The 2005 Yiwu Rocket was originally in the July White2Tea club as a sample. I didn’t review it in July as I was more in awe of drinking a giant mushroom pu’er. Then the requests starting coming in – “OMG where’s the Yiwu Rocket review!” Okay, okay, yeah I heard you all – here’s the White2Tea 2005 Rocket Yiwu sheng pu’er review!
So what I love about the White2Tea club is being able to sample new teas they are selling, however it has also gotten me into more trouble. I tried the sample. I then promptly finished my sample and ordered a cake. Then my cake arrived and I’ve been admiring the wrapper design.
2005 Rocket Yiwu clocks in at 400 grams. 400 grams. For $88 this 2005 pu’er cake is a great deal. Apparently this cake was pressed in celebration of the 2005 Shen Zhou 6 space flight, but I like to think this pu’er is meant to launch the drinker into space and into the hostile planet, Hoot 88. The space tea owls are armed with tea pick probes and will poke you until you surrender the onboard prime rib dinners.
Dry Leaf
The dry Yiwu Rocket has a bit of a camphor scent going on. The cake smells even better!
Steeping Instructions
I went teeny with a small 75ml gaiwan and 5 grams of leaf. I steeped with boiling water and did a rinse before diving in.
Tasting of White2Tea’s 2005 Rocket Yiwu Sheng Pu’er
First Infusion: The first steeping makes a reddish orange cup of tea with a humid zesty camphor scent. I am ready to blast off!
Yiwu Rocket sips in mellow with mineral and amber notes. There is a humid pu’er flavor with a sweet finish.
Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Infusion: Boom that’s strong and a lot going on! The flavor is of amber, incense and camp fire leafy smoke, stone fruit, lightly bitter, and savory. There is also that humid flavor, yet clean in taste. The aftertaste is smokey with a spike of floral potpourri.
The colour is lovely too!
My mouth started feeling weird at the third infusion, the mouth feel is thick. Fourth infusion and I think I blasted off. Uh oh. Blast off! Team rocket is blasting off again! Wobba wobba!
Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Infusion: Yiwu Rocket is still very constant in flavor but my mind is gone.
Yiwu Rocket sort of reminds me of Mandala Tea’s 2012 Wild Monk, which also gave me some weird a campy crazy spiritual experience. However, I’d say Yiwu Rocket is less monk and more explosions. Drinking this tea brings me back to being a teenager and throwing in unopened soup can into the bonfire for it to cause chaos later on. An exploding hot can of Alphagetti – that will be our weapon deterrence against the Space Tea Owls on Hoot 88.
Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Infusion: I’m sweating and jittering. I was supposed to be somewhere in an hour and applying eye makeup was total fail as I got more in my eye than around it.
The flavor of Yiwu Rocket is starting to lighten, I’ve lost track how long I’m steeping for and I’m pretty sure infusion 9 – 12 is an estimate but either way I’ve gotten plenty of infusions making this pu’er even more of a deal. The flavor has a twinge of orange to it and a light dryness in the throat. Very easy to drink.
Twelfth, Thirteenth and Fourteenth Infusion: The Final Countdown! Yiwu Rocket’s final infusions the flavor and texture shift. It’s silky lip balmy and sweeter with each infusion. The flavor is of light stone fruit and amber with no more smoke or humid taste. A very enjoyable tea session and oh man I can’t walk straight.
Comments
White2Tea 2005 Rocket Yiwu sheng pu’er is a great cheap aged sheng for a great price. I’ll bold it again, $88 for 400 gram 2005 Sheng Pu’er at this time. $5.60 for a 25 gram sample. You tea drinkers on a budget or who love a good tea deal, this is the cake!
Yiwu Rocket gave me a good amount of infusions, crazy pu’er qi, and easy to drink tasty tea session. 2005 Rocket Yiwu is a good daily drinker for the price and taste with a nice size to share. I’d also suggest Rocket Yiwu as a good new pu’er drinker option for something economically priced.
