A highly requested tea! Today I’m drinking Bitterleaf Tea’s 2021 Tiger Sniffs the Rose. This white tea cake is made of Naka region puer material, what a treat!
When this tea came out, I didn’t hesitate to purchase it. I even debated buying more than one cake. Bitterleaf Teas does a lot of puer but it seems I am a bigger fan of their other teas.
Leaf and Steeping Method
The leaves smell faintly like melons. A gorgeous cake too!
I used 1 gram of leaf per 20ml of vessel size, gongfu steeped in boiling water. After writing this review, Tiger Sniffs may benefit from going a bit heavier on the leaf. After a rinse, the leaves smell like sweet cucumber melon. After the first steep, the leaves open further and smell like a Melona ice cream bar.
Tasting of Bitterleaf Tea’s 2021 Tiger Sniffs the Rose Naka White Tea
First and Second Infusion: This tea is half-set jello-like consistency, so there’s a watery mix of thick and sticky texture. Tiger Sniff’s notes start off super light and sweet with faint notes of boiled out apple cider and mystery floral. The notes are so light, it just wants me to push it to steep further.
Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Infusion: As I bring the teacup to my nose, I can smell carnations. The tea opened up to a salted butter floral, but I know most of this is my nose tasting it than my tongue. The flavor itself is autumn leaves and weak apple cider still. Some sips have a drooly mineral note. Ha, I always hate when I have to describe a tea note that tastes like my own drool. Do all our drools taste the same to ourselves?
Definitely a bit of energy in this tea. I lost track of 30 minutes and did some impulse online shopping. I can feel a tickle of tea energy in my brow making me squint funny.
Seventh and Eighth Infusion: Tiger Sniffs the Rose resteeps well despite me brewing longer than usual. Even at the eighth infusion, I can still smell it has flavor left, but I can’t get it out with a shibo and steeping for 20 minutes. The final infusions are like the others – minerally, bit autumnal leaves, and apples – all quite light with some floral aroma. A little bit of dryness in the back of the throat, but never bitter.
The leaves have a number of twigs in it, which do not add much flavor.
Comments
Bitterleaf Tea’s 2021 Tiger Sniffs the Rose is light on flavor but higher in the aroma with interesting texture and energy. The flavor, of what one can detect, is consistently oxidized autumnal notes but with contrasting spring flowers.
Tiger Sniffs is quite a good tea for the price, though one can tell some of the material is twiggy, so it would benefit from leafing heavier or removing the sticks. This tea may be too light on flavor for some. Either way, Bitterleaf Tea’s white teas are always budget-friendly and reliably good teas.
