white2tea

Gongfu! Morning tea session with a 2025 Red Loon mini from the Shulloween bag. I’ve been excited to try this one for a while! Leaves prepared with a 10s rinse, as usual, and then taken through steeps of 10s, 15s, 20s, 25s, 30s, 35s, 40s, and 50s.

This one has a fairly linear progression, but still impresses me as a clean, accessible, daily drinker. There’s nothing funky to taste at all, just delicately sweet, creamy, smooth shou, minimally earthy with subtle later notes of fig and dried date. The mouthfeel is slick and oily, and the liquor a beautiful red-garnet. I’m definitely going to try this one grandpa-style next, as I think it’ll work really well like that. Overall, delicious. Really pleased with this one.

Afternoon tea session with 2023 Prosbloom from @white2tea, a free sample mini that came with my recent order. I prepared the leaves with a 10s rinse.

1st steep (10s) – pale orange liquor, almost roasty/charred flavour with a slight hint of sun-warmed earth in the tail of the sip
2nd steep (15s) – darker orange-brown liquor, increasing woody-earthiness, delicately sweet. Hints of black liquorice
3rd steep (20s) – liquor now red-brown, very pronounced woody-earthiness (not wet earth), roasty.
4th steep (25s) – still lots of woody earth/roast, but also a developing creaminess. Becoming sweeter.
5th steep (30s) – balanced earthy/creamy interplay
6th steep (35s) – ditto
7th steep (40s) – ditto
8th steep (45s) – ditto, but starting to fade. Very smooth.
9th steep (50s) – very smooth, sweet, creamy, only very mild underlying woody-earthiness.

On the whole I found this one a bit nondescript, just a typical low-budget shou sort of affair. Which is fine, because that’s what it is, but there are many others like it. The roastiness sets it apart a little, and it occurred to me whilst drinking that this would go really well with something like roast beef. I’m pleased to have tried it of course, and it’s a likeable, easy-drinking shou, but not one I would actively seek out again as there are others I greatly prefer at a similar price point.

Gongfu!

This ripe pu’erh is slick and oily, with quite a heavy and coating mouthfeel. I was pleased at how quickly and easily this dragonball opened up, as well as how long I was able to push this session. Though the top notes of this shou are rather fruity with more of a red berry taste to them, I mostly found this tea rather chocolate-like in profile. Slightly bitter like a high percentage dark chocolate, with earthier undertones. The finish introduces a bit of sweetness, like the more caramelized and “brown tasting” notes of jaggery. It’s been a moment since I last steeped the 2023 En Passant pressing, but at least from memory I think I prefer this one!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DRp_EldEvqu/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlqvTksoGR8

Brightening up a dull working Monday with a session of 2025 En Passant from my Shulloween bag of minis. I prepared the leaves with a 10s rinse.

1st steep (10s) – smooth, sweet, earthy
2nd steep (20s) – ditto, plus a hint of red berry-like fruitiness emerging in the background.
3rd steep (30s) – creamy, sweet, soft earthiness with a rich red berry aftertaste
4th steep (40s) – creaminess increased, soft earthiness. Some berry still, but diminishing.
5th steep (50s) – creamy, sweet, earthiness diminished.
6th steep (60s) – sweet water at this point

All in all a pretty good run of the mill sweet shou, quite straightforward and a good “don’t have to think too hard” daily drinker that doesn’t need a lot of focus.

Brewing a mini in a 110ml seasoned yixing, starting at 205.

Rinse (15s): light yellow, floral sheng with some citrus

1st steep (10s): floral sheng notes, a bit of citrus in the mid level. Low astringency, mild sweetness

2nd steep (8s+++): lid aroma is very floral, a bit of rose and other fresh flowers. Steep is a strong yellow gold – I tried to flash steep this, but the leaves had expanded and covered the spout, causing a very slow pour. As expected, the brew is a bit thicker and astringent, although honestly not terrible astringency. The flavor brings forward a stronger spiciness, sending the floral note to the mid/back of the palate

3rd steep (8s proper): lid aroma floral notes are toned down, leaving a warm green scent. Liquor is golden, maybe slightly more translucent than last steep. This steep is much less astringent, and only slightly less flavorable – a good trade if you enjoy subtlety. The floral notes seem to be firmly in the mid range now, and up front is a warm greens note – a bit vegetal, a bit herbal. Very mild cooling sensation, Citrus notes stil hang around but are not prominent

4th steep (10s): Overall similar to the last steep in all qualities. Maybe slightly brighter.

5th steep (15s): Liquor is a darker gold. Notes continue to lead in a warmer direction

6th steep (20s): Liquor color is a brighter gold. Citrus herbal sheng

I’m going to do a few more steeps, but I’m done reviewing now – overall, an enjoyable sheng, not too bitter. Floral citrus tapering down to greens and herbs. With just a touch of spice.

Starting Friday right with a 2025 Blood Moon mini, brewed gongfu style.

1st steep (20s) – delicately sweet, wildflower honey
2nd steep (30s) – wildflower honey, undertones of fresh baked bread
3rd steep (40s) – sweet, a little astringent. Honey and bread still, but diminished.
4th steep (50s) – delicately sweet, hints of strawberry. Black tea characteristics much diminished.
5th steep (1m) – characteristics of white tea now more prominent than black. Sweet, creamy, a little astringent.

As my workday then got busy, the leaves went into my thermos for a final grandpa steep. The breadiness returned, also malt and cocoa. There is some astringency, but no more than I would expect from a grandpa brew of a black tea. Thoroughly enjoyed this one today, and kinda sad now that I don’t have more in my cupboard. Definitely one to look out for when making my next order.

Quick review – brewed gongfu in a 170ml pot at boiling. Liquor is mostly dark red, not fully black. Product notes are very accurate. Tastes basically like a Lumber slut variant – maybe its forest goth sibling. Camphorous mainly, perhaps a bit more forest floor than lumber slut? I’d have to side by side compare to be sure. Solid inexpensive shou.

Gongfu! Diving into the Shulloween bag of minis today, and settled on the lone 2025 Glasshouse having heard good things about it. Prepared with a 10s rinse.

1st steep (10s) – creamy, smooth, lightly nutty
2nd steep (15s) – creamy, smooth, nuttiness more defined with hints of hazelnut. Background floral?
3rd steep (20s) – creamy, hazelnut
4th steep (30s) – smooth, creamy. Nuttiness diminished.
5th steep (40s) – smooth, creamy
6th steep (60s) – liquor pale orange now; sweet, smooth, creamy

I put the leaves in my thermos for a final killsteep of ~2.5 hours. The result is sweet and creamy with a very slight background of hazelnut. I thoroughly enjoyed this session, and would absolutely drink Glasshouse again in the future. It would be a great option for those looking for a non-earthy shou, with its delicious hazelnut cream notes predominating throughout.

Just a quick review. 10g in a 170ml teapot, brewed at boiling, gongfu style.

Brews quite dark. A sweet shou with cream and caramel notes that surprised me! My favorite cake from the shulloween pack, I’m sad this isn’t a generally available cake, because it would be a perfect daily drinker

Just ok, not too smoky, not too smooth. A decent example of smoked tea, but I don’t need more of this.

Grandpa Style!

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that a tea with “light” literally in the name is so bright tasting. But even still; this ripe pu’erh has some of the most lively feeling and fruity top notes of any shou that I’ve had for a while. It has an almost peachy stonefruit notes that straddles a fine and interesting line between biting into a ripe summer peach and something a little more grilled and caramelized, particularly as the top notes pass and more of the earthy and sweet brown notes of the mid sip kick in. If you’ve ever had peaches and brown sugar before, you probably know it’s an excellent combination. Definitely something really, really appealing to me about this smooth but very distinct tasting tea. I can’t wait to try steeping it some different ways, and seeing how it settles with time as well!!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DRaLX8qiUDx/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUJIeN_MmkU

Smooth but unremarkable. Interesting concept, but I don’t think I need any more of this nutty tea.

Got this from the 2025 Shulloween. Quick review -

Brewed gongfu in a 170 ml pot, 10g of material, boiling water.

Liquor is intensely dark throughout – seems to be the name of the game with black cat – an unrelentingly dark ripe puer.

Unfortunately the dominant note I got at first was just cardboard. Could this be a storage issue, or just the nature of the tea? Time will tell as it rests in my collection and ages a bit more.

Thankfully, with further steeping, the cardboard taste settled back. The flavor profile is primarily dark – old books, church basement, there’s definitely some dark fruit melange throughout the background, though no one fruit is prominent, and I wouldnt describe the tea as fruity. Something on the prune-raisin-pomegranite side of things.

Mouthfeel is thick, matching the dark brew.

Overall, a bit monotonous. Not bad, but not mind blowing.

I think I got the 2022 version with the 2025 shulloween.

Quick review – Good deal for the 200g cake. The shou is solid but not incredibly impressive. Tastes to me like a variant of lumber slut – a lot of similar notes to me. It is not exactly the same though, there’s some different notes in the middle.

Liquor is pretty dark on the amber side. very dark early steeps, but drops off pretty quickly.

My dad got me a bunch of white2tea samples for my birthday and I am just getting round to tea notes! This one is buttery smooth, caramel sweet, and is a nice change of pace from the yunnans and assams I usually drink. It doesn’t have a deep flavor profile, but is entirely too drinkable and my cup is already empty. I might need more of this in my cupboard.

Grandpa Style Sipdown (3082)!

It might not be a pound of minis, but I did pick up quite a few of the new shou pu’erh teas from W2T as part of this year’s Shulloween sale. More than enough to keep me well stocked all throughout this winter, that’s for sure. That said, it feels nice to be starting my exploration of this order with a sipdown. Specifically, all afternoon, I’ve been drinking this ripe pu’erh mini that was added to my order as a freebie. Grandpa style, as a perfect desk-side brew. It’s thick and smooth, with mellow notes of brown sugar as if drizzled overtop of a cozy foundation of rich top soil and freshly brewed coffee. Nice and grounding!!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DRQO3WnEpcP/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkotW0pe55c

The last of the ‘chocolate’ themed shu puerhs I bought from W2T a couple months back. It has a very similar cover to that of Smoove Cacao, a tea with similar taste notes that I personally wasn’t a huge fan of. These ‘easy drinking’ shus tend to lack the mouthfeel and performance of more sophisticated small batch productions. With that said, I do think this is the better tea of the two; again I get the advent calendar chocolate tasting notes with some lingering minerality. The smell of the wet leaf is truly dark chocolate, and maybe some cinnamon spice akin to that of Mexican hot chocolate. Probably a bit more deserving of being a daily drinker.

Lovely tea session today with 2021 Waffles, grandpa style thermos brewed at my desk. For reference, I used the whole 7g mini in my 500ml thermos, added boiling water and left it for ~2 hours before drinking. Once close to empty I topped up with fresh boiling water.

This shou remained fairly linear throughout. It’s quite sweet with light compost notes initially, and then a whole lot of maple. It’s very smooth and syrupy, and just an all-round perfect fit for its name. Later, lighter steeps have notes of cream, raw flour, and crystal sugar which are also super appropriate AND delicious! This is such a good cold day comfort tea, especially for the price point.

8g in 170ml pot, boiling water. Slightly underpouring the pot to increase the ratio.

Rinse (30s): red-brown liquor, not too dark, not too light. Tea leaves are still a bit packed in the pot. Rinse tastes like a cologne almost, slight spice note in it. Mouthfeel is surprisingly oily for a rinse.

1st Steep (15s): red-brown liquor, a bit lighter than the longer rinse. Pot aroma is dank and earthy, a bit of molasses in the back. Taste still has that cologne like note (which is really a combination of notes I cant really tease apart). Steep is a bit lighter than I’d prefer. Spent some time teasing apart the leaves in the bot as theyre still quite densely packed

2nd steep (15s): Kept the steep time since I spread the leaves a bit. Liquor is a properly darkened brown – held to the light, slightly cloudy. Pot aroma is bready shou, earth, and a bitter note. Taste is again the cologne note, with a middle body of bitter cacao.

3rd steep (20s): Dark brown liquor again. Pot aroma mostly the same – cologne notes when its fresh and hot, more bread shou after it calms. The flavor is quite similar, with a slight directional change I’m struggling to initially identify. Its maybe the caco or something in the middle taking more prominence. When I contrast with my 2nd cup that has the previous steep, it’s noticable, but my palate lacks the nuance to describe the difference.

4th steep (25s): Liquor same. Taste also similar, maybe more prominent cologne, caco feels more in the back.

5th steep (35s): Liquor is the same color, but is much clearer vs the cloudiness of the prior steeps. The flavor again takes a step away from the bitter profile.

6th steep (45s): Liquor is a bit lighter, probably need to push it more now. Indeed the flavor reflects this. Mostly the cologne notes and the previous mystery note in the middle.

7th steep (65s): This steep is slightly more under poured due to running out of water in my kettle. Liquor is much darker again and cloudy. Flavor is much more interesting – the profile has shifted away from bitterness and to a warm spicy bouquet of dark flavors.

8th steep (80s): Lighter color than the last (underpoured) steep, darker than the one prior. I think this tea is almost over.

9th steep (120s): despite significantly increasing steep time, lightning up again. The flavor is not too watery though.

10th steep (???s): Let this sit in the pot for quite a while as I typically do when I’m done. Mostly Bready shou notes left with a bit of baked goods (without much sweetness)

Overall: Really interesting and nuanced shou. The high notes are this masculine spice-leaning dark/warm cologne note, with bitter caco in the middle. There wasn’t too much evolution over steeps, though there was some motion.

I’m not a fan or foe of bitterness in particular, but worth noting that it is not too bitter – to contrast with my last shou (YS pa liang wild) which was bitter-dominant (to my displeasure), this bitterness is much more balanced in the flavor profile. Also in contrast, the Pa Liang had a strong sweetness that failed to balance by perhaps contrasting rather than integrating – Bringer isn’t sweet, and yet the bitter notes feel balanced in the flavor profile. I’ve seen a handful of other reviews online describe Bringer as very/extremely bitter, and maybe I’m biased by my experience with my Pa Liang sample, but it’s just a bit bitter. It’s certainly not sweet.

Would I cake it at $200? Probably not – its really nice, but not $200 nice, since I’m not particularly inclined to bitter teas. If you are? Probably a great bet.