Because I’m crazy, I blind purchased an entire Bamboo Dove. Bamboo Dove is the same tea as White2Tea’s 2017 Turtle Dove but processed like traditional bamboo stuffed puer, and then roasted over a fire. White2Tea only sells Bamboo Dove by the 50 grams, but contact them and they’ll find a full piece for you. I ended up with a 336gram chunk. It is 13″/33cm long and 2″/5cm in diameter.
Dry Leaf and Steeping Method
Bamboo Dove feels heavy and firm, like a lead pipe. I could easily beat someone over the head with it. I got tea knives and heavy cast iron pots, now I got a white tea lead pipe to hit home invaders with. I gave it 2 weeks rest in the open air. My tea had a long trip from China wrapped in an oversized box filled with smelly plastic bubble wrap.
Due to the firmness of the tea, my experience of Turtle Dove breaking tea knives, and owning impossible to break samples of bamboo 2015 Midwest Nice, I thought I had to get a saw to hack it down. To my surprise, it wasn’t bad to pry off chunks from the top. I imagine once you get to the bottom the tea will be much firmer.
I used 1 gram of leaf to 20ml of vessel size, gongfu steeped in boiling water.
Tasting of White2Tea’s Bamboo Dove
First Infusion: Bamboo Dove steeps up gorgeously clear and the hot leaves smelling like honey. Bamboo Dove is a very thick textured white tea, that hits me right at the start before even the flavor. Bamboo Dove tastes soft, mineral, bamboo. The finish is light honey. It isn’t as aged tasting as Turtle Dove, nor is it smokey or roasted flavor.
Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Infusion: I loosened the leaf a bit with my fingers before steeping. I then realized that first infusion came out more like a rinse (and I never rinse white tea) as this next infusion is stronger and darker in colour.
The tea is flavor-packed, still with that heavy cake batter texture. The flavor is of roasted yellow peppers, malt, and honey. Each steeping gets more savory as the roasted pepper and malt flavor punches through the honey notes.
Sixth and Seventh Infusion: Big jump in flavor here as it shifted to tasting malty, light molasses, and medicinal bitter. The aftertaste hits now with that medicinal note. The body is still a little thick feeling. This tastes like Turtle Dove now as the roasted element is now gone.
Eighth and Ninth Infusion: The taste here is bitter and malty. It isn’t as molar drying as Turtle Dove gets in the final infusions.
Tenth Infusion: Power steep. I steeped this one so long it was just above room temperature when I drank it. It is malty sweet and a little bitter. After a few moments, the astringency sets in making my teeth feel dry. I got more infusions, but I doubt at this final stage whether one can tell the difference between Bamboo and Turtle Dove.
Grandpa Infusion: I used leftover pieces I didn’t use for the gongfu session for my grandpa style test. I steeped around 4 grams of white tea in my Large The Wall mug. Bamboo Dove is mineral sweet, bamboo, bit roasted, with a thick malty background. It is sweeter and more mineral than Turtle Dove steeped this way. It did get dry after a couple refills of 200F water.
Comments
White2Tea’s Bamboo Dove is one of the more unique white teas out there. You get a crazy weird appearance of bamboo, but also the notes of roast on it in the early infusions. I figure the roast notes will mellow more with rest. I love the attention to detail of this tea being fire vs electric roast.
Compared to Turtle Dove, which is the same material but pressed into cakes, Bamboo Dove is more complex, has different flavor early on, and gets more infusions. Final infusions of both teas taste close, both tasting bit more aged for a 2017 white tea. If you had to pick, I would go with Bamboo Dove for more interesting to own and complexity of flavor to drink now. Turtle Dove, in its young age right now, I love more as a daily drinker or grandpa style. I also feel Bamboo Dove is easier to break off, but that may change once I get near the bottom. Keep in mind, white teas would change a lot with age, I figure both will smooth out and get less astringent in time.
To my dismay, and heads up to anyone who buys a whole Bamboo Dove, it is difficult to store. This bamboo thing is too long for any tin I have, nor does it fit a large freezer bag. It probably fits my pumidor, but I prefer to store my white tea airtight. If you don’t want to break it down, you’ll have to find a creative place. For now, I sealed it (non-vaccumed as that’ll put it into stasis) in a Foodsaver bag. I’m probably going to forget about this tea for awhile, so I can try it again with some age. Once it is chipped away some, I’ll hack the bamboo down and find a tin that fits.
