Let’s go! 2021 September White2tea club time! In this box is a fancy 2021 Baimudan and 2018 Gongmei whites, as well as 2021 Yesheng Gushu Hongcha.
If you were waiting on my 2021 August club post, China Post still has it, so I’ve just decided to proceed with September. August through November I’ve had all my packages from China either show up immediately or months.
2021 Baimudan White from 2021 September White2tea club
The fresh Baimudan leaves are shades of light and dark green mixed with fuzzy silver buds, all with an itchy freshly cut timothy hay and floral scent.
For my white teas, I used 1gram of leaf per 20ml of vessel size, steeped in boiling water.
Steeped, a spinach and coconut scent
First, Second, and Third Infusion: 2021 Baimudan starts off juicy, oily, thick tea that makes me salivate from effect. The notes of cotton, tulips, and fresh. Each steeping develops a carnation floral note and thick creaminess. The aftertaste is a bit wild and weedy but settles into a soft tulip floral.
Fourth Infusion: The floral notes keep developing and it is more buttercup than carnations and tulips now. 2021 Baimudan is getting more rustic, buttercup, and grassy fields, hanging up freshly washed cotton towels in the sun.
Fifth and Sixth Infusion: 2021 Baimudan got quickly bitter, astringent teeth drying and dandelion weeds in taste, my poor buttercup field is more like my overgrown lawn that my husband fails to mow until the weeds hit my knee.
White2tea club’s 2021 Baimudan has an excellent first four infusions with lots of heavy dense textures and complex floral character. I will squirrel this tea away for safekeeping.
2018 Gongmei White from White2tea
This is a sample of the new 2018 Gongmei. In the package, the pressed tea smells like a grape juice box.
I decided to switch to the teapot for this as I’ll get more heat. Gongmei’s rinsed leaves smell like red wine but slowly shift to sweet grape juice.
First, Second, and Third Infusion: Another throat-clogging thick textured tea! 2018 Gongmei is milky and thick in texture, with notes of wood, grape, and slight medicinal date. It is balanced nicely with fruity sweetness and savory wood. The finish is a soft red grape note.
Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Infusion: Now getting into the meat of this tea. 2018 Gongmei has a bit of an old cupboard taste, with chestnut shells, boiled out cinnamon with a background of sweet grapes. Each steeping gets sweeter and grapey.
Ninth Infusion: Extended brew, 30 minutes! Gongmei is sweet, medicinal fallen leaves and heavily woodsy in taste. So smooooth and not bitter or astringent… I might have a bombproof brewer here! I like this steeping the best, despite prior infusions I was worried I have to rebrew this with a bit more leaf.
2018 Gongmei is a thick and flexible white tea that is good to drink now or age for later. I want to throw the rest of the sample for thermos brewing and play with ratios a bit more.
All of White2tea Gongmeis are great – I quite like the 2014 brick myself.
2021 Yesheng Gushu Hongcha
We’ve had the 2020 version, but let’s try a nice tea like this lazy style.
The leaves smell like fruit roll ups!
2021 Yesheng Gushu Hongcha sips in a smooth malty woodsy, but evolves to a herbal wild weedy bitterness, before settling into a licorice sweet aftertaste. The “wild weedy” bitterness I often associate with young sheng of the same style, but this tea is interesting as it shifts malty and licorice from being processed black. As it steeps the bitterness increases to the max, but then slinks back to licorice in the aftertaste.
Similar to the previous year, 2021 Yesheng Gushu Hongcha is a love it or hate it tea. This is a black tea for those who love bitter shengs and shou, but certainly different for those hongcha addicts.
