Sadly, there weren’t many 2019 Tiltshift cakes to go around. I waited until White2Tea’s Black Friday sale to snag one.
My interest in Tiltshift is that it is a Yueguangbai /moonlight white tea that is made with a high concentration of buds. If I recall correctly, White2tea said they simply didn’t have much of this tea to press.
Leaf and Steeping Method
I was not prepared for the WOW factor on this white tea cake.
All these huge buds give Tiltshift a fuzzy silver appearance with traces of black. The compression on the cake wasn’t too bad as it has a brittleness to it that makes it easy to dig in and pry off large pieces.
The white tea cake leaves smell like honey and fresh laundry.
I used 1 gram of leaf per 20ml of vessel size, gongfu steeped in boiling water. Steeped up, the leaves smell like freshly cut aloe and flowers.
Tasting of White2tea’s 2019 Tiltshift White Tea
First, Second, Third, and Fourth Infusion: Tiltshift’s main feature is the cotton batting tea texture. The flavor itself is gentle and approachable. The notes are soft, minerally, cotton, linen, and crisp rock sugar. Some sips have a rehydrated golden raisin note. The aftertaste is fleeting, just a touch of juicy stalks. There is some looming astringency tickling the back of my throat but it’s very gentle.
The more I drink this, the more I find Tiltshift is like a very approachable and darker Silver Needle – It’s got similar soft notes, but can take punishment like Yueguangbai. It isn’t 100% buds like a silver needle, (in general/ typically) different cultivar and the drying process is different, but the bud content adds quite a lot of similarities.
Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Infusion: White2Tea’s 2019 Tiltshift continues on its cotton notes and now has a malty, honey, and fluffy taste bringing me back to this is a Yueguangbai. If pushed too hard, Tiltshift got a touch of weedy bitterness, but it evapourates after each sip. In addition, the texture changed to sticky yet also dry.
Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Infusion: I am not sure how this young and bud heavy of a white tea is still going. The fun sticky texture is still holding and the flavor is juicy weedy bitterness, but the aroma that rises as I sip it has a touch of dark woodiness. The last infusion was woody that was bitter and sour so I decided to stop.
Comments
If you are curious about white tea processing experimentation, or simply like pleasantly soft and sweet white teas, White2tea’s 2019 Tiltshift has it. It resteeps well and is very approachable of a bud heavy white tea. Tiltshift starts off like a Silver Needle and ends tasting like a Moonlight White. Maybe we will get a 2020 Tiltshift?
For my personal tastes, I prefer White2tea’s Night Life (also a Moonlight White) more for the price. However, Tiltshift is a long interestingly educational session of what buds add to a Yueguangbai.
I am very curious about how Tiltshift will age. In my experience bud heavy white teas like Silver Needle or Baimudan age differently and develop less dark than a Shou Mei. Yueguangbai ages very well and goes dark quickly. Since Tiltshift is both a Moonlight White and bud heavy, I am not sure how it’ll go down. Either way, my cake is now going on lockdown for a couple of years.
