2015 Pretty Girls

Made a large pot of this one at the start of the week.

I’m making a bit of a routine out of having a large Western pot of tea in the evenings, and I’m quite enjoying the peaceful and coziness of it. This one was especially great because it was accompanied by fresh made blueberry muffins. I recall being surprised by this shou because of how clean tasting and bright it was; almost sort of unlike a pu’erh in general. Quite a nice sweet, berry/red fruit top note and then malt and cocoa. I’d describe it as really smooth as well, in addition to the sweetness. I’d have to check if this is even still on the W2T site, but come autumn shou ‘collection’ release I could DEFINITELY see this one tossed in my doom cart…

Very impressed.

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bny8tTlnEqd/?taken-by=ros_strange

A nice shou puer from White2Tea. I think I picked this sample up the year the tea was released and have just had it languishing in my collection since then. I noticed a lot of earthy notes of mushroom, dirt (in that “good” way), and chocolate. Decently sweet as well. I probably wouldn’t pick this one up over the more affordable ripe options at W2T or elsewhere, but it was certainly good tea.

Not bad, but nothing special. Nicely packed overpriced mediocre leaves.

For a ripe pu-erh this fellow really comes along with such a nice sweetness plus a hint of fruitiness – just lovely. Scent-wise there is a first and foremost chocolatey aroma noticeable – very thick and well balanced. Further a very creamy view into the future one with a herbal nearly minty flavor to it but a bit more like ginseng is playing a very important role within this delicious act.

Like the shu fortune teller foretold this liquor is predestinated to be creamy and thick in its texture with a nice mixture of chocolate, a small hint of roasted hazelnuts, a much more distinct nuance of Chinese herbal medicine flair, a bit of wood and somehow there is a certain taste of marshmallows ready to be experienced – but not that extremely sweet ones – more like we know it in our Country called “Eibischteig”. But the most focus on sweetness definitely builds up again a nice elegant composition of filled chocolates with a fine hint of cherries inside. Like a fresh salad at the end you also might taste a subtle note of fresh spinach. Of course you can’t left out the main ingredients of earthiness and mushroom flavors when it comes to a nice dark Shu but this aren’t the main aspects of this wonderful Pu-erh – more like a known side effect. The balance and the creaminess within its dark magic is just breathtaking and really well put into the spotlight. A skillfully overall rounded concept.

Pretty Girls is a pretty solid puer that starts off with a dirty mushroom taste. With each infusion, it gets more sweet, mineral, and chocolate in flavor. I got 13 infusions, though I felt I should have leafed a bit more.

If you have a silver tea cup, Pretty Girls comes out really nice as it cuts through the early mushroom infusions.

Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/2015-pretty-girls-shou-puer-white2tea/

Finally gave this shou a try earlier this week, but I didn’t note it with enough detail, unfortunately.

7g in the gaiwan for a rinse, and the first steep yielded a slick, smooth, reddish liquor with a light sweetness. The color deepened over subsequent steeps, during which the flavor also became sweeter. I found it pretty clean and easy to drink overall, but I need another session with this, for sure.

This was very different than other shou Puerh I’ve had. It was much sweeter and less earthy, which surprised me. A mushroomy scent at first. Very smooth. Some may really like this. Personally I prefer a less sweet blend that’s more earthy. I made it in a gaiwan. After the initial 15second rinse, I had two drinkable steeps so far. The first me 20s, the second one 30s. I’m curious to taste the next steeps to see how it develops.

This started off very full bodied with some notes of mushroom, wood, chocolate and vanilla. Very smooth and thick. The flavors faded slightly and the tea became sweeter as we went through the steepings, but it lasted 10+ steepings easily and probably would go further. Between Old Reliable, Brown Sugar, and this, I preferred Pretty Girls.

This is excellent puerh tea with a fair amount of fermentation flavor. It is not for those with an extreme aversion to fermentation. That being said the fermentation was not as unpleasant as some ripes. It was sweet with little bitterness. It was thick and rich in the early infusions, and there were some chocolate notes too. It developed a nice sweetness in later steeps. I only gave this eight steeps when it would certainly go a lot more but I am at my caffeine limit for the day.

I steeped this eight times in a 120ml gaiwan with 10.1g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 seconds 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. Overall this was excellent tea that needs another year or two to age in order to be a truly great tea.

Surprise review from someone in hiding for months…

Based on a true story
Why is Pretty Girls a motherfucker? Is it just because of the wrapper (https://www.instagram.com/p/BBAQWzIl_lQ/?taken-by=paxl13)? Let me tell you why.

Take a chunk off of your cake. Don’t even measure it, just eyeball it to about 10g or whatever suits you. Okay, yeah, it’s pricier than your “average” shou, but what is average when you’re only spending $2 for a session of tea? Anyway. it’s not too compressed, so just a quick rinse – or even drink it if you don’t like wasting tea.

Here we go, steeps 1-6 come on strong like a pretty girl. Taste all the rich depth of flavor from the gongting and highest grade leaves. So smooth and creamy at first – notes of earthy wood and hints of chocolate tips. Keep going to later steeps, transitioning to sweetness for the long haul. You think this relationship is meant to last forever, the taste lingering on your tongue.

And then it hits you.

The lower grade leaves try to carry the flavor for a little bit longer. Reminiscent of what once was.. you find yourself on steep 15, struggling to feel the same warmth of your first few steeps of exciting energy. It’s gone. Time to move on to another tea.

And that is why Pretty Girls is a motherfucker.