OMG This month’s White2tea club is awesome! I cannot contain my joy when I saw what I got.
OOLONG! This month – Fresh Dahongpao, Aged Dahongpao, and Clover Patch Oolong. DROOL! Can I drink them all at once? I quite enjoy these tasting sets for education – I get to learn, try new teas (that some don’t get to try) and drink all the tea! I’ve never had Fresh Dahongpao nor even seen it for sale (apparently for good reason).
Tasting of August White2tea Club – Fresh & Aged Dahongpao and Clover Patch Oolong
Let’s start with drinking the Fresh and Aged Dahongpao.
Aged Dahongpao has a strong scent. I don’t wanna say it but it smells like a car tire to me. The Fresh Dahongpao smells roast sweet and much lighter than aged.
I steeped both in gaiwans, gongfu style with boiling water. I used 3 grams each in itty bitt gaiwans.
After the first infusion, Fresh Dahongpao has a soft buttery sweet scent with Aged Dahongpao with a deep, rich, tire scent.
First, Second, Third, and Fourth Infusion:
Fresh Dahongpao tastes so different compared to other Dahongpao’s I’ve had. The flavor is light, the lightest Dahongpao I’ve had. The notes are caramel, wild forest wet leaf, twigs with a creamy texture. The finish is citrus dry, a bit gritty with a sweet hint of peaches. Yeah, that’s a lot going on.
Aged Dahongpao is Pow, very strong! The flavor is sweeter and mellow with notes of rich dark fire wood, charcoal brickettes with a Mineral sweetness. There is a warm peachy floral aftertaste too. So smooth!
Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Infusion:
Fresh Dahongpao developed a spicy flavor like cinnamon stick. The flavor intensity is still weak and getting more gritty dryness with an abrasive mouth feel. The flavor is cinnamon spice and woodsy forest. The flavor is slipping greatly with each steeping.
Aged Dahongpao is creamy and super smooth. The flavor is has a thick woody flavor with lots of mineral amber sweetness. Aged Dahongpao is very pleasant to drink.
Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth, and Thirteenth Infusion:
Fresh Dahongpao had a final steeping at the 9th infusion. The flavor finished as a herby eucalyptus.
Aged Dahongpao is still super smooth. The flavor is mellow and mineral, marshmallow and woodsy. With each steeping it gets sweeter and sweeter. The final steeps are light and woody.
What I thought was interesting was how the Fresh Dahongpao taste. It wasn’t that bad as stated, it had lots going on and it was a fun drink. The cons was the weak flavor and a short tea session. The thing is I’ve had much much worse Dahongpao that wasn’t fresh. I’ve had Aged Dahongpao before, and as always it is pretty good with a strong flavor. Aged was completely chill, smooth and mellow in comparison of the Fresh Dahongpao. If you haven’t had an aged oolong, be sure to seek it out!
Clover Patch Oolong time! A modern, experimental processing of oolong! Hey, if this tea is popular, I bet I could get into the market of Tea Owl rolled oolongs that were swatted with dragonfruit cactus chunks found in my backyard.
Clover Patch Oolong had some really big leaf that is very fragrant of roast floral. Pictured is 4 grams as I couldn’t get any more on this little plate!
During a quick rinse the scent of this tea was intense! Whoa! Let’s not half owl-butt this shall we – Aroma cup go!
Clover Patch Oolong steeps up a light golden yellow. The aroma cup smelled really neat, like roasty coconut, butter, and floral.
First, Second, Third, and Fourth Infusion: Clover Patch Oolong has a thick silky texture. The flavor is juicy and refreshing like a strong white tea but with a heavy flavor. The notes are white grapefruit without any tart and flavor. The aftertaste, holy hoots, the aftertaste is strong and long lingering of butter, persimmons and floral. The floral is quite strong but I’m not sure what floral I’m tasting, maybe honeysuckle or buttercup? The flavor might be soapy for some but I like it being a floral lover.
Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Infusion: So much aftertaste, this is nuts! The lingering aftertaste intensity is as much as drinking the tea! I don’t know if I’m drinking anything with flavor as all I taste is the aftertaste of floral and fruit. I resetted my palette and got notes of custard, butter, linen, and wet leaf. Got a bit more tart closing in on that white grapefruit flavor. I wish I didn’t reset my mouth, dat aftertaste is amazing!
At the 6th infusion the tea hit me hard and fast. Like a giant Owl Dragon, spewing a fiery breath of floral. I was sweating violently and my kitchen became magically clean from flailing energy.
Eighth and Ninth Infusion: Clover Patch Oolong’s flavor is slipping fast and it’s really light now. All I’m getting is a lightly tart grapefruit and linen. There is now some dryness and the aftertaste is just a whisper. Nooooooooooo come back, I’ll bake you cookies!
Tenth Infusion: The desperate 15 minute steep. This was the sweetest in flavor but double the dryness. All I got was sugar cane notes. No aftertaste. Just like that, the energetic tea drunk was gone. What a weird experience with the tea energy coming in fast and not lasting long.
If you want a unique, experimental, modern oolong, get your hands on Clover Patch! So much fragrance! It appears you can purchase more, but I don’t see it on White2Tea yet.
In all, this month was awesome – I had lots of fun trying all the oolongs and experiencing fresh, aged and modern experimental oolong! White2tea club GO GO GO!
