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Not bad but seriously overshadowed by Pauls’ other offerings.

These are a little under 20g mine turned out to be ~ 17g but super compact I did a double check on my scale when I saw the reading, as I am used to tuos being either 5-6g or 100g+. I broke off 5g and threw it in my gaiwan, after two rinses we were off. I did not sense any pile taste which is to be expected being a few years old. The liqour was black so I am guessing heavy fermentation the tea had decent body as well. The flavor profile was woody but unlike others I have tasted all I can remember is smelling and tasting incense not smoky per say or super woodsy just light and delicate incense flavor if that makes sense. While it was pleasant, just prior I had steeped one of paul’s other ripened that blew my mind in the sweet coaco flavor profile so this gold melon was overshadowed. As a result this tea didn’t get much of my attention as I was still in astonishment at the previous session.

My tea cache is starting to become obnoxious, mostly in part because of puer so I am very picky about my raw and ripe these days. I received this as a sample with my last order and while it was not bad and I will gladly drink it down, it was not worth a spot in pumidor.

Received a very small sample (~ 5g) in my tea of the month package so as a preface I didnt brew it enough times to get to right possibly.

Light roast indeed the leaves became unfurled after 2-3 flash steepings, cant say I got much sweetness or fragrance that I’d normally expect every steep seemed too light and thin after the 3rd steep all I tasted was leaf. The leaf reminded me of the last steepings of a shui xian wuyi, very slight hint of mineral and raw leaf taste.

Grand tea, yunnan sourcing and rishi offered more fragrant, sweeter, increased longevity in their mi lan xiang dancongs, while I just realize rishi’s dancong is almost 2x the cost of this one I think ill stick with puer from W2T and stick with yunnan sourcing us site for budget dancongs especially since W2T shipping is so rough.

Love everything White2Tea has so far(Puer wise) so ill just chalk it up to bad brewing perimeters.

Light, no bitterness or astringency what so ever, grassy/sweet hay, slight “grass fed” butter flavor and hint of waffles in the aromatics , lasting flavor and feeling on the outer sides of the tongue.

A great value if lighter grassier teas are your thing not a favorite of mine personally but definitely indicative of older tress from a spring flushing.

Nothing that I can recall other than generic shu, still have a little left from a sample so maybe I will increase steep time/leaf. I almost think shu are better western brewed personally, as I always seem to find shu super thin and light with 30 s steepings.

(Autmn Plucking)
This is a tea that I am quite familiar with so I felt comfortable brewing more casually. Feeling lazy so threw in a my hong cha yixing. It been a while so I almost forgot what this tea tasted like so after a little anticipation of rinsing the vessel I threw in the leaves. The warmed pot gave off a wonderful smell, started off burnt sugar to the next huff smelling bitter cacao to the final whiffs turning into fruity dark stewed fruits. With all autumn teas it was more bark than bite and I hate a tease.

{side note}I have been using spring water for about a week now and really started to notice it brought out a lot of fruity sweeter qualities in teas and less bitterness, I am starting to miss a pleasantly bitter taste.

This tea was no different every steeping rather than the caramel toasty chocolately tastes I remember and just smelled from the leaves all I got was fruitiness. Im still pretty confident my yixing having a low pitch will take a while to season properly and as a result is a flavor sucker. I only got 2-3 good brew out of it strangely enough and couldnt get much out of it body wise, although I am impressed with the quality of tea/processing I don’t think I had any tea scum(white bubbles during a rinse) on any steepings which is rare for chinese teas especially hong cha.

Almost done with my sample bag before I reach the bottom I will take my time to throw it in a gaiwan and test out my yixing flavor sucker theory.

Update
Went for more leaf this time around with great results. Smoothness that comes with age a decent body but a very brief sweetness was something I had not tasted prior. Even though it was faint and short lived, it was a darker fruity (date, currant, jam) sweetness with a preserve-like tartness that made for an interesting brew. Getting the hang of this tea…. of course right I tried to overbrew it to bring out some bitterness but ended up with a smokiness I had not tasted before. So still learning the ins/outs of this guy but happy with my blind buy of a cake for the right price.

Next time I will just KISS keep it simple stupid, g/10ml and <20s short steepings

Herbal Punch(not your grandpa’s pu erh)

Still under the weather so again can not comment on flavor or taste too much. As for dry leaf nothing discernible keeping in my mind I have a cold, but wet leaf is where it gets interesting. This is the second offering from jalam I have tasted and the second tea to be unusually fragrant, not sure if its a theme or just a consequence of autumn plucking and/or being processed for immediate consumption or a combination. These pu erh so far have not been young sheng as I know it, very different but in a nice way. Not sure if “tea masters” would call this blasphemy but I enjoy them.

Once again the scent was hard to place it was surprised me as I was again not expecting such a unique smell. It reminded me of a high elevation green tea I have had from taiwan which also strangely enough smelled like an herbed pasta sauce, with a slight extremely short lived soured/fermented lemon almost alcoholic front nose. The body was notable as well especially when I increased the time the visual viscosity and oils made me a happy camper as I look for body in my pu erh. That being said I did get a tannic drying almost soap like texture at a 2 min steep later but that was obviously pushing the limits of normal session steeps so early any how. About three steeps in I might also note my vision when to fish eye lens (tea drunk) but only slightly and relaxing which is nice because with all the tea I have been drinking lately I have a high tolerance for sure.

I never tasted much bitterness that everyone else is mentioning I am not sure if this is a my preference for “strong” tea or result of my new found storage (boveda pak 75% RH) or my upgrade to mineral spring water or once again a combination but supposedly I have read others comment that those factors can change a tea dramatically.

All in all a keeper in my book checks all my boxes for preferences in pu erh decent body (check), tea drunk(check), unique fragrance(check), pleasing bitterness(check). Once again I will try to up the leaf next time and see if I can coax anymore pleasing bitterness without the super tannic drying resulting from high infusion time.

Tame for a young sheng

My first of jalam offerings wasnt sure what to expect so I braced myself used cooler water (195-205) and all flash steepings. The aroma was quite impressive after the i heated the gaiwan and through the first rinse. None of the harshness I usually associate with young sheng, this was slightly floral not like rose or jasmine but like a white tea. It was just barely sweet and barely astringent dainty and faint. The liquor was light on color and flavor i suspect because this was a autumn plucking but very interesting indeed. It was slightly fruit almost like some yiwu I have tasted but lighter and less tannic.

The complexity surprised me unfortunately I had to leave before I got a proper session so I will come back to this tea but very interested to uncover all the ethereal qualities I caught a glimpse of. Before I left I boiled water threw it on and prepared to leave so a good 5-10 mins must have past and even then the cup was only slightly bitter, almost all other of young shengs would have tasted like petrol soaked in plastic had I put them through that torture test. Not sure if thats a good or bad sign to be so asymmetrical as I have heard many a people claim young harshness shows it will age well and tolerable young sheng is a sign of poor quality tea meant to only be drunk immediately. As I live in a dry climate I’d rather pay for aged or young tea that is immediately consumable and enjoyable anyhow I don’t really trust myself to age anything but just a interesting note.

I will surely use more leaf and time with my next session. This tea but me in a fairly good mood and was rather easy on the stomach. I would recommend it yiwu palates and/or newer sheng pu erh drinkers as there seemed to be lighter friendly tones from my short experience with this tea.

First session had a little bit of cold so wont comment of flavor.

According to the description this was “aged” maocha pressed into a cake and I am not sure if that has anything to do with the lack of longevity or not but I really only had colored infusion from maybe 5-6 steepings. Also more of a reminder to myself if seemed to be astringent on the first few brews quick quickly dropped off. I like my tea on the “strong” side especially pu erh so I will try to adding more leaf or extra time to each steeping.

Still to early to review but from the little that I did taste it was fairly unique and I am excited to take my time and master brewing this tea as I bought a whole cake.