If you were not aware, us tea bloggers talk. I was over at Teadb’s place and we were talking review samples. I noticed he got Old Ways Tea’s 2018 White tea and I did not (I received mostly black teas in my review package). Of course, we all should get different things, I admit it gets weird when you notice every tea blogger reviews the same tea within a month. It is the optimal tea blogger operating procedure to get teas that the writer and their readers like. Anyways, he let me have one of the packets of white tea.
This is a Wuyi origin sun-dried white tea, which is an uncommon find in the sea of Fujian white tea.
Leaf and Steeping Method
The dry leaf smells like stale pears and wood. Gorgeous leaf though it is on the stemmy side. The site admits this year is stemmy than previous, so the price is cheaper.
I tend to like Old Ways’ packaging of mini-packets. Pre-portion packets control me and usually I got a gaiwan or teapot to match the ratio I roll with their packet servings. This white tea does not match what I like to roll, it’s 7ish grams. I like 1gram/20ml leaf to vessel ratio and boiling water steeping, so a whole packet isn’t gonna work for a solo session as I generally use 3-5g for solo drinking. The hot leaf smells like pears and very tart sliced apples.
Tasting of Old Ways Tea’s 2018 Wuyi White Tea
First Infusion: Wuyi White Tea tea is fresh, clean, crisp, and sweet. It’s like freshly, juicy sliced mutant pear-apple (not confused with Asian pear), a bit of birch wood with a long floral sweetness. The flavour is deliciously potent without being bitter or dry.
Second and Third Infusion: This infusion has notes of cactus and aloe which mellowed down the crispness of the white making this tea smooth and thick. Wuyi White Tea’s long lingering sweetness with soft floral is excellent. Some sips are fruity pear, but it has shifted woodier sweet than fruity sweet. The aftertaste is a fruity powder.
Fourth and Fifth Infusion: The notes are getting stewed here. There is a hint of dryness, but the flavour has shifted to be stewed with notes of apple stems and wood. Some sips are of baked pear. The powderiness is catching up to my tongue, making the surface will dry. The aftertaste is sweet and apple wood.
Sixth Infusion: This steep got dark!
Wuyi White Tea tastes like bitter bruised apple peels that have started to curl on the counter. There is also no aftertaste left, but at least the tea didn’t get any drier. The finished leaf is nice, though there are some big sticks in it.
Comments
Old Ways Tea’s 2018 Wuyi White Tea has lovely sips of strong sweetness, smooth body and long aftertaste. It’s a fun white to explore a different area of white teas, especially since the flavour range is different. I enjoyed the complexity and darker fall flavours featured in the Wuyi White tea.
The con is the weird package size and high stick count. The owner was honest enough to warn us about the quality of the 2018 batch featuring extra sticks and adding more tea than previous years. I could see myself buying a future harvest if the quality is good, but if you want a bargain, it is worth trying 2018.
(tea indirectly provided for review)
