White2tea has lovely natural storage located in Guangzhou City. The 2021 July White2tea club is a flex comparison between 2013 Yiwu sheng puer stored in Guangzhou and not Guangzhou.
2013 GZ Natural Storage Yiwu Sheng Puer
The leaves have a bruised peaches and copper scent.
As usual and for both teas, I used a gongfu ratio of 1 gram of leaf per 15ml of vessel size, steeped in boiling water. After a rinse, the leaves smell like a fruity pawn shop.
First, Second, and Third Infusion: 2013 GZ Natural Storage Yiwu starts off light and sweet with a blur of smokey tobacco with each sip and infusions building on a bruised peach flavor. The texture is a buttery feeling with a lip balmy effect.
Fourth and Fifth Infusion: The flavor is deepening, with more tobacco and amber with a bit of bitter intensity of bruised peach skins. Drinking slowly, I get an aftertaste of the stone fruit, but I did find this tea easy to chug and miss the aftertaste.
Sixth and Seventh Infusion: At this point 2013 GZ Natural Storage Yiwu is strong tasting with heavy metallic copper, amber, tobacco notes with a fruity aftertaste. As the tea fades, the fruity notes start to dominate. This tea is a stomach puncher too, making my gut feel like I ate too much when I haven’t eaten lunch yet.
Eighth and Ninth Infusion: 2013 GZ Natural Storage Yiwu finishes light and buttery with a mineral fruity taste. The final 20 minute steep was a bitter apricot pit and coppery, with an astringency that dries out the gums.
2013 Not GFZ Yiwu Sheng Puer from 2021 July White2tea Club
The leaves smell a bit like hot earth and boiled sticks, but overall low in scent.
After a rinse, the leaves are of forest floor and acorns.
First, Second, and Third Infusion: 2013 Not GFZ Yiwu Sheng Puer is also very light to start, the tea is buttery tobacco but with an underripe crunchy tart plum flavor. I got immediate astringency, drying out the backs of my teeth. The aftertaste is underripe plum without the tartness.
Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Infusion: As the flavor expands, 2013 Not GFZ Yiwu Sheng Puer is still on the lighter side, but heavier in the fruity aftertaste. The notes have a savory element of tobacco and driftwood. Each infusion gets more of a stewy sharp bitter but releases a lovely plummy aftertaste. I didn’t notice the texture too much in this tea other than it was drying. The final infusion is sweet and yellow peppery before settling into a bitter bite and my mouth dries out.
After drinking both of these teas back to back, I’m feeling shifty-eyed and wired.
Comments
The 2013 GZ Natural Storage Yiwu from the White2tea Club had more complexity, was easier to drink, lower bitterness, and astringency. Whereas 2013 Not GFZ Yiwu Sheng Puer had an excellent aroma but bitter and dry, with a tart start.
I liked the natural storage more out of the two, but it is certainly personal taste on much you prize complexity over aroma.
