white2tea

Talk about an underpriced tea- this is real, quality aged sheng stored in a traditional environment. Soup is thick and dark, with intense sweetness and enduring aftertaste. It is suggestive of sweet dried dates, antique leather and ginseng. This would make a valuable addition to any puerh aficionado’s library.

This is a delicious tea that has very little bitterness, almost none. It is sweet with notes that you could call apricots and stonefruits. This is the first time I am drinking this since I bought a cake during White2Tea’s moving sale. Last time it was a sample of the gourd from a good tea friend. This is just a really solid raw puerh tea. I do not know how the lack of bitterness will effect this tea’s aging. I have always heard that bitter teas age better. This is not a bitter tea. I used to add sugar to sheng because I was used to bitterness in sheng. Not sure when I stopped adding sugar to sheng.

I steeped this tea eight times in a 100ml Ru Kiln teapot with 8.3g leaf and 200 degree water. I gave it a 10 second rinse and a 10 minute rest. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, and 30 sec. I’m sure I could get at least 6-7 more steeps out of this if it wasn’t for the caffeine. While I think this is a blend of teas it is high quality tea.

Thank you Boychik for this sample of the White2Tea club gourd. Everyone isa apparently reviewing it here under Poundcake so I will to. The first thing that surprised me about this tea was a lack of bitterness in the first steep. I decided to drink this without any sugar and to be honest it still tastes sweet. I am definitely going to have to consider ordering the 2015 Poundcake. This tea is just damn good. I would call it notes of apricots and perhaps stonefruits. I steeped this ten times and may go back for a couple more steeps. I think that this tea would certainly go fifteen steeps. However, I don’t know that I have the energy for fifteen steeps. Even in the tenth steep it didn’t get particularly weak.

I steeped this ten times in a 100ml teapot with 8.7g leaf and 200 degree water. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, and 1 min.

2015 Teaclub Gourd 100g “Pound Cake” It is the same material so I decided to put it here. I also have a sample of the Pound Cake, I’ll sample that one and if it is different I’ll update with another note.

Dry – Assertive sweetness, thick/creamy, bittersweet notes, fruits.
Wet – Fruity, Honey, creamy, sweet-corn, tart-fruits, bitterness, floral, apricot.
Liquor – Pale yellow with a green tone >> gold

Initial Steeps Fruity front with notes of honey. Smooth liquor that wears sweet-corn notes followed a pleasant (but still young-edgy) bitterness, floral notes with hints of apricot and similar fruits moving to a vegetal and grassy notes and some astringency at the end. Within this first few steeps the bitterness wakes up and move in to the front with the sweetness taking a back seat to it.

Mid Steeps Bitter to bittersweet notes in the front that move to vegetal and slightly medicinal notes (reminds me faintly of Gua Feng Zhai medicinal-richness), rich and bitter middle with a good medium body with a huigan that lodges in the throat. The finish is sweeter but still maintains its apparent bitter notes. Slurping this one enhances all notes.

Final Steeps Rich bitterness that has greener notes of vegetables-grass, faint medicinal sweetness, honey, fruits and floral bitterness. The bitterness becomes the main note in later steeps with more astringency developing and going strong although it has grown a bit puckery and drying. Allowing it to rest is a very recommended must for a smoother steep. It also benefits from a good Yixing or Jian Shui pot.

This is a true old arbor gushu puerh tea with a predominantly Yiwu floral flavor and a Menghai base flavor. Leaves and stems are large and thick and this tea steeps fifteen times or more. I used 5 grams of leaf in about 75-100 ml water, and this was too much for me due to a powerful head effect similar to what I experience with hydrocodone. Two cups and I was sweating, foggy headed, and heart palpitations, and had to sleep it off a couple times. Younger people might not need the nap, but one other person has confirmed the painkiller effect to me on his sample.

This tier of tea has layers of things to taste.I got mostly the floral Yiwu, some bitterness and astringency, along with hot pepper, grapes, aspirin, Chinese medicine, Apple vinegar and I don’t mean in a sour way, more that flavor of apples fermenting in wood casks. I’m certain as I continue to drink this tea I will find even more things to taste. The tea seems more bassy than last year’s, a bit more base than bud which to me adds more of those darker notes and rounds out the profile nicely. The painkiller effect is new, I’m certain that it wasn’t in last year’s edition.

I checked with TwoDog and he said the tea is the same arbor as last year, just different leaf of course. This cake would be interesting to see a Chinese medicine doctor try and learn about how it might be used as medicine. I hope to get a full cake myself. This is the best quality, highest tier of puerh tea we can acquire in the west. The best tea, period. I will never find better in my life than this.

A cautionary note for drinkers with heart issues, I believe I would be fine with a dosage of 3G/100ml but no more. You can read more on my blog http://deathbytea.blogspot.com and also take note of the reader comment who experienced a similar effect.

I enjoyed this one quite a lot. It is suggestive of deep green stewed vegetables, or dank moss, somewhat like a Japanese green tea but with a thicker body and strong bitterness. Indeed, it is not a ‘sweet tea’, but it has a smoothness, complexity and depth that is not easily matched by other puerhs. It has conventional Menghai character in its tobacco and malt flavors, but is not overtly fruity like the Milk, Cream and Alcohol is. Instead, it tends much more towards dark green flavors noted above. I’d recommend at least sampling this guy.

I’m gonna break this down into the first three steepings, I did a quick rinse before the first steep.

First steep 5s: This tea was campfire-y with a smooth/sweet finish, there might be some slight mineral notes in this steep but I’m not entirely sure.

Second steep 10-ish-s: Ok so I fumbled the kettle this time so I’m not sure if it was actually 10 or I went over. Either way, the campfire smokey taste is stronger than ever, but while still pretty smooth there’s a bitter edge near the end. I also am starting to detect some wood taste too.

Third steep 15s: The smell of this steep is the most smokey, but the taste has died down a bit from the second steep. I can taste wood notes much better now, and it’s back to being not-bitter and completely smooth. Also starting to taste a bit of tobacco at this point.

Overall I really enjoy this tea, I liked it decently when I got it and it’s only grown on me over time.

This is quite good, highly fragrant, powerful and energizing. The tea is thick and bitter with (what I understand to be) classic Menghai character- fruit, tobacco, wild nettles (with the fruit tending towards pineapple imho). Definitely rough on the stomach right now, but young sheng drinkers aren’t sissies, so who gives a crap? The tea is cheap and good.

I found this tea to be quite soft-spoken, and of an exceptional quality. The body is thick, oily, with medium (and fast) bitterness. There is a sweet and lingering aftertaste, notes of stinky flowers, sweet cereal grains and olive oil. I suspect this comes from somewhere in or around Bing Dao, but what do I know?

This tea has got me all jacked up at work this morning. I packed the gaiwan to the brim (once the leaf was wet it filled the gaiwan). This packs a great bitter punch to the face. Slightly sweet and mouth drying. I am tasting from the Gourd. I think if the cake is stone-pressed, then i just may pick one up.

Very tasty. Just a little light for me, but I’m a fan of stuff like ghost peppers, IIPA’s, Xiaguan (lol). But I do enjoy it. Especially for early morning sessions when you just want that young puer

Its delicious.

A bit lighter then i was expecting,( im used to harsh factory tuos), ive really been blown away by the 2015 collection in general. So much more approachable then Dayi or Xiaguan stuff. I thought that young sheng was only for the people with iron stomachs. Dont get me wrong i wouldnt drink this tea first thing in the morning without eating, but this is very easy on me, and ive had stomach problems in the past.

Holy… I can see why this is sold out. This tea is so amazing!!! I am sipping on a sample Veck sent me… and wow, I don’t have words yet to describe it, so will hopefully update this later. But the flavor is addictive and unique. <3 <3 <3

The best description I have so far makes no sense… but if mermaids had a tea party, royal mermaids like Ariel, this is what they would be drinking. There is some sort of elegant salt note woven in it, without actually being salty.

I steeped a 99g weight gourd of this tea because I am unable to chip off any of this highly compressed tuo. I wasn’t just doing it to be funny, this is how I had to access the tea. And sometimes I eat an entire box of chocolates too. Cuz I want to. Cuz it is yummy. This tea is light and delicate enough. I steeped this using a 900+ ml Bonjour borosilicate teapot.

I went 8 rounds on this tea and the flavor justifies the “cake” name with thick yellow sweetness. As it happens, yellow butter Poundcake has been my favorite birthday cake most of my life, and only the nuns took the trouble to learn this about me and baked them for me, bless them. The tea here is sweet, motor oil thick, with notes of cloves and nutmeg on the early steeps.

After round 8, at 208 F temps, I’d literally stewed the tea. The leaves began to disintegrate into mush, rather like over cooked canned asparagus. The tea is probably best respected in the lightly compressed cake form which is what is available to buy, rather than the highly compressed tuo available only to tea club members. If I had the tea again, I would brew this at a far lower temp, maybe even as low as 170F to try and keep the integrity of the leaves. I think this is why the flavor dropped off for me well before the color or body of the liquid. The leaves seem like lettuce picked after a rain.

Having said that, I find white2tea’s house productions to be a memorable experience. I get why the fresh experience of this leaf makes it special. It is really easy to drink a big pitcher of this tea because it is so gentle, not bitter, not sour, just sweet and thick. In fact, I’d have a harder time drinking a pitcher of lemonade or beer compared to this. Spring honey all the way with this one. Drink fresh, it is not one to hoard to age.

I finished off the rest of what I had from the monthly subscription this morning and now I’m sad. This is such an amazingly delicious and unique black tea. Like a spicy potato tea. I used the remaining 5.5g in my shibo and it was perfect! It also lasted more than the usual 3-4 steeps I get from black teas. Although it’s no longer available, I heard that more might be coming in this autumn, so I will definitely pick some up, maybe with some samples of the other Spring puerh I haven’t yet tried.

This tea was included in the May monthly box. It is really different than any other black teas I’ve tried. There are potato and bread notes, but it has a spiciness that I’ve never found in any black tea before. Really interesting! I think there a bit of smoke as well, similar to a raw puerh smoke. It’s extremely affordable, so if you make an order, I’d recommend trying this one out!

This tasting note for Baby Gourd i got with my June Club offering.

its soo darn cute. i felt sorry to behead it but i had no choice.
Surprisingly easy, it took me just few secs. i guess i was just lucky finding the right spot.

5g 80ml glazed shiboridashi 200F
rinse/pause/ short steeps
I like this tea. its sweet, smooth, thick, creamy, some bitterness later on but not major. And i got sweet aftertaste long after i finish drinking it
I think its enjoyable for pu head and safe for beginner.
Im very happy with my Club subscription. thank you Paul ;)

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This is one manly tea. Strong, deep flavors, intense longevity (easily goes past 15 steeps with only ~6gs in a standard gaiwan for me) earthy as hell like dry aged beets, viscous, and slightly astringent in just the right way. I GUESS I could understand why SOME PEOPLE dont get it. Maybe it’s just too deeply earthy, but i think that hobbes summed it up very nicely "It’s not “haute cuisine” but it is darned satisfying."

I think this is my favorite young sheng at the moment. It’s so fruity and sweet and complex! Great after taste. How much leaf you use drastically alters the flavor profile in my experience. With less leaf it is refreshing and shares a similar flavor profile to some of the high mountain teas (like Mandala’s Wild Mountain Green). With more leaf its more like a Jingmai, but with less hay and smoke.

I think I might like this the best of W2T’s 2015 releases (but I haven’t tried 72 hours yet). The variety is good… but this is by far the best value tea as TwoDog states. It’s very easy to enjoy. While this might not be as strong of a body feel or after taste as some of the more expensive ones, as far as straight up flavors are concerned IYARTI2L takes the cake. Especially with a heavier leafing.

For me this is one of those holy shit teas. It blew me away.

Very young sheng flavor – bitterness present in the first few steeps. Later steeps bring out a crisp taste that I define as a green apple with a little sweetness. Overall, a very nice sheng that definitely has some promise for aging.

This tea… ohh this tea.. This is a really nice suprise from White2Tea. For various reasons, I canceled my membership to the teaclub and they send me this month by mistake and there was a 100g gourd of this tea in it. A very lucky mistake :)

Let put this in context, I’m a really really bitter sheng fan. The New Amerikah 2 is what I wake up to some days, it used to by my favorite of all time young sheng… now it is second… That tea is mesmerising….

Oily as it coat your mouth from the first sip
Thick as it feels like motor oil
Sweet as it isn’t harsh
Bitter to have some punch but way less than my beloved New Amerkah 2
Distrubing < some calls it Cha Qi > to a point where I had trouble concentrating…

I need a tong of this one… Buy this and drink it young, it’s all worth it < at least to me >