The 2023 March White2tea club arrived with a selection of oolongs. But also included are a couple of new roasted White2tea teas that are teas that are not typically roasted – Predawn Dark Roasted Shou, Hareliqun Roasted Sheng, as well as Lapsun, a puer material black made into Lapsang Souchong. All these teas come in both 8g mini balls and 200g cakes. I figure most would be more interested in reviews of those teas, which you can get outside the White2tea Club, so let’s do those!
2023 Predawn Dark Roasted Shou Puer
Predawn Dark is a White2tea shou blend roasted by those who roast Wuyi Yancha in Fujian. This one is available in mini and cake form.
This mini has a smokey, musty forest floor scent. The mini’s compression is on the soft side, I was able to break the ball down into a portion to meet the ratio I was going for, which was 1 gram per 15ml.
In the hot gaiwan Predawn Dark smells an appealing smokey sweet wood. After a rinse, the scent shifts to burnt caramel.
First, Second, and Third Infusion: Predawn Dark has a compelling balance between umami char and sweetness. It has a woody sweet smoke, and this shou tastes burnt caramel, with the earthy chocolate shou waving in the background. The more I drink, the more it really reminds me of the burnt caramel coconut edges of the Filipino dessert bibingka. Texture wise, this shou is thick and somewhat chunky, like a half set pudding. The aftertaste is more smokey forest wood.
Fourth and Fifth Infusion: As Predawn Dark steeps, it goes a mineral smokey char, like tinges of camp marshmallows. This tea didn’t have much longevity but was pleasant for all the infusions.
Who would like White2Tea’s Predawn Dark? This one is quite a weird shou and worth a sample for a curious daily drinker. It’s not too smokey, but certainly for those who want sweetness and smoothness. I found it very pleasant post lunch tea.
The description goes more fruity/forest floor, which I smelled early on, but I wonder if mine settled down while it sat in storage. Predawn Dark never got bitter or dry. It could be a contender for thermos or lazy style.
2023 Harlequin Charcoal Roasted Sheng Puer
A charcoal roasted wuyi oolong style young puer? I am also crazy as I blind purchased a cake of Harlequin a while back. My cake is somewhere in my pile of tea, but since I have the mini here already I’ll just drink that.
Scent wise, Harlequin is like walking into the melon display at the farmer’s market. However, while I was rinsing, it smelled like tangy seaweed salad. The hot leaves are tangy fruits and sticky rice.
Straight up, this is an oolong drinker’s sheng puer. Harlequin is fruity, floral, and aromatic scented, with vegetal grassy and creamy nuts. The finish is a hit of toasty minerals, very similar to a dancong. Texture wise is super sticky, something I associate a lot with nannou young sheng material, but seems slightly off and more like sticky honey with the dancong elements. The aromatic elements is high, with a long aftertaste of floral jasmine blend. There is an astringency present to make my gums dry, but glues on the aroma. Drink this slowly to fully enjoy the floral aftertaste.
I got brain massages by steep four and my review drafting got messed up and I don’t know steep by steep how Harlequin went down.
As this tea goes on, it becomes more young sheng with a stewy, floral, vegetal flavor. I got 8 infusions, though the last two were quite astringent and mostly aftertaste.
As I mentioned earlier, Harlequin is a true oolong lover’s puer. It is green dancong, young sheng, and floral green tea in one. It has that nutty grassy taste that brings up green tea, but it is potently floral, and sticky, with some astringency to slap the tongue around. I would kill to have this at dim sum. If you enjoy Harlequin, GoldFu is somewhat similar but more honey and fu bricking.
2023 Lapsun Black Tea
2023 Lapsun is a twist on the classic Lapsang Souchong. The tea is puer material, processed as black tea, and then traditionally smoked by a Lapsang Souchong smoker.
The leaves smell quite smokey sweet and very Lapsang Suchong like. After a rinse, the leaves smell like incense.
First and Second Infusion: Lapsun is chocolate syrupy, malty thick, flavors similar to other puer material black tea with sweet leanings, but this has a buzz of smoke. It is like we got the chocolate section of the smore. Thinking back to drinking Predawn, that tea is the marshmallow while Lapsun is the chocolate part of a smokey smore. It is certainly sweeter than lapsang tends to be.
Third Infusion: Lapsun got a bit more savory here and got some sweetness still, but the smoke treatment took over and it has the charred crisp edges of a savory pancake-like okonomiyaki – it’s sweet, saucy. Peak flavor Lapsun is a robust malty, sweet peaty smokey tea. It lightens to a wispy smokey pine flavor with some astringent tickle on the tongue.
This one is for lapsang souchong lovers – 2023 Lapsun is a fun, engaging smokey black tea. The sweet and savory flavors play each other up. I liked this one for smokey teas, but it also was a bit too smokey for my tastes. This one would be a good first lapsang too, even though it is different, as it is fairly easy to drink. Not to mention, this comes in balls or cake – if you love smokey black teas, Lapsun is pressed and takes up less room in storage.
