like a rich well aged compost, that you can’t help running your fingers through & smelling before you mix it into your garden. I’ve had a rough day, & it is immediately grounding & satisfying, welcoming me home. There’s a darkness & slight bitterness to it like a cup of coffee, or a square of unsweetened high quality dark chocolate.

This tea doesn’t have any unpleasant qualities, however there is a slight metallic taste, at least to my tastebuds. It’s in the background, with a silvery quality to it, as if a bright sounding flute tried to join the soothing ensemble that I have created in my mind, & I’m not sure how I feel about it’s presence.

Imagine yourself in the cool dark by a lake, surrounded by trees, feeling soothed & at peace. Then you notice a neon light, flashing through the trees. It’s not quite what you had in mind, but you do your best to ignore it. Anyway, that faded after a couple of steeps, and now my ensemble of mellow sounds is playing more softly, and includes a loaf of nutty whole grain bread, a hint of clay, & well oiled & aged leather.

And I’m getting a pleasant buzz, so my day is much improved. :)

This tea isn’t bad. I am not that much into semi aged sheng but I enjoyed this tea. It has a heavy smoke flavor mixed with other aged flavor. I didn’t have that sweetness I like in certain young shengs. Still it was good.

I brewed this four times in a 220 ml gaiwan with 10g leaf and boiling water. I steeped it for 10 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, and 20 sec. There were a lot more steeps to this tea but I have to watch my caffeine.

Aged sheng appears to be growing on me! That or I’m starting to find styles I actually enjoy.

I stole this sample from Marzipan when I went to her house a few weeks back :D Ok I didn’t steal it, she was very generous and willing to split some of her White2Tea samples with me!

I am drinking it today because Cheri was drinking it yesterday and the day before and talking about how awesome it is on Steepster chat! I agree, this is a very nice one :)
Still having trouble describing aged flavors. This one is sweeter and “cleaner” tasting than some of the others I’ve had. I guess some aged sheng tastes like raw, green lumber to me and this woody taste is more of a ripe, almost fruity wood with a more complex taste. Like the difference between the smell of a cheap piece of plywood and a fancy piece of apple or cherry wood maybe? I’m getting a little abstract here, sorry!

A sample from “Pug”. Very soft and gentle, not much in the flavor profile to exclaim. A starter sheng for sure for those not used to pu erh. The leaf material was of good quality and the spent leaves were still strong.

I liked this one quite a bit. Smooth and easy drinking, and just a touch sweet. I got several infusions out of this one.

My gongfu session lasted right about 2 hours

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and Penny joined me for my tea:
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I drank a sample of this tea all morning yesterday. I was off work and baking quiche and wrapping Christmas presents so I had time for a proper gongfu session for once! It was really enjoyable. One of the cleaner and smoother aged shou I’ve had the pleasure of drinking. I think I am getting more accustomed to aged flavors in puerh. I’ve been quite fond of younger shou and sheng for a while now, but older stuff is definitely starting to grow on me :)

This tea certainly is easy to drink. I am fond of Yiwu teas since they tend to be mellow and smooth. This 1998 is the oldest Yiwu leaf I’ve had. Just as expected mellow and smooth with a prominent brown sugar sweetness. The nice full leaves produce a dark bronze soup which is very clear. A silk-like body is found in the sip. Nice aftertaste which lingers. I was left with a little mouth and throat dryness but this often happens when I drink tea. More important to note, the tea left me quite relaxed after the session. Great endurance yielding many, many flavorful resteeps – I steeped the same leaves eight times and I’m still doing 5 second steeps. Overall sweet, dense, and pleasant. The quality of these aged Yiwu leaves is something to admire – this is one amazing tea!

After storing it for 8 months I am revisiting this tea. It tastes to me much better than before. Before I was getting unpleasant notes of bamboo or wet wood. This time I am not getting those unpleasant notes. While I still wouldn’t rate this tea at 100% it is much better. This time I am getting some sweet notes that I didn’t get before. I also gave the tea two rinses which I didn’t do last time. I only steeped it six times because I am at my caffeine limit but I’m sure I’d have gotten twelve out of it. I am enjoying this tea. I was supposed to be having a root canal now but the dentist was sick. I have to admit this is much better than root canal.

I steeped this six times in a 120ml gaiwan with 8.2g leaf and boiling water. I gave it two 10 second rinses and let the tea rest for 10 minutes. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, and 20 sec.

This is certainly an interesting shou puerh. I am not sure how much I like it. It started out with a strong taste of what I would describe as bamboo or aged flavor, not sure which is a better description. Some have described the taste as leather but bamboo is I think a better description. This is a dark and strong tea. Even after eight steeps it was still quite dark colored. I think this is a shou you could easily get fifteen steeps out of. The thing I think I disliked was that there wasn’t much sweet flavor to it, all leather and bamboo along with some earth. While I would not describe it as very earthy, there was still some earthy flavor there.

I steeped this eight times in a 207ml Taiwan Clay Teapot with 9.3g leaf and boiling water. I steeped it for 10 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 30 sec, 1 min, 2 min, and 4 min. The bamboo taste strongly persisted for about the first four steeps and was noticeable through the first six steeps. I would describe this flavor as slightly off putting. It has been suggested that this tea needs to air out, this could be.

This is a very nice straightforward tea – clean, creamy and sweet. Moderate compression; very attractive dry leaves which offer light floral notes to please the nose. The tea soup is a lovely clear copper color (dark copper). This is a smooth tea with very little if any bitterness found underneath the dominant theme of sweetness. Little complexity, just an enjoyable sip with pleasant mouthfeel and aftertaste. For me the tea’s effect was quite calming and relaxing, in fact, it made me feel rather tired. Puerh from Jingmai has a reputation for being softer and lighter than Puerh from other tea growing regions and this tea lives up to that reputation.