Bitterleaf Tea’s 2019 White Crow is a shou mei grade white tea cake from Lincang Yunnan.
I own the previous year’s 2018 White Crow and I was impressed with the value it offered, so I didn’t hesitate to order the newest cake.
Leaf and Steeping Method
The leaf has a strong weedy and honey scent.
As with most of my white teas, I steeped White Crow with a ratio of 1 gram of leaf per 20 ml of vessel size, gongfu style. Steeped up, the leaf smells like honey and laundry drying outside on the clothesline.
Tasting of Bitterleaf Tea’s 2019 White Crow Lincang White Tea
First and Second Infusion: Similar to last year, 2019 White Crow sips in with a nice thick texture. It has a thick cotton candy fluffy texture with a pleasantly soft and sweet flavor. At the end of the sip, the tea sharpens up to a sweet birch wood flavor.
Third and Fourth Infusion: The second infusion has a thick honey flavor with some green wood notes. It is still thick and sweet in texture. White Crow coats the tongue and mouth as I drink, adding layer upon layer of cream and silky smooth texture. With each steeping, White Crow gets stronger honey notes and adds more bricks to my stomach.
Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Infusion: White Crow got dark.
Bitterleaf Tea’s 2019 White Crow has developed a light astringency, adding some dryness to the backs of my teeth. The flavor is like light molasses and corn syrup and woodsy and greenwood notes.
Unfortunately, I am finding White Crow a bit deceptive to steep. It does resteep better and shorter than I predict, but every other steep I oversteep, correctly steep, then oversteep again. There is a lot of flavors packed in these leaves, and since it is a crow, so a bit of mischief.
Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth, and Thirteenth Infusion: White Crow tastes like birch syrup, which I own a bottle of from my last trip to Alaska. It is sweet, woody, though no aftertaste at all and the broth is thinning. To my surprise, this tea just keeps going and going. The final steeps were soft, sweet, mineral, and woody, overall very pleasant.
It still felt like I could get another infusion or two, especially with a teapot or I went in for a stove boil with the leaves.
Steeped out, White Crow has some huge leaves and some buds.
Comments
Bitterleaf tea’s 2019 White Crow doesn’t disappoint. Like 2018 White Crow, 2019 resteeps amazingly well for a young white tea but also sports an incredibly thick texture. The notes are pleasant and simple, tasting sweet and woodsy.
The value of this tea is great, clocking in at $28 per 200g cake at this time, perfect if you are on a budget, want to dip into white tea aging or a daily drinker that will last all day.
Bitterleaf Tea’s 2019 Skinnydip, another inexpensive daily drinker white tea cake, has a more youthful and greener profile vs White Crow’s darker notes. It is up to personal taste to which one you prefer, but I feel White Crow has more bang for your buck with resteep ability.
