It is time for the 2022 October White2tea Club! For this month – 2019 Fuding Baicha, Silver Bud Red, and 2016 Mengku Naked Dragon Ball – an interesting mix of teas.
2019 Fuding Baicha from the 2022 October White2tea Club
The leaves have a coconut and flowery scent.
My white tea gongfu ratio is 1 gram of leaf per 20ml of vessel size. After a rinse, the leaves smell of golden raisins and more coconut
First, Second, and Third Infusion: 2019 Fuding Baicha is super bright, and rock sugar sweet. It has some gentle sips of sweet golden straw, and buttery coconut, with a hint of osmanthus in the aftertaste. The texture is buttery too. This white tea is super easy to drink, I can guzzle this tea like it is going out of style.
Fourth and Fifth Infusion: 2019 Fuding Baicha gets a little punchy with a gentle bitterness of citrus floral, peaking overtop the buttery sweet tea. Some sips have a honey wheat taste. I let it brew for 15 minutes and it was more of the same punch of bitter floral and wheat, it’s drying on the tip of my tongue, but still easy to drink.
In the end, 2019 Fuding Baicha is a relaxing, comforting, sweet, and easy going white tea with some age on it. I’ll throw this one in the back of my white pumidor and leave it, but it is great now.
Silver Bud Red from the White2tea Club
These all bud leaves smell like cherries.
I used 1 gram of leaf per 15ml of vessel size, gongfu steeped in boiling water. After a rinse, the leaves have a mix of cherries and freshly cut wood.
First, Second, and Third Infusion: The early infusions of Silver Bud Red are sweet and thick – it’s creamy, cherry, peachy, and woody. The texture is dense and has a mellow fruity aftertaste. I am not sure why, but I am reminded of the texture of eating canned peaches – that supple chew.
Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Infusion: As the flavor builds, Silver Bud Red is more cherry wood and malt. Some sips have a floral citrus osmanthus note with swirls of fruit and wood. Other sips have a boiled out cinnamon note. As the flavor loses strength, this hongcha gets astringent dry, leaving a powdery texture in the mouth.
Silver Bud Red is an elegant complex black tea. It’s buddy and full of caffeine too. I was very wired after drinking this tea! Out of all the teas, Silver Bud Red was my favorite and I drank it the next day.
2022 October White2tea Club 2016 Mengku Naked Dragon Ball
There are four 7g to 7.5g dragon balls here, all with a grassy syrup scent. I cracked one in half as I don’t have the caffeine in me to drink a whole one.
I used a ratio of around 1 gram of leaf per 15ml of vessel size, with boiling water. After a rinse, the leaves smell of sweet rice and honey wheat.
First, Second, and Third Infusion: 2016 Mengku Naked Dragon Ball is sweet to start – creamy milky sweet grass with rock sugar sweetness. The aftertaste is a heavily aromatic milky apricot. As this tea deepens in flavor, it gets more concentrated in bitter but jammy apricots, and tree sap, all with a chewy dense texture. The aftertaste really locks in and sticks.
Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Infusion: I lost track of steeping time, letting steep too long for the 4th infusion. 2016 Mengku Naked Dragon Ball is bitter to make my face pucker, but the strong fruity aftertaste is worth it.
Seventh and Eighth Infusion: 2016 Mengku Naked Dragon Ball is so stewy and bitter, tasting like a bruised spinach and apricot gone rogue, with a strong fruity aftertaste still holding. I am also getting so distracted while drinking this tea.
2016 Mengku Naked Dragon Ball starts off soft, sweet, and easy to drink but goes potent and bitter by the end. The age of this cooler storage tea is certainly not as dark compared to other 2016s from White2tea’s typical storage. Either way, the 2016 Mengku Naked Dragon Ball is a good one to drink now but I’ll likely continue to let it age slowly in my own storage.
