Healthy Leaf has an impressive aged white selection and I happen to have a bunch of samples. Let’s start off with a bang with one of the fancier aged white teas in their shop! 2009 Bask in the Sun Ri Sha Cha is a Fuding region Baimudan. What makes this white tea fancier is that this one has more fine leaves and buds than usual.
Dry Leaf and Steeping Method
This is a woodsy and sweet scented leaf. Bask in the Sun was easy to snap chunks with my fingers, I didn’t need a hammer or blood sacrifice like the last white tea cakes I’ve had. The leaf is in smaller, finer pieces, and the cake feels dry and brittle.
I went with 1 gram of leaf to 20ml vessel size, steeped in boiling water. From what Healthy-Leaf has written about Bask in the Sun, I let it steep longer than normal, starting at 20 seconds, to get more sweetness out. They did recommend start with a lower temperature technique I’ve done in the past for aged white, but I’m drinking on a schedule so I don’t have time for that.
Hot leaf and tea smells like wood and tropical vibes.
Tasting of 2009 Bask in the Sun White Tea from Healthy-Leaf
First and Second Infusion: Bask in the Sun is delicate, thick and smooth. The flavor is sweet like young juicy fresh coconuts, driftwood, and a little green grapey. The texture is out of this world drinking like pudding and leaving a slick texture in the mouth. After each sip, there is a soft woodsy aftertaste.
Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Infusion: The colour is getting darker right away. Bask in the Sun shifted in flavor quickly. It was delicate and sweet to start but with my heavy-handedness, I got a stiff brew of wet wood, green grape, and a slight mossy forest floor note in it. There is some bitterness, like a tart yogurt note. Also, there is some dryness here adding a bit of dryness to the roof of my mouth, so for the 5th and 6th infusion, I shorted my infusions. With shorter infusions, I got an interestingly syrupy green grape skin, wood, and slight tart.
Generally, I find aged baimudan doesn’t have much tea drink cha qi energy, despite the utter ham pitched by some online sellers out there to sell overpriced white tea cakes. For caffeine strong and table top dancing white tea, I tend to rec the assamica/puer varietal white teas that have been around. Bask in the Sun actually has a bit of energy and I think it is the bud content. I am awake, amp to 8 to get me out of my chair.
After a couple infusions, Healthy-Leaf recommends to go for a stove boil. However, I’m going to keep gongfuing and stove boil another batch later.
Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Infusion: Interestingly, the hot leaf smells like holly.
So I managed to oversteep the 7th infusion. I’ve been grandpa/western styling tea for over a week due to being sick, so I have been off my game this session. However, the over steep was really good. It got an earthy, forest floor strong note with a sweetness that is slightly green and floral. The steepings after got sweeter and sweeter, but also with a bitter brisk finish developing. Over time, it got harder to get more flavor out other than astringent texture drying out my throat.
The finished leaf sports a bit of green.
Boiled on the stove: I took 5 grams of leaf, 2 cups of filtered water and boiled it on the stove for around 5 minutes.
The finished colour is a lovely amber red.
Like other boiled white teas, Bask in the Sun tastes crazy. It is sweeter than any of the gongfu infusions and incredibly creamy. It has notes of milk, cooked green grapes, wet wood, and slightly toasty. Maybe I burnt it, as I went full blast boil on my overkill stove. The mouthfeel and body are incredible – Bask in the Sun is super thick and coating with some chest punching feeling. There is some astringency after each sip.
2 full rounds of Bask in the Sun white tea set my caffeine limit high and I can feel my blood pressure going. I was planning to drink tea all day to get more reviews written, but I need to go run around outside.
Comments
Healthy Leaf’s 2009 Bask in the Sun is an entrancing aged white tea. The high bud content certainly adds energy, delicate notes, with an interesting aged aspect for strong woodsy elements. This white tea sports some energy too, so this is not an aged white tea to drink in the evening.
I did find this tea a slightly fussy steeper for gongfu. Generally, aged white teas are pretty easy to steep, but this one is more delicate and has bitter and dryness present. I would take a wild guess and say this has a pretty dry storage environment too. I highly recommend stove boiling Bask in the Sun as that is where the tea shines the most and easier to steep.
This is one of the high roller aged white tea clocking in at 300 gram cake for $130. Thankfully, Healthy Leaf sells sample sizes so you can give teas a test run. If you love textured thick and complex teas, you will dig 2009 Bask in the Sun. I too would slot this as a special occasion drink and perfect to share with your nerdy tea friends.
(tea provided for review)
