2017 Sunday Special Shou from White2tea

Back in 2017 White2tea’s 2017 Sunday Special shou was funky wet piled scented on arrival. It sat in my shou-pumidor for over 3 years, waiting for the right time to drink. Not too long ago, it has come to my attention that Sunday Special settled down to delicious, so let’s give this small batch shou a try. Leaf and Steeping Method 2017 Sunday Special shou has the scent of medicinal dirt – better smelling than it was back in 2017. I used 1gram of leaf per 14ml vessel gongfu ratio, with boiling water temperature. After a rinse, the leaves smell… Continue reading, hoot!

2020 The Sea Sheng Puer from Bana Tea Company

I bought 2020 The Sea sheng cake blind. I heard it was good, but also I find I cannot go wrong with Bana Tea and Vesper Chan as the quality is high. 2020 The Sea Sheng is a blend of Menghai and Lincang old arbor trees. This sheng won the Three-star Superior Taste Award 2020 from the International Taste Institute in Brussels! Leaf and Steeping Method The cake has a strong fruity scent of apricots. My gongfu ratio is 1 gram of leaf per 15ml of vessel size, steeping with boiling water. After a rinse, it has a sour fruity… Continue reading, hoot!

Songluo Black and Shou Mei from Hence Tea

Today is a new tea company review – Hence Tea. They are based out of Los Angeles and carry Chinese Teas. The teas I have for review are their Songluo Black and Shou Mei White. Songluo Black from Hence Tea This black is from Songluo Mountain, which is in the Southern Anhui Province of China, between Keemun and Huangshan. Songluo Black’s leaves have a fruity and honey scent. For the first round of this black tea, I went gongfu style, 1gram per 15ml leaf to vessel ratio, steeped with boiling water. After a rinse, the leaves smell grapes and floral.… Continue reading, hoot!

2021 April White2tea Club feat. 2021 Greens

2021 April White2tea club took its sweet time to arrive and shipping delays give me flashbacks to last year. This month in the club is fresh green tea and liubao! Also included is more of the lovely Yan hong, which I will skip as it was in a previous club box. Admittedly, I fear green tea month and have skipped in the past as I just do not like green tea. Again, I was too lazy to skip, so here I am. 2021 Spring Liubao from 2021 April White2tea Club Yet another fresh liubao. The scent is unusually floral for… Continue reading, hoot!

2021 April Old Ways Tea Club

It is Old Ways Tea Club time! The fourth tea club box has 2020 Shi Ru Stone Milk, 2014 White Tea Brick, and 2020 Niu Rou Huang Pian – 2 oolongs and a white tea! I was most excited about the white tea and the huang pian. 2020 Shi Ru (stone milk) Oolong Well, I was dumb and the package exploded when I opened the tea packet. The leaves here have a roasted caramel and plum scent. Both oolongs in the club I went with a gongfu ratio of 1gram of leaf per 15ml of vessel size, steeped in boiling… Continue reading, hoot!

Chilai High Mountain Black Tea from Mountain Stream Teas

I almost wasn’t going to write about Mountain Stream teas’ Chilai High Mountain black tea. I was tucking into this tea for breakfast, delegated as interesting tea drinking as it will be sold out by the time my review could be posted. At first infusion, I discovered this tea is wonderful and needs a review, so I redid my schedule. Chilai High Mountain Black is a QinXin cultivar tea from Summer 2020. Not too often one encounters high mountain tea processed as black, but also like Taiwanese oolong and white tea – their black tea is amazing. Leaf and Steeping… Continue reading, hoot!

2020 Foxdown Black Tea from White2tea

I’ve always had my eye on White2tea’s 2020 Foxdown black tea, but I was waiting for the next season of teas. However, it was announced the cakes were in low stock, so I panicked purchased a cake blind along with some other goodies. At this time of writing, there are only Foxdown minis left. 2020 Foxdown is a Yunnan, bud heavy, sun dried black tea, promised to be malty daily drinker. Leaf and Steeping Method What a gorgeous golden bud cake with a malty dark scent. For gongfu style, I used 1 gram of leaf per 15ml of vessel size,… Continue reading, hoot!

2020 The Way Shou Puer from Crimson Lotus Tea

I am guilty of buying tea for wrapper art and concept. I didn’t even see what Crimson Lotus Tea’s 2020 The Way Shou Puer was made of, I just clicked buy. My nerding of Star Wars knows no bounds. The Aurebesh looking font is hella cool. 2020 The Way shou is a blend containing ample LaoManE and promised to be dark and rich. Leaf and Steeping Method The leaves smell acidic cinnamon and earthly. I used 1 gram of leaf per 15ml of vessel size, gongfu style steeping in boiling water. After a rinse, the leaf smells of hot earth,… Continue reading, hoot!

2020 Sanxia White Tea from Mountain Stream Teas

I love Taiwanese white teas, so when Mountain Stream Tea was having a sale, I snagged 100 grams of 2020 Sanxia White tea. This is a 2020 Winter tea of Qin Xin Gan Zhong cultivar. Leaf and Steeping Method The leaf looks quite wirely, though in the bag you can see that is a hairy tea. Interestingly, the Sanxia white leaves has a sugar cookie scent. I disregarding the steeping instructions as I like my white tea in my face, so a gongfu ratio of 1 gram of leaf per 20ml of vessel size, boiling water. After an infusion, the… Continue reading, hoot!

2021 March White2tea club feat. Liubao Laochapo Comparison

The 2021 March White2tea club is a wild one! Enclosed was Liubao Laochapo in both fresh and roasted forms, as well as Three Spot Guanyin. It has been a while since the last Liubao in the club, so happy to try something different. Three Spot Guanyin This Fujian Tieguanyin has a honey roasted scent, pretty close to smelling like Cheerios. I used around 1 gram of leaf per 15ml of vessel size, and after a boiling rinse, the leaves give off a fruity nutty scent. Three Spot Guanyin has nutty milk, honey, and a bruised nectarine taste, with a floral… Continue reading, hoot!