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Recent Tasting Notes

Grandpa Style!

Though I’ve been trying to be more restrained in the amount of compressed cakes I’m buying, I couldn’t resist grabbing one of each of white2tea’s new smoked teas along with a handful of their mini counterparts. This tea order smelled incredible the moment I opened it up, with just a beautiful whispy smoke aroma permeating the air. Though I’ll wait for the cakes to settle, I couldn’t resist brewing up on of the 2024 Great Blue Heron minis in the meantime – I’ve been a big fan of W2T’s other smoked sheng productions so it was an easy first choice.

My first impression of this tea was that it’s quite bold and nippy, with an intense smoke aroma that reads quite heavily of pipe tobacco, oak wood, and peat with greener, more herbal undertones that make me think of smudging. It’s quite astringent, but not particularly bitter. I found myself appreciating the burly texture. I kind of wanted to be drinking it from a rocks glass; there’s just an overall “parlor room” vibe to the tea that practically begs to be accompanied by cigars and whisky. Not for everyone, for sure, but so up my alley.

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C4_kRBiu834/?img_index=1

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

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Backlog

I was brewing this late on Saturday evening while playing video games. I maybe had 3-4 infusions and was enjoying the session, however, I stopped shortly after the last steep. I needed to give my full attention to Helldiver II’s Titans and lost track of tea. Jump to 45-60 minutes later and I get back to the leaf. Before brewing this further, I had placed the idea into my head that this was a tea from earlier and the leaf was spent, so I tossed this into the waste bowl. But wait! I found the wrapper sitting on the tea table and realized my mistake.

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I haven’t finished the session yet. I’ve made it to the 5th infusion and wanted to make a note before pushing this opportunity back any further. I usually read a book and have tea before heading into the office for the evening on Tuesdays.

I will note that my fondness for Lapsang has taken a temporary step aside these days. Smoked puerh? I had assumed I’d face the same problem on account that I’ve avoid smoked teas as much as possible. However, upon drinking this, I had forgotten that I really find a smoked puerh quite fascinating! It’s less aggressive, while maintaining a strength in smokiness. It’s comparing burnt wood or BBQ (Lapsang) to burnt honey or sugar (smoked puerh). They each have their place and time, but definitely something I don’t indulge in too often.

Flavors: Burnt Sugar, Smoke, Sweet

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65

I am laughing at my tasting notes on this review because the “aroma” at the start of the session compared to the end of the session were waaay different from each other.

Notes: Aroma reminded me of piss and roasted peanuts. I had hoped it wouldn’t’ve tasted like piss (whatever piss tastes like, I do not care to know). After the second infusion, that piss note had left the pot. End explicit content. This tea tasted slightly burnt, but it turned out to be pleasant after the 3rd infusion. I noted that the tea had more of a toasted walnuts and a charcoal flavor profile after steep #3. It was a warming tea and wasn’t necessarily my favorite from the February club.

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drank 2023 941 Mini by white2tea
15575 tasting notes

Gongfu!

This afternoon, I’m sipping down a 2023 941 sheng pu’erh mini from @white2tea that was added as a free sample to one of my orders this past year! I have a cake of, I believe, the 2022 production of this raw pu’erh and though I’ve only steeped it a few times I recall really enjoying the soft and sweeter taste and texture. It’s one of those “nail on the head” teas in regard to appealing to my penchat for Yiwu productions.

From memory, this mini is expectedly quite similar with a really gentle overall profile and light notes of dewy fresh pears, snow peas, and a mellow grassy and hay-like midsip that anchors the orchard fruit and cooling vegetal notes. Almost a creamy finish, especially in the late session. However, as most of the more sugary notes sit in the front half of the sip, it’s a creamy tail end that lacks sweetness. If I didn’t have a cake of the 2022 material I could totally see myself adding a few more minis of this to my next order…

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C4TsxeGO7s7/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l81HZfkLwpk

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75
drank Iron Arhat by white2tea
2 tasting notes

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85
drank Silver Bud Red by white2tea
533 tasting notes

Sipdown, western style. Kinda contrary to normal directions for these, but I don’t do too much gong fu style due to it taking more time/energy than I have sometimes.
Three steeps on this, at boiling for the 1st, then with cooler water for the other two. Flavors stayed the same throughout, just weaker on the later steeps.
Sweet, amber (maybe honey?? not sure what I meant here), sugar cane, chocolate, cocoa. A nice smooth black tea.

Flavors: Chocolate, Cocoa, Honey, Sugarcane, Sweet

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70

Sipdown

From the February Club

Cannabis all over. A little bitter and intense. Not as solid as the other teas from this club, but passable.

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75
drank Qilan by white2tea
144 tasting notes

Sipdown

From the February 2023 Club

Notes: Cannabis, seaweed, & sweet candied nuts (cashews? almonds?)

https://www.instagram.com/p/C4GoEszOlvs/?img_index=1

Flavors: Almond, Cannabis, Cashew, Seaweed

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I bought this for… reason unknown. Maybe I wanted to try fruit filled puerh, at least that sounds like a plausible explanation.

Anyway, I split the mandarin in half and picking some amount of puerh inside with a finger. Also adding some of the peel. I just hope it is intended to be steeped with the tea.

I tried it once before writing this note, but as my 4 years old niece was around, I was rather checking if my cup is far enough from the table border, than checking the tea itself.

Today I prepared 3g/3 mins with 90°C water.

It much earthier than I have expected. I also notice some of the cardboard / paper note which seems like a flaw to me. It’s not what I was expecting, to be honest. Also, earthy note is strong and then it fades into that I wrote about. I do notice some of the orange zest, but rather in aroma than the taste.

As it cools down it is getting better. Not by a lot, though. Have I used wrong steeping parameters? Was I supposed to steep it gongfu only? Was it packed in the paper wrapping for too long? Discuss below.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 0 sec 3 g 10 OZ / 300 ML
gmathis

Nieces and cats can be hazardous to your tea!

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90
drank Canton Canon by white2tea
1 tasting notes

No notes yet. Add one?

Flavors: Burnt Sugar, Chocolate, Coffee, Coriander Seed, Hazelnut, Sweet, Vanilla, Wheat, Woody

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 4 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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Grandpa Style!

Slurped this back of the course of yesterday afternoon. It’s slick and oily with a liquor that’s practically jet black save for a hint of red-ish brown cresting at the water line. Though there’s an expected smooth, grounding earthiness and minerality I find myself more entranced with the gentle sweetness of fruitier notes of figs and red dates – almost like drinking a Fig Newton in tea form, which I feel I should is a positive. It’s very clean and easygoing, which makes me feel like it falls very comfortably into the “daily drinker” sorta zone for the more well versed pu’erh drinker while also likely making for a more accesible option for anyone who’s been turned off pu’erh because of some of the funkier flavours sometimes present!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3_CXinuK96/

I think this is one of the nicest photos I’ve taken in months, though I guess the IG algorithm disagrees. Kind of a bummer when a photo you’re REALLY proud of tanks. Womp womp.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iJmIL83vas

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85

I tried it grandpa, 3 grams from the chunk and it was surprisingly easy to pry; so I have just “opened the chunk” if you know what I mean.

Steeped for quite long. I haven’t checked; but I assume around 4-5 minutes and I had a great cup of tea.

Quite strong, wet forest floor aroma and taste, along with camphor and I noticed also petrichor (okay, that was maybe the enviroment as in meantime rain came). All covered in somehow lovely sweet smoky element and molasses as Roswell Strange notices in 2021 vintage.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 g 10 OZ / 300 ML

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Gongfu!

Drank this with some dark chocolate in between steeps! I used to buy a greener and more ball-rolled style of oolong from a now defunct company called Ginger Lily Oolong, and I’m finding this tea reminds me of it in a lot of ways. It’s light to medium bodied with a very mild, gentle sweetness that compliments the subtle spice notes and overall fresh, crisp profile. In particular, I love how the aromatics are so floral and soft, while the finish has such a clean earthiness and mineral quality. Maybe even a touch of petrichor. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this tea quote as much as I have, but it turns out that it’s actually pretty nostalgic, and the subtle sweet earthy notes of ginger are really soothing and cozy!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C300b4XO_nS/?img_index=1

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

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drank 2022 Lisboa by white2tea
15575 tasting notes

Gongfu!

Enjoyed this shou paired with a delicious soft boiled duck egg (with a splash of maple hot sauce) for a delicious breakfast tea session. Apologies in advance to the anti-runny yolk crowd. This was such a rich and unctuous way to start the day, though!! This shou in particular has a robust earthiness with a smooth woody character and sweeter dark undertones of molasses and brown sugar with just a hint of brothy umami weaved throughout everything else already going on in this complex blend of different ripe pu’erhs. The egg, with its golden and delicious yolk, is just as rich as the tea with a deeply creamy taste and texture alongside its own distinct umami character. So fatty and luxurious!! And of course, a hint of sweet and fiery hotsauce to break up the indulgence just a bit…

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3qmElmuu1U/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWk4IjZHsb4

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85

Sipdown

Sample from the W2T club

I really want to write a lot about this tea, but I didn’t take too many notes. I promised IG that I would add something, but I was too into this tea at the time. I wrote “buttered toast” a few times. The only other notes on my scrap paper were the following: whipped cream, milk, butter, & toast/bread. 6 infusions noted, too.

Flavors: Bread, Butter, Milk, Toast, Whipped Cream

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90

Feel like you want to brew some longjing but you don’t have any? Love a few funky mushroomy notes here and there? This tea is for you! Good energy and duration. It brews like a sheng, tastes most like a green, and smells like oolong. Weird combination but it’s great. It has a tendency to go astringent, so dont brew too hard…unless you like it that way. I ain’t your mother.

Flavors: Asparagus, Hazelnut, Honey, Mushrooms

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 0 min, 15 sec 6 g 4 OZ / 120 ML

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drank 2019 inb4 by white2tea
15575 tasting notes

Gongfu!

This is a very soft and gentle tasting tea with a lot of the more delicate and finer characteristics that I love so much about Yiwu productions alongside such a rich, thick and creamy mouthfeel. It isn’t until a few steeps in that the tasting notes begin to paint a clearer picture: dried apricots, apple blossoms, and the smell of simmering brown sugars. It warming, cozy and very peaceful – I definitely felt, as I sipped on the latter infusions, like I’d slipped back into memories of late summer evenings back home in the Prairies. Almost like a merger of summer breaks spent at my Grandparent’s house and the night markets I used to frequent before moving to Montreal. Just a simplicity and easiness saturated in a glowy feeling sense of nostalgia.

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3fyO3PuKqS/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viBbRfstO84

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80
drank 2023 Lapsun by white2tea
13 tasting notes

If you are at all a fan of smoked teas, this is a pretty good one. The smoke is there but not acrid, and there are still some interesting tea scents around. Good texture and overall balance for a pine-smoked tea. I like this better than most lapsangs, and this might the one smoked tea I keep in my collection for those cold nights.

Flavors: Caramel, Smoke

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 0 min, 30 sec 5 g 120 OZ / 3548 ML

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70
drank Cockscomb by white2tea
144 tasting notes

Late last evening, I opened the second tea from the White2Tea Tea Club. Had I known this was a prized tea, I’d’ve saved it for last. Alas, I didn’t until finally reading the full letter.

I brewed this up to 6 times. Each sip I drank, with the exception of a single (sake) cup. I wanted to dive into it layer by layer, with a proper boiling water palate cleanse.

Cup One: cocoa & sweeten milk
Cup Two: tobacco, darker chocolate, buttery, nutty
Cup Three: Surprisingly less notes than cup two, but mostly the same.
Cup Four: Steeped way longer than expected. Add cannabis and “cooked florals” (whatever I meant by that).
Cup Five: No, no. Please don’t fade out on me, you beautiful beautiful tea.
Cup Six: End Scene.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C3iCnExOGFF/?img_index=1

Flavors: Butter, Cannabis, Cocoa, Dark Chocolate, Floral, Nutty, Tobacco

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Sipdown?

This was the first tea to be had during the February Tea Club. It was a terribly windy day. I wanted to drink some tea after waking too early on little sleep.. It was a rough morning and a rough evening, as nobody could sleep last night – the wife sick and I worried. She currently has a fairly high fever, but the doctor advised that if it remains in the morning, it’s recommended we take a trip to Statcare. Poor dear.

Notes: This was a warming tea – both in smell and flavor. I’m a sucker for a yancha and this was the type that really hits the spot. There were ‘soft’ mineral notes and a nice lingering sweet citrus aftertaste.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C3YfaYAu3Rg/?img_index=1

Flavors: Citrus, Mineral

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75
drank 2022 Sunskate by white2tea
13 tasting notes

Occasionally I want the elevated Lipton experience which this offers pretty well. This is the kind of tea I’d drink iced laying out in the sun beside the pool, or after pulling weeds in the garden all day. Naturally bright and sweet. The description on W2T says it’s somewhere between an Oolong and a Hong, but I put it squarely in honcha territory. Solid ‘tea aroma’, but there’s not really any frills here—not a lot of fruit, flower, leather, or any particularly interesting characteristics. Good body and makes a great iced tea, but a gongfu sessionable tea it is not, at least to me.

Flavors: Tea

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 15 sec 6 g 4 OZ / 110 ML

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85

Bamboo is a weird grass. Who thought to shove tea inside and then roast it I guess really liked the flavor. The prominent flavor here is Chinese-takeout chopsticks. I kind of like it—much more than some of the dank lumbery pu`erhs I’ve had. The bamboo is well, woody, but in a tannic-but-not-resinous kind of way. Somewhere past the bamboo there’s a vegetal brightness akin of bean sprouts, and then lingering still there’s a touch of cocoa dust drying the tongue. No dusty basement here. Just thick, well-incorporated, warming, and enduring bamboo. Pretty approachable and something I’d share with friends. Overall I don’t regret buying the full 200g before trying it. The value is good to boot.

Flavors: Alfalfa, Bamboo, Milk Chocolate

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 7 g 4 OZ / 110 ML

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