After much debate, I blind caked White2tea’s 2019 Both Steal Boats and Meet Halfway, being sold on tea friends positive review, as well as White2Tea’s email description:
“ I like it when Qi jumps out of nowhere and stabs me like Arya in the godswood.”
Since getting Both Steal Boats, I’ve had a couple of sessions alone and with friends, and hoot, this is a good tea. I’ve been hooked on drinking it over trying the other samples I got, plus the price is nicer than the similarily addictive Lucky Puppy.
Leaf and Steeping Method
The dry leaf of Both Steal Boats smells of floral, honey, and warm blankets.
As usual, I used 1 gram of leaf per 15ml of vessel size, gongfu steeped in boiling water. The hot leaf smells like honey and tart grapes.
Tasting of White2tea’s 2019 Both Steal Boats and Meet Halfway
First, Second, Third, and Fourth Infusion: The early infusions of Both Steal Boats are soft and sweet. It is on the watery side but has notes of honey, mineral and white rice with a bit of toast on the bottom, all bordering on being astringent. Each infusion draws out the flavor, eventually popping a light stone fruit. The texture has this stickiness to it along with a lip balmy feel.
At around the fourth infusion, I was feeling this tea. My brain is getting distracted easily, my eyes feel droopy, but I’m ready to party with the owls in the trees.
Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Infusion: Both Steal Boats’ flavor has shifted into honey fuzzy peaches with a hit of bitterness at the end of the sip. There is also some dryness making the back of my tongue feel scratchy. Each steeping is getting more concentrated bitter and astringent, though the aftertaste is showing up stronger stone fruits.
My head is thoroughly becoming filled with cotton batting and getting vice gripped during takeoff, then my ears pop with the altitude climb. The Owl flight attendant is rotating her head 360 degrees showing everyone how to use an oxygen mask.
Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Infusion: At this point Both Steal Boats has reached a strong bitterness and dryness, making my tongue feel like a raisin. The sheng has a brassy metallic taste with stewed bitter spinach and oregano, with a squeaky stone fruit finish. We close on the last infusion continuing on being very bitter and stewed tasting.
Comments
2019 Both Steal Boats and Meet Halfway features a pleasant honey fruity flavor profile. Due to the blend of aged material, it doesn’t have that harshness that young sheng can have in the early to mid infusions. However, the main appeal of Both Steal Boats is the body feels – it has a good level of tea drunk feels early on and continues through the tea session.
Whitetea’s Both Steal Boats and Meet Halfway is $85 for a 200 gram cake. To compare another tea drunk tea, 2019 Dangerfield ($50 a cake), is a step down to follow the price point as it is harder to brew as it likes to go astringent, less reinfusion potential, lighter texture, and tastes less fruity. I personally prefer Both Steal Boats but Dangerfield is a good alternative if you are on a budget for an energy heavy tea.
