White Crow 2020 Lincang Shoumei White Tea

Gongfu!

This session was paired with some pomegranate! This is a pretty full-bodied white tea as far as white teas go, and the early steeps had such an interesting creamy, milk-like note to them. More of a cooked milk though, verging on having that kind of caramelized profile of deep fried milk like you might get at a carnival or state fair. Sounds weird, but the almost pudding-like sweet and custardy flavour is pretty standout. Alongside that key flavour, I also get a lot of floral honey and cornsilk from the top notes. And it pairs pretty exceptionally with the pomegranate, though does leave a little extra astringency on the palate in the backend of the sip. Pomegranate and florals? Very complimentary. There’s an elegance to it that almost redeems my more out-there deep fried milk comparison!!

Tea Photos: paired with some pomegranate! This is a pretty full-bodied white tea as far as white teas go, and the early steeps had such an interesting creamy, milk-like note to them. More of a cooked milk though, verging on having that kind of caramelized profile of deep fried milk like you might get at a carnival or state fair. Sounds weird, but the almost pudding-like sweet and custardy flavour is pretty standout. Alongside that key flavour, I also get a lot of floral honey and cornsilk from the top notes. And it pairs pretty exceptionally with the pomegranate, though does leave a little extra astringency on the palate in the backend of the sip. Pomegranate and florals? Very complimentary. There’s an elegance to it that almost redeems my more out-there deep fried milk comparison!!

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu3euMcAQcU&ab_channel=Luvcat

Still love this tea – it gives long evolving sessions with lots of complexity, early on it is more bitter with an expansive and fragrant aftertaste, later just really sweet with a hint of sourness.

The dry leaf aroma reminds me of honey, tangerine, pitahaya, corn, and hay. From the wet leaves I picked up also hints of mushrooms and vanilla.

The taste is sweet and wood with a dry grass quality to it early on. Steeps 3 to 6 have quite decent woody and gin-like bitternes as well as flavours of bell peppers, autumn leaf pile, allspice, bourbon, and acorn.

The aftertaste then brings further notes such as sugar, moss, pinecone, chicken meat, and cinnamon to name a few.