2015 Little Walk

Enjoying this tea today. Thanks Christina for the sample.

It has a nice sweetness. No bitterness and there’s a slight floral note in it. It has a slight heaviness or oil feel in the mouth which I like too. Overall a great sheng!

I needed this after my scare of the snake. I’ve been in this house many years and never saw a snake in the front or back garden. Well today I open up my back door and there’s a baby brown snake on the door step!!!! Yikes! My cat stepped right over it. He’s blind and it didn’t move when he stepped over it so no problem However once he sensed it’s movement he would be right on it. I have no idea of what type of snake this was so I just wanted to get rid of it without hurting it. I finally got it in the big outside dustpan and took it to the front garden. Hubby says I was kind of mean to put it so close to the road but I checked later and didn’t see any dead snakes so he must have hid somewhere. Wish I could have taken him even further away but will see. I hope he doesn’t come back!!!

Starts out very light. The first steep/rinse is not worth drinking and the second is only slightly better. The third is much better as well as a significant improvement in the color. There is an aroma of wood smoke in the gaiwan but it doesn’t seem to come through much in the cup. As many people have said, hay is the predominant note especially in early steeps. Green wood is a good description for mid to late steeps along with some stone fruit coming through on the finish. It has a certain sweetness but it is fresh and clean, almost mineral at times. Overall very light but enjoyable.

One of the few teas out of the 2015 line up from White2tea I hadn’t tried yet. Received this as a sample from Round 3 of the TTB.

Pretty enjoyable for a really fresh sheng, which is something I’m finding I enjoy less and less. Lately my tastes for tea with at least a few years of age on it seem to be more agreeable to my palate. If you have tried the Poundcake then this is pretty similar. Not quite as good but close and less than half the price. Sweet and floral, little to no bitterness. Really nice example of a drink now puerh. Has W2Ts typical thickness and oily texture which I love. Maybe what you would call their house taste/style/flavor. Either way I love that in tea and no one making new cakes does it better. Went on for about 10 steep with the the flavors and body progressively getting lighter after the first couple of cups.

When I make another White2tea order I’d probably add a cake of this for when I desire and nice easy drinking fresh puerh. Really can’t go wrong for 20 dollars. Good for someone not looking to spend a lot of money for their sheng fix, for someone new as an introductory sheng to get them started or to serve to someone that doesn’t normally drink/never tried sheng and may be interested

Sipdown!

I did two separate sessions with this, actually. I finished off the last of this tea this morning using a western-style steep and it was tart but smooth.

However, the bigger production was a few days ago when my sister and brother-in-law came over for Thanksgiving. They’ve had puerh on their own before, but this was the first time they tried it with gongfu brewing, so I was explaining things like the leaf-to-water ratio, the steeping times, the various vessels, the different flavours I’m getting, etc. I gave them about 4 different teas to choose from, but they went with this. It was probably the most appropriate choice, given how mild it tastes.

My sister said the tea reminded her of hay, and both of them noted that there was no bitterness. It became a little astringent if I steeped for more than a few seconds, so I used a lighter touch when my BIL said it was getting a bit too astringent for him.

They appreciated the tea, I think, but they tapped out after having only about 5 rounds of tea from the itty-bitty cups. I boiled about 5 cups of water, so I had the rest all to myself. I was bloated and a bit loopy by he end, but hey, 15 steeps is 15 steeps!

This is a wonderful daily drinker. The cake is composed on small thin curls. The cake is an array of fall colors and carries the typical sweet Menghai scent. I broke a chunk and placed in my warmed yixing and gave it a shake. The Menghai charter arose from my brewing vessel. I could take in sweet aromas with slight vegetal scents. I washed the leaves once and prepared for brewing. The session started as sweet with a slight tang. The brew was floral, syrupy, and light hay. The brew grew a little bitter with some heavier green wood tones. This drink kept a consistent tarnished bronze colour. The taste was not complex, but it was a steady sweet and tang. I really enjoyed this, and it is unbeatable for its price. The leaves were mostly whole and combined with a mixture of buds attached. I will be picking up more of this tea for some daily drinking. I also agree with this company, for this is a wonderful introductory brew for puerh newbies. In fact, I will be giving this out to some people I am trying to convert to the Sheng side, hahah.

https://instagram.com/p/7yT_5uTGc6/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

https://instagram.com/p/7yRppaTGYX/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

First steep had a nice floral nose; light straw taste with a stronger undercurrent going into a nice finish. 2nd steep was soft and round. Full flavor almost totally lacking in acid. Later steeps were similar: a smooth mix of straw with a bit of wood and smoke.

I agree with the W2T description that this would be an excellent introduction to Puerh. It is very smooth with almost none of the bitterness, acid, or tannins that some young puerhs show. For a more experienced pu-head, it serves as a pleasant, inexpensive everyday drink.

Working through my W2T samples. :) So, the Poundcake I had yesterday was lots of big loose leaves, whereas this one is mostly just a single tightly-packed chunk, so I got a chance to use my puer pick again, yay! 5g in my 100ml gaiwan, started with a quick rinse, then 10, 15, 20, 25… etc (roughly – I’m never very exact with the timing). I boiled the water to begin with, and then just kept using it without reheating, so each steep was about 5 degrees cooler, until I got down to 80 deg or so, then heated to 90 deg after that… which actually worked pretty well.

Anyway. This tea is pretty good, but… not super interesting? I don’t know, I think I tend toward teas that are really aromatic or flavourful, and this isn’t either of those things. It is pretty nice, and I can see how it would be recommended as a good starter sheng. My favourite thing so far is how, after like 5 infusions, every time I clear my throat I get this really intense sweetness in the back of my throat. What is that? It has happened with other W2T shengs as well. Anyway, good tea but it’s not changing my life or anything. ;)

Really nice. Soft, creamy, delicate, fruity/floral. Really a perfect little easy-drinking tea. Great value for such quality leaf. I could see this being a daily drinker for me.

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