I have been in white tea obsession mode these days, buying up all sorts of white tea to put into the Owl Aging Vault (which is just a cookie tin). Today, let’s try White2tea’s Moonshine and Sunlight White teas.
I steeped both teas side by side in 200F/93C water, 1 gram of leaf to 20ml vessel size ratio.
White2Tea’s Moonshine White
Moonshine White is a Yue Guang Bai (YGB)/Moonlight white, that is a shade dried white tea. This Moonlight white is made of a cultivar tea that is usually for puer. Not much more information on this tea. White2Tea’s Nightlife cake, which is also a YGB tea is my hands down Moonlight favorite, so this tea has some tough competition.
Moonshine White’s leaf smells weedy and sweet. Pretty sure I huffed some tea fuzzies while I was smelling this tea. It seems more white buds than those black leaves you typically see in other Yue Guang Bais.
Moonshine White starts off sweet and light in flavor intensity with a milky texture. It has a slightly weedy taste that develops a dried floral note in the aftertaste. This tea is soft and light in character, and it seems I should have boiled this tea instead of 200F to get more out of it.
In the later infusions, this tea is like a saucy milk tea. It is creamy tasting with a thick texture, with some sips of random grassy notes, and dried flowers. It is a delicately soft, unassuming, and sweet tea. The most potent flavoring here is the floral aftertaste.
I power steeped the later infusions and it got a little bitter floral flavor, but still sweet and light. The longer infusions also brought out a really nice honeydew flavor. I got 2 additional infusions over Sunlight White.
I’d say Moonshine White is the aromatic delicate sister of White2Tea’s Nightlife white tea. It is a soft, light, delicate, kind and sweet white tea. I like the later infusions more as it showed its true colours with a nice balance of bitter, floral, fruity, sweet, and cream. It is a light tea to have something special and sweet later in the day. I personally like Nightlife more as it is more in your face in flavor, plus it is in cake form which is space efficient for tea hoarding.
White2Tea’s Sunlight White
Sunlight White is also made from a puer cultivar, from the Mengsong region. This white tea is made a more traditional style with sun drying process. Sunlight White smells malty and sweet. The leaf is dark with long stems.
This one smelled strong while pouring. The flavor is potent for a white tea, this isn’t a delicate cute tea. Sunlight White tastes of honey and minerals in a creamy background. Boom, and energy too – I feel immediately my body responding to OMG Caffeine yes! With each infusion, Sunlight White gets sweeter and sweeter. The flavor is brightly honey, yet also creamy smooth. I get the odd sip of buttercup floral.
Pushed to steep longer, Sunlight White still holds up. It doesn’t get bitter or dry, just honey notes until it runs out of flavor.
Sunlight White is sweeter and stronger in flavor compared to Moonshine White. The main flavor is the honey sweetness. If you are looking for a hairy chest yet sweet white tea, this is a good match. This tea also didn’t get bitter or dry, making it a good candidate for grandpa style or thermos. It did not resteep as well as Moonshine White, but what I got was delicious and full of energy. This is the white tea you want on a dreary Monday afternoon to perk up your day.
