Finally, the January 2017 White2Tea Club! The mail has been pretty terrible coming out of China lately, likely a large cause being near Lunar New Year. Oddly, my February 2017 club arrived before my January one! People have been bugging me for weeks to review these teas, Butter Flower in particular, but there was nothing I could do as the shipment was delayed!
January 2017 White2Tea club features a sampling of White2Tea’s new oolongs – Butter Flower, Milan Dancong, and Shui Xian. All oolongs are available for purchase now.
Dry Leaf and Steeping Method
Butter Flower has a distinct floral scent. My brain is racking on what scent this flower is as this is something I used to buy when I used to buy flowers. Out of the three, this one is the most floral and lighter leaf. Milan Dancong has a tangy rocky scent over slim twists of leaf. Shui Xian smells like roasted fruit scent with big chunky leaf.
I leafed hard here, 1 grams of tea for 12ml of vessel. I used boiling water and gaiwans.
Tasting of January 2017 White2Tea Club Oolongs
Butter Flower rocks a super floral scent! What is this flower, I know this scent but I cannot put a name to it. Milan Dancong smells tangy, rocky, and a bit campy. Shui Xian smells like baby powder with roast to it.
First, Second, and Third Infusion:
Ha, check out the gradient of tea colour!
Butter Flower – The flavor is strong and sharp floral. This tea packs a punch! The floral taste lingers forever after each sip. There is a little bitterness, likely from floral overload. The texture is slippery, enough to make you face plant while walking on it.
Milan Dancong – Mellow and creamy. This tastes like aggressively toasted camp marshmallows at first due to sweet, mellow, creamy taste. The tea puts me in a low-chill feeling at first, then the aftertaste perks up fruity and fun. Papaya? The aftertaste is long too. The body texture is also thickly greasy.
Shui Xian – yet another tea I’ve had recently that tastes like a stick of butter. I guess what you do here is freeze the butter (somehow) and sear the edges to a crisp, then serve it on a rock. Shui Xian is super buttery, bit roasty, and lots of mineral flavor. The aftertaste breaks out a sharp fruity floral funk. The texture isn’t as heavy or thick as the other two tea, this one actually has a bit of an abrasive feel at the end feeling a touch dry.
Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Infusion:
We lost our gradient!
Butter Flower – still super floral, never ending perfume floral. I still don’t know the flower – this might be general flower shop scent. The texture is getting dry here but still very enjoyable. A part of me thinks this tea would be good steeped western style to tame the flowery beast.
Milan Dancong – I am getting a roasty bite here, with less fruit finish. Overall very chill and low
Shui Xian – sharp and rocky. Straight up drinking mineral as the roast and butter slipped. The tea sips in smooth, but then feels like a throat full of rocks after drinking, sticking to my neck.
Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Infusion:
Butter Flower – This one got more bitter while sticking packing a lot of floral. The bitter flavor was like overcooked peppers, so the leaf was getting stewed to death. This entire time I felt I steeped this tea wrong. It needed less leaf or a temperature drop for something more optimal. I stopped this at steep 10, despite it having a few rounds left, but I wasn’t a fan of the unpleasant bitterness.
Milan Dancong – Interestingly, this tea bounced around. It was roasty before, now it is peachy honey sweet. The texture is still thick however at this point it lost a lot of the aftertaste fragrance. I got the most infusions with this oolong.
Shui Xian – This one died at steep 9. I tried 10 and it was very much so dead. It slowly slipped flavor, holding onto a consistent rock flavor. It didn’t get bitter, just a little dry, but otherwise a good daily drinker, no frills tea. You want rock, have a rock.
Grandpa Style Butter Flower
I had about 3 grams left, so I went in at a lower temperature of 200F in a 280ml mug. I left it in about 2 minutes before starting to drink. This shined much better! The flavor was a softer floral, not overpowering, with a stronger butter flavor, with a good balance of floral and mineral. There is a Great floral buttery aftertaste. Grandpa Butter Flower does get bitter if you take too long to drink. Leading more to thinking this would be good western steeped more controlled.
Comments
Out of the three oolongs, I feel Milan Dancong stands out the most for interesting flavor transitions and resteep power. Butter Flower would be of interest if you love floral teas – this is as floral as you can get without adding floral flavoring into a tea. Shui Xian is your daily drinker workhorse tea – it seems a tea you’d throw in with your White2Tea order as you need an oolong for your work drinking stash.
Admittedly, none of them screamed to me like how much I enjoyed Duck Shit Oolong or the punch of Hot & Heavy. However, I am happy to of been able to sample these oolongs.
All three oolongs are listed at White2Tea, these weren’t club exclusive teas.
