White2tea occasionally comes out with some limited stock puer cakes at a marked-down price. Snoozefest is one that shows up every year on Black Fridays, but in March of 2022, a limited edition ripe cake landed – 2022 Peak Vulture.
Very cool wrapper! I am tempted to colour it in when I’ve finished a cake.
I purchased extra cakes, leaving one next to my kettle. Any time I felt like shou and didn’t want to dig around my disaster of a full shou pumidor, I’d drink Peak Vulture.
Leaf and Steeping Method
The leaf smells a bit funky but chocolatey.
As usual, I used 1 gram of leaf per 15ml of vessel size, 2 rinses, in gongfu style. For this tea, I used a big pot (also from White2tea) for all day shou drinking. After the rinses, the scent shifts to medicinal wild leafy chocolate.
Tasting of White2tea’s 2022 Peak Vulture Shou Puer
First, Second, Third, and Fourth Infusion: Peak Vulture is richly chocolatey and especially so at the second infusion. Each sip also has flavors of bricks, earth, and ink. This tea is thick yet squeaky in texture, keeping the thick chocolate milk and rich ink theme. I drank through these steepings fast, showing it was easy to drink. The aftertaste is soft but earthy.
Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Infusion: As this tea lightens, it’s sweet chocolate, but continues to swirl in with abrasive notes of bricks. My 6th infusion got steeped long because my rabbits started fighting (the 3lb baby rabbit started punching the 13lb rabbit in the face). The final infusions are light, sweet, earthy hand soap, and ink that’s super throat clogging thick.
Comments
White2Tea’s 2022 Peak Vulture is a thick inky shou puer with some abrasive earth and chocolate notes with plenty of thick textures. This tea has a good transition from sweet to savory to sweet again. I think my cake could rest a bit longer but is drinkable now.
For the price I paid, $15 per 200g cake, Peak Vulture is a steal. You can’t get this cake anymore, but keep your eye out for future releases, or check out White2tea’s other ripes, like Sunday Special.
