The 2018 September White2tea Club is two white teas. Not just any white teas, we got a white tea region comparison education session.
I annoyingly switched my tea order for my tasting compared to the handout.
The first tea is a 2018 Baimudan (aka White Peony) from Fuding. This is a classic white tea, Baimudan being an early picking with both leaves and buds. The second tea is Zhanglang Yunnan White, which is puer material processed as white tea, from the puer region of Menghai. Puer material processed as white tea are becoming more easier to find these days.
Leaf and Steeping Method
2018 Baimudan is noticeably greener of the two teas. This one is fuzzy and bud heavy, smelling like a melon. This was a cake and the compression is so light it is falling apart. 2018 Zhanglang Yunnan White has a redder appearance. There is not much of a smell since it got aired out more being wrapper instead of sealed like the Baimudan. The compression is on the normal side, not iron crazy or loose.
I used 1 gram of leaf per 20ml of vessel size, steeped in boiling water. I’m not afraid of acrid and I love the body of boiled white teas. The hot steeped leaf of the Baimudan smells of fuzzy coconut cream whereas the 2018 Zhanglang Yunnan White leans apples and pears.
September 2018 White2Tea Club – Fuding vs Yunnan White Tea
First and Second Infusion:
The Baimudan sweet and smooth and young coconut. The Baimudan is a really thick tea, it’s like drinking pudding and fuzz. This makes me think of White2Tea’s 2018 Censers as there are similarities between the two teas. The Baimudan tastes like a classic Baimudan Fuding, but also is a high-quality one as it has an excellent sweetness that lingers for a while. Unfortunately, I can taste a bitterness loom over as this tea isn’t liking boiling water.
2018 Zhanglang Yunnan White is entirely different compared to the Baimudan. The Zhanglang is brighter and stronger of a tea as it has oxidation on it. The flavour is of cucumber and apple skins. It is not as thick as the Baimudan nor has as good as an aftertaste. Each stepping adds stronger apple and honey notes.
Third and Fourth Infusion:
Baimudan is sweet fluffy cotton fuzz of a tea. It is sweet coconut, slightly vanilla, and a mouth full of cotton. There’s floral here but it is behind a wall full of fluff allergies. Drinking this makes my nose instinctively itch.
Zhanglang Yunnan White is bright and sweet in an autumn way whereas Baimudan is full swing spring allergy hell. It is apple, brown sugar, boiled down cinnamon sticks, and trying to woody. Steep four got a strong boiled apple taste and thick bodied, but sip starts off thin.
Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Infusion:
I finally overcooked the Baimudan. It sips in sweet but eventually becomes bitter cucumber concentrate with a cotton coconut fluff finish. The aftertaste is dead and but it is still thick textured like drinking fleece. The last steeping got hella dry.
Zhanglang Yunnan White is really nice in the final infusions. It is sugary apples and squash in flavour. The con of this white tea is there isn’t much aftertaste. Some sips have a touch of floral sunflower. There is no dryness or bitterness. Last steeps just went flavourless instead of bitter.
Comments
Between the two white teas, Baimudan has the best beginning and overall body and texture but is a sensitive steeper. This is a nice Baimudan that I want to babysit steep to fine tune for max floral fluff. Zhanglang Yunnan White has the best resteep power but a thin body. It has a jump start on ageing in flavour as it has a darker profile of autumn and wood to fake it. I’d love to grandpa this tea into oblivion.
After drinking both teas it got me thinking that I could blend them to make an all bases covered white tea. The club gave me enough tea to play more.
I went 1 part Baimudan and 2 parts Zhanglang Yunnan White.
The result was not good. For the early infusions, my blend has the heavy fluff body and sweet fruit notes, plus a sweet aftertaste. However, it has a strange cucumber, coconuts, and apple flavour mix. I then power steeped my white tea blend and it tasted like hay horse stall and bitter apples. I should tweak the proportions but I was onto something.
In the end, yet another cool White2tea Club month.
