#apoostrotea3

This tea is a bit different from my current drinking habits. The hay aroma and flavor is at the forefront of this one with a hint of smoke. Like you’re visiting an old barn full of golden bales of hay. A distant campfire elsewhere at the farm adds a touch of smoke. A very familiar and intriguing tea. Cozy and comforting with good caffeine and qi. I was expecting this one to be darker! But it’s light like a sheng. I’m almost left wishing it was a bit smokier. The price on this one is great for those looking for this flavor profile.

★ ★ ★ .5 ☆ ☆

Consuming this nice tea in its mini cake form! I always love getting mini tea cakes or dragon balls from W2T. Makes it so easy to bring to work, but, today I’m having it at home. I’ve heard a lot of good things about Boat Captain that made me think I would enjoy it. Aroma is smokey with notes of tobacco and spice. However, this tea tastes very young. The smoke flavor is strong and forward, with hints of bitter tobacco and spiced wood. But the bitterness is still off putting to me. If anything, I would love to see this tea aged maybe ten years down the line. These notes are already appealing to me, and with age to settle the bitterness, it could become a very lovely tea. If it’s still available in a few years, I’ll have to try it again and maybe even cake it.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Trying a 7542 sample I’ve had hanging around for a while. The serial number here of 2 corresponds to Menghai Tea Factory, in case that isn’t clear to those reading. The leaves are from the 1st batch in 2007. It’s an aromatic tea, smelling strongly of wood, herb, and slightly fishy. There is some fruity sweetness there, but this tea has a bite. If you take a sip, prepare for the wake-up call. Bitterness is sharp and qi is strong, keeping you awake and focused. With some more age, this tea may even out and become cleaner. That is, if you can get your hands on some now to save for later.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Just graduated college and I’m back home in NJ! Lots of teas to try. I’ll be making a separate post for this new teacup too.

Haven’t been drinking enough tea this winter! Trying new ADHD meds meant I wasn’t always able to have caffeine, but I’m finally past that now. So, I ordered the big Shulloween bag since I’m such a huge fan of their ripes. It has a lot of teas I already enjoy, and a few I haven’t tried yet. Pretty Girls is one of them. The tea ball opens up super easily after one steep, to a lot of small bits of leaves. Liquor color is dark immediately, which I almost didn’t expect. Aroma is really nice; has that sweet chocolate cherry smell that a lot of W2T’s ripes have. And cherry is the biggest flavor profile here, which starts out strong, dark, and a bit bitter at first but eventually rounds out. Some vanilla and wet wood notes sitting under all that cherry. The soup drinks very smoothly in texture. While I’m enjoying this sample, and will enjoy the rest, I’m unsure if this is one I’d consider cake-ing. But, this is a very cozy tea, great for winter, and probably great for grandpa style brewing if you please.

I’m headed back to school tomorrow, which means I get to use my tea kettle again 👍

★ ★ ★.5 ☆ ☆

First green tea talked about here? Also, it’s from a local shop!

Yin Hao means silver tips. This green tea has been scented with jasmin and has some jasmin flowers in it. Western brewing was recommended, but I chose to gongfu it anyway (lol). Worked out great in the gaiwan! Smells amazing — I love the smell of jasmin and jasmin teas. Some umami aroma underneath all that flower. Has that nice jasmin flavor that makes this type of tea so popular. Slightly drying in the mouth, with hints of that green tea. Very clean spring floral, but the jasmin is pretty much the only flavor I’m getting! Lovely tea, gongfu’d perfectly, and good for this hot summer-y day. Tastes fresh. Jasmine tea is easy to please me, lol.

This one was a gift from a classmate. Very friendly green tea.

★ ★ ★ .5 ☆ ☆

Made some eggs too today lol.

This tea definitely needs to rest for a handful of months, and that’s why I’m trying it now! I’ve never really “aged” any teas for any amount of time. Just because lack of storage space for it. But, when I saw LP put this tea up as a sample in the shop with the context of it needing some rest, I got excited. I’m trying some grams of this sample today and then letting the rest of it age in a small purple clay container to try again in January. When I go drink it in January, I’ll have this post to check back and see how it has changed!

Bittersweet and dark; still a little of that wet pile taste here. It’s a deep and damp shou. Aroma is like wet forest and cacao. Super chocolate-y. Lots of funk goes away after the first couple of steeps, but that deep richness and bitterness is still there. Surprised how drinkable this is already, but I would prefer it rest for 6ish months. This shou leans heavy on the bittersweet chocolate spectrum of things with a little bit of fruity-ness. Interesting qi feel in the head, not something I usually get with shou. Perhaps too bitter and ripe for me right now, but it might get better. Wonder how it’ll be with time!

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Let this cake set for over a week, but I can’t wait any longer lol

I lucked out snagging this cake! White2tea’s super affordable small batch anniversary shou. Dry leaf aroma was noticeable right when pulling it out of the bag, paper not unwrapped yet. Super earthy wet wood smell. Wet leaf aroma isn’t too dissimilar, dank wet forest floor. Some fruityness in there too. The tea itself is very smooth and mouth coating. If it was wine people would say this tea “has legs”. A good amount of that wet pile flavor there, but mostly damn wood and some ripe beet or prune. The flavors are a nice enjoyable mix, I found myself sipping it for a couple hours with no problems. Feels similar to a lot of W2T’s other shou, many of the same flavors and traits. Wonder how this cake will settle over time, because it will take me a while to drink it all.

I’ll be slowly drinking through this cake for the rest of the semester. I love having a bit of shou after dinner, and I could see myself grandpa style-ing this one already.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆