For the November 2018 White2tea club, everyone got 50 grams of the new Dark Roast Tieguanyin and three 7-8gram Mengku orbs. The Dark Roast Tieguanyin is available for purchase on the site…. or not, it’s sold out already, maybe it’ll come back?
This month certainly felt poor value. 50 grams of the Dark Roast is $14.50, and the club is $30 a month. My guess is those Mengku orbs are good stuff to make up for it. That and really, if you want value, you aren’t in any monthly tea clubs, especially since small packet shipping prices are rising. I figure the full 200 gram cakes in December and February are balancing it out.
Note that I am drinking a November released tea in January. The teas have had a bit of settling down time.
White2Tea’s Dark Roast Tieguanyin
The dry leaf smells like roasted chestnut shells.
I used 1 gram of leaf per 15ml of vessel size, gongfu style with boiling water. I was about to leaf to hell and back like I do sometimes for this style of oolongs but read this tea can be potent, so I went more standard brewing. As I’m pouring the tea I can smell the strong roast. It smells like popcorn on the stove that has gone a little too long. Up close smelling the leaf, it’s a touch sweet, but lots of roast.
First and Second Infusion: Dark Roast Tieguanyin has a watery toffee feel in these early infusions. As I drink more it is sweet cinnamon apple. Some sips are of roast without being smokey or ashy. Other sips have a bit of buttery caramel flavour going on.
Third, Fourth, and Fifth Infusion: Dark Roast Tieguanyin seems to jump around a lot. It does have a thinner body, but the flavour is quite nice. Again, I got bouncing sips of oak, chestnut skins, and a bit of fruity sweetness.
Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Infusion: The green youth showed up here. This steep tastes a bit stewed and charred with a sharp tasting roasted chestnut. A bitterness showed up here at the end of the sip. Astringency is here as well making my cheeks feel dry. The final infusion is soft and mineral, with a fruity tangy finish. It is astringent and bitter, but also strangely smooth.
After all those infusions, you can see the green in the leaf.
Dark Roast Tieguanyin is a tea for roast lovers. Mine obviously chilled out since I waited a few months to try, but it’ll settle and smooth out once it has a year on it. As is, the roast job is fine and the price is right.
Mengku Orb
I’m doing more causal steeping on this tea. It seems like a bonus addition to the club. I tend to prefer my blog reviews with a gaiwan which is more neutral. I’m using a glazed pot here. I also rather do a ball in a pot as I need all the heat I can get to open this thing.
Threw the entire ball in my 90ml teapot. I did a 30 second rinse and left the tea in the pot undisturbed for a couple of minutes to steam open. I ended up doing a second flash rinse and a puer pick to gently break up the ball so I’m not stewing the exterior while the interior of the tea is bone dry.
First and Second Infusion: This definitely has a youthful bitter bite to it, but the Mengku orb floral and sweet. It has a buttery side to it, but most of the flavour is youthful abrasiveness and floral.
Third, Fourth, and Fifth Infusion: The Mengku orb is super apricotty flavoured but it is youthful brashly bitter. I love this apricot flavour and has a face puncher energy slapping me around. The texture is slick and great to drink.
Unfortunately, this young sheng is gut rotting me immediately. I’m on a weight cut as I want to drop a weight class for powerlifting. Being on a caloric deficit plus potent gut rot tea is making for me feeling like my stomach is shrivelling up and dying. I also certainly over leafed this ball, hahaha!
Sixth Infusion: Well, I screwed up here. Likely why I always game face gaiwan my tea sessions for my blog. I got into a conversation with my SO over Star Wars… which steeped this round for 30 minutes. Sigh.
Alas, the November 2018 Mengku orb is good potent youthful tea. I’ll throw the other three balls into the pumidor and forget about them for a few years.
