DrowningMySorrows Send Message

My first chenpi tea was one of those stuffed whole tangerine peel ones and I bought it more as a novelty item than “serious” tea. I ended up absolutely loving it and I’ve been trying out every orangey tea I can get my paws on since then. This is the first of four from my White2Tea order (I also have a Mini O’Bitters, Big O V2 mini and Saturday Mass mini…I like minis, can you tell?).

I ended up using way more Channel Orange than I usually would (three squares!) because I got annoyed with the wrapper not having enough paper on the end to re-wrap the remaining squares very well. It worked out okay, though, because I wanted to use my “big” mug (Bodum The de Chine glass mug with glass filter) and I was able to slowly sip away at the tea all evening and not feel too over-caffeinated.

This tea doesn’t really taste like the other chenpi teas I’ve had but I like it. One of the other comments mentioned pine and cedar. I kind of get that but to me it’s more like freshly cut pinewood than pine needles…like firewood that’s been split while it’s still wet and pitchy inside. The orange doesn’t really overpower the tea flavor but the two have melded together in a way that makes it hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. It wasn’t really like other teas I’ve had where it seems like two separate flavors put together on your cup. I like that the peel is already broken up and mixed into the tea. I have a hard time figuring out the peel to tea ratio with the stuffed tangerines…I want lots of the orangey flavor but don’t want to run out of peel before I use up all the tea. There’s no guesswork with Channel Orange because it’s already combined and the chocobar style brick makes it easy to portion out the tea without weighing or picking it apart…perfect for my lazy little self! Smooth chenpi tea goodness with minimal effort. The flavor isn’t quite what I was expecting but different doesn’t mean bad. And it was still gave that comforting, cozy feeling I’ve come to expect from these citrus pu-erhs. The comment about fuzzy blankets is a great description…it’s relaxing, comforting, uncomplicated and just feels like home. It’s the tea equivalent of being wrapped up in your favorite blanket in a comfy chair with a good book on a rainy day. A perfect tea for the cold, wet weather we’ve been having. I’m not sure I’d say this is my new favorite chenpi tea but I like it quite a bit and I’m happy I bought a whole brick instead of just a sample.

I need to play around more with steep times and amount of water with this one. I’m still relatively new to raw pu-erh and not completely sure what works for me and what doesn’t. This one wasn’t overly bitter to me as long as I kept the steeps fairly short. I think I probably should have used less water, though, as the flavor was a little on the weaker side (one 6g half a biscuit with about 150ml water). I was trying not to overdo it because I’ve had some problems lately with raws causing some stomach upset about midway through the session and I already had a headache when I started this one. I was probably a bit over-cautious. Still, I enjoyed the fruity flavors in this even if it wasn’t particularly strong and didn’t have any of the stomach upset I’d been worried about. As a bonus, this tea sent me into a “tea coma” and I was able to sleep off the headache. I’m excited to experiment with steeping parameters and hopefully figure out the best way to steep Biscuits. It’ll be great to have more raw options my stomach doesn’t hate.

I’m still working my way through my first White2Tea order but this is my favorite of the ripes so far (out of Planetary Shark Feed, mini Waffles and Camphornaught). The description mentions berries. I get sweetness but I’m not sure it reminds me of berries. I’m not great at picking out flavor notes, though. It was smooth and tasty, overall a pleasant experience. A handful of these balls came in a big pack of ripe minis I ordered around Halloween 2020. I’ll give it a few more sessions before deciding for sure but I suspect this will be a tea I’ll re-order as long as it’s available.

I’m not sure if this has been offered at other times but I received a stack of mini Waffles in a big pack of ripe minis White2Tea offered around Halloween 2020.

It might just be the power of suggestion but I think I can almost smell pancake/waffle syrup in the first couple steeps. After that it’s pretty much just what I think of as young ripe pu-era taste and smell…it’s like if you scrape up a bunch of wet, partially decayed leaves off the ground and stuff them in your mouth, but if that wasn’t gross? I don’t know if that makes sense. I haven’t tried any of the past Waffles cakes to compare or get an idea of how this will age. I’m hoping for more of that syrupy-ness as it gets older but even if it doesn’t change much I could still see myself picking up a cake each time I order or getting more of the minis if they’re available again. It’s not particularly exciting but seems like a good everyday ripe that I’d drink when I want a hot drink but there’s a lot of stuff going on to distract me or I don’t have the “brain energy” to contemplate more complex flavors.