February 2019 White2Tea Club feat. 2018 Charlie Shou Puer

The 2019 February White2tea club is an exclusive club only puer cake – 2018 Charlie Shou. Charlie promises to be dark and not as sweet as other shous on White2tea’s current lineup. I have been on the lookout for other really dark shous – there has never been a replacement to Mandala Tea’s Special Dark, which was an inky masterpiece. I left my cake of Charlie to air out for about a month, though I felt it didn’t need much rest other than settling from transit. Leaf and Steeping Instructions The dry leaf smells simply earthy, not fishy or funky.… Continue reading, hoot!

2018 Stone Lion Sheng Puer from Crimson Lotus Tea

Crimson Lotus Tea’s 2018 Stone Lion Sheng Puer is a Spring, old tree huangpian style leaf from a less aggressive varietal of LaomanE. In case you didn’t know LaomanE is notorious for being bitter no matter what you do. I got my brick of 2018 Stone Lion sheng puer for free. Crimson Lotus Tea was giving away teas for free at the last PDX Tea Festival if you found them and shouted, “I LOVE CRIMSON LOTUS TEA!”. I had my husband do the shouting as he’s got the loud man voice. Since July, I had my brick settle down some,… Continue reading, hoot!

Zhen Si Long 2018 Ma Hei Sheng Puer from Tea Encounter

Today is the first time I am trying a tea from Tea Encounter – the Zheng Si Long 2018 Ma Hei Sheng Puer. This tea is old tree material from Ma Hei, which is in Yiwu. Leaf and Steeping Method The dry leaf has a soft fruity pungent scent. I used the ratio of 1 gram of tea per 15ml of vessel size, gongfu steeped in boiling water. The hot rinsed leaves smells of dried green herbs that have been added to a soup. Tasting of Tea Encounter’s Zheng Si Long 2018 Ma Hei Sheng Puer First and Second Infusion:… Continue reading, hoot!

December 2018 White2Tea Club feat. 2018 XXXmas Sheng Puer

Today’s review of an exclusive tea to the White2tea club. The December 2018’s club is a 200 gram 2018 XXXmas sheng puer, a huangpian material cake. Around Christmas, I revisited last year’s White2Tea club 2017 XXXmas cake. Last year, it was very young and I felt it was too green. With a year under its belt, it is still very green and bitter, so I’m giving it another year. However, 2018’s XXXmas sheng is a different blend. My cake sat for about a month and a half before tasting. Love the wrapper art, as usual. Leaf and Steeping Method And those… Continue reading, hoot!

2018 Spring Wildwood Sheng Puer from Crimson Lotus Tea

Crimson Lotus Tea’s 2018 Wildwood sheng puer caught my radar fast as they posted a video showing the tea is from a secret remote old growth tea garden. You can only get there by motorcycle and a hike. 2018 Wildwood Sheng is a blend of old and young tree material, all single origin. Of course, I bought a sample, promptly forgot about it, and it has been in my pumidor for months. Leaf and Steeping Method The dry leaf has a tangy and grassy smell. I used 1 gram of leaf per 15ml of vessel size, gongfu steeped with boiling water.… Continue reading, hoot!

November 2018 White2Tea Club feat. Dark Roast Tieguanyin

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… Continue reading, hoot!

The Bitter End Xtra 2018 Spring Lao Man E Sheng Puer from Bitterleaf Tea

Continuing on my reviews of the entire teas that put the bitter in Bitterleaf Tea, our final tea is The Bitter End Xtra. This old tree spring sheng is in maocha loose leaf form. This was sold as a comparison of Bitterleaf Teas’ lower grade Lao Man E – The Bitter End Lite (Huang pian), and The Bitter End. Leaf and Steeping Method The Bitter End Xtra has beautiful leaves that are nice and fuzzy wisps. I took a sniff and it smells vegetal but a big huff and it’s verge eye-watering pungent. As usual, I used around 1 gram of leaf… Continue reading, hoot!

Rehoot Review – 2015 Pin Sheng Puer from White2Tea

I drank Pin way back in 2015 when it was freshly pressed White2Tea club tea. Back then it tasted quite watery. I’ve heard it got good in the time it has rested. 2015 Pin Sheng Puer has been highly requested that I ReHoot review. I keep meaning to do more re-reviews of puer and aged teas, but I keep getting so much new stuff in it’s a little tricky to schedule around. As a reminder, 2015 Pin Sheng is Lincangy blend of 2013, 2014, and 2015 material. Leaf and Steeping Method For today’s review, I used 1 gram of leaf per… Continue reading, hoot!

October 2018 White2tea club feat. fresh 2018 Autumn F_D_T Sheng Puer

I am guilty of being so backlogged that I wasn’t able to tackle the October 2018 White2Tea Club ASAP. This month is a 50 gram 2018 Autumn material Old Arbor sheng puer. What makes this tea special, other than being Old Arbor 50 gram cakes that are usually amazing, is it got to club members ultra fast which means is it super fresh. It was picked, processed, but immediately pressed skipping a drying step of the Maocha loose leaf. The joke of the tea community is this tea cake is moist. As in, should have been named 2018 MOIST, which… Continue reading, hoot!

2018 Mengsong Spring Sheng Puer from Bana Tea Company

I purchased Bana Tea Company’s 2018 Mengsong Spring Sheng Puer a few months ago. This tea is from 100 year old trees in Mengsong. When I see a Vesper Chan production on Bana Tea’s site, I never hesitate to purchase as they are always reliably excellent teas. Leaf and Steeping Method 2018 Mengsong Spring’s leaf smells lightly floral sweet but also has a savory tang to it. Do we have another sweet and sour sheng? I did gongfu style tea brewing, using 1 gram of leaf per 14.5ml of vessel size. That extra 0.5 was an extra bit of tea that broke… Continue reading, hoot!