drank 2020 IS A GIFT by white2tea
67 tasting notes

6g, hongni shuiping, 2x rinse

steamed and rinsed aroma was the most tangy juicy tart sweet smell I’ve ever experienced – sort of like pinot noir wine and amazingly delicious complex aromas I’ve ever smelled in leaves. (steamed aroma = dry leaves in warmed teapot)

the flavor of the first 2-5 steeps was super complex I just can’t describe it, honestly not even going to do it justice. it was amazing, delicious, juicy, complex, subtle huigan and kuwei and chaqi was sinking stomach.

this tea was not very smooth though, a roughness while drinking it in every area. Rough in mouth, rough in throat, rough aftertaste…rough.

astringent kuwei

all the effects of the first few steeps faded and never returned which left me…dissatisfied.

it was effortful to finish this tea session but given the “difficult to acquire material that rarely sees the light of day in the larger market” I pushed through to see what this was all about.

this tea is still young and will definitely benefit from some age, definitely needs some time to age, and the roughness I think will dissipate and smooth as it ages. It is only 6 months old so…I am hoping it develops longevity and smoothness. But then the wonderful complexity of flavor/aromas may fade.

liquor was medium thick (or rather it was not thin bodied)

This is supposedly very high end tea and I can tell, and agree. but its not something that really impressed me “overall” (the wow’ing experience up front was really averaged out by the weak finish of the tea session)

it was clean, no ill body effects, long lasting mouth watering kuwei even 20 minutes after drinking.

I plan to revisit this tea in a few months, and maybe in a year or two see how its developing. For the price, right now there are more aged teas that perform better to invest in. This is quality tea, but is it “my cup of tea”? I was tempted to get a cake, but backed out and opted for 2017 Treachery of storytelling pt 2 and 2020 I Am.

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I like all teas but mostly drink sheng and Taiwan oolong.

My tea notes are just thoughts that come to mind as I drink, so I jot them down. There’s no format to them, just what I want to remember from the experience.

Oh, and why isn’t there a “bacon” flavor option on steepster?

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