White2tea club time! For the 2021 February White2tea club, we got an aged shou, black tea, and a sheng with a little age.
200X Failcorp Shou Puer
200X Failcorp a mystery warehouse/auction find, with the best guess on age, with maybe Jingmai or Bulang material. White2tea has this cake priced at $68 for 357 grams (at the time of writing).
The leaves smell like I am working on the garden – lots of dirt and mulch scent – like a dirty rooibos. I used 1 gram of leaf per 15ml of vessel size, steeped in boiling water. After a rinse, the tea leaves smell more like sweet woody shou than dirt piles.
First, Second, and Third Infusion: 200X Failcorp steeps up incredibly red and clear. It sips in surprisingly sweet and creamy to start, lacking funk or wet storage notes. As the tea unravels, it has more sweet cedarwood, with a bit of earth, and incense. Failcorp is super smooth and easy to drink – I can chug this without thinking. The end of the sip has a bit of an old tire taste, though some sips finish milky.
Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Infusion: As this tea goes on, it loses the wood and tire notes, going more for milky old books, crunchy fall leaves, concentrated chestnut, and walnut shells. 200X Failcorp tastes darker and richer than it appears and fairly sweet.
Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Infusion: 200X Failcorp is starting to lighten now, tasting of sweet nutshells and old leaves. As the tea fades, it goes to a simple sweet nutty flavor. There is a lot of warming tea feels in this tea and I can feel the back of my neck sweating. Likely I could have gotten a few more infusions or a stove boil.
Comments
200X Failcorp resteeps consistently well with the smooth sweet flavor of wood, nuts, and some aged notes. If you like shou with some age but without wet storage notes, this one is it. If I was into daily drinking aged shou, this would be a fun one to own.
Peach Black
The leaves have a fruity, almost tomato, scent. For gongfu style, I used around 1 gram of leaf per 15ml of vessel size, steeped in boiling water. The hot leaves smell fruity and floral.
The early infusions are pumpkin and bitter arugula leaf in taste, with a slinking aroma of peaches wafting up my sinuses. The aftertaste is a mix of the aroma, but also a rock sugar sweetness.
As Peach Black progresses, it slips into a malt, minerals, and bitter herb salad taste. The aftertaste and aroma are interestingly peachy and sweet. Each steeping gets a bit drier, as the flavor slips away.
Grandpa / Lazy style: Not quite satisfied with Peach black gongfu style, I threw some leaves in a bowl and let it go.
Now, this is where is it at – all the flavors merge and the peachy floral scent is in my face. The longer infusion has the tea go more malty dark and rock sugar, packed with floral peach aroma. With a water refill, Peach Black maintains a strong peachy floral malt profile, but with some astringency drying my teeth.
Comments
As an aroma junkie, this Peach Black tea is a lot of fun – it is an interesting play on senses as it smells and tastes quite different in gongfu style. Peach Black is 100% better drinking grandpa/lazy with the leaves right in your face for max aroma. I am tempted to adjust the ratio of gongfu style as I think more leaf might help but I only got 10g left and I rather just lazy style it away.
2015 Lincang Sheng Puer, 2021 February White2tea club exclusive
These balls were pressed exclusively for the White2tea Club! I hope this Lincang has enough age to not rot my stomach. Either way, the sheng ball has a nice honey scent.
This ball clocked in just over 7 grams, so my gongfu ratio is more like 1 gram to 14ml. I shoved a knife through the ball, gave it a long rinse, and left it to steam in the gaiwan for a few minutes. Steeped up, the leaves smell like honey and tobacco.
First, Second, Third, and Fourth Infusion: 2015 Lincang sheng ball is thick and vicious, with a bruised fruit flavor and sweet crystalline finish and aftertaste. Each steeping makes this tea more rock sugar sweet with subtle hints of tobacco. Eventually, the tobacco and peaches enter the aftertaste, switching off from each other.
Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Infusion: These steepings hit hard with intense flavors of amber minerals, bruised peaches, and tobacco. The 2015 Lincang also has a bitter note that my brain is trying to fill in it as smokey.
Tenth and Eleventh Infusion: The final infusions switched off the bitter and went more mineral and stone fruit sweetness. 2015 Lincang does get dry here, leaving my tongue feeling like sandpaper, but it is so sweet and lovely tea in the end.
Comments
This 2015 Lincang sheng has a lovely sweetness that I enjoyed the early and late infusions. It was quite strongly bitter and brisk in the middle. I have some Lincang tucked away that is this old, I should check on it, I am curious whether they got sweet as well.
