2015 Milk, Cream, and Alcohol

In order of strength: Rum, Tobacco, Clove, Apricot Jam

There are notes that come from age older than this tea, but without the accompanying smoothness and balance. For being 6-7 years old at the time of review, there is a ton of astringency that is still on its way out the door. The flavor profile is interesting and a wonderful supplement to reading some Hemmingway.

Dry leaf aroma- sweet Welch’s grape juice, sweet tobacco hints, dust, floral, almost pollen? Very interesting…

Quick rinse…

1 steep- thicker body, smooth, round…it has a depth to it. The tea has a good body to it…almost a pulpiness to it…I’m getting citrus floral notes. Bitterness and astringency are way down on the charts.

2nd – not much of a difference from the 1st steep… slightly more prescience of bitterness and astringency, but still very smooth. Some hints of dank, catty notes. Maybe mezcal type notes on the aftertaste.

3rd – again, maybe another level ramp up of bitterness and astringency, but flavor profile is very much the same. Kinda disappointed.

4th – man, tea really seemed to give up…
I mean at this point it is a good straight forward sheng, which seemed to offer complexity at the start a d now is falling off… not doing the next steep.

All in all, I had high hopes.

It just ramped down instead of up…maybe results will vary…
Good approach-ability, and drink-ability… just not for the long haul. I’d definitely drink it, but not going to seek it out.

I like this one. It’s quite fruity. It brews a nice light golden liquor with a peachy pinkish hue in the initial steeps. Do shorter brews to keep the bitterness at bay. I get pears and quince, dried apricots, plum jam, a hint of wild strawberry. There’s sweetness but it’s not overwhelming. On the finish I get herbal honey and jam, some light floral notes as well and maybe even a touch of baking spices.
Overall, this is quite pleasant and would make for a pretty good and uplifting everyday sheng.

Beenghole sample. Tastes more aged than it is. Pretty thick texture, initial creamy notes. Pretty standard bitterness with moderately fast sweet huigan. Brewed out a little quick. Pretty balanced as far as bitter to sweet but leaning on sweet over all. Long lasting and strong fruity slightly flowery huigan. No smoke, no spice, not astringent. Slight headache buzz, heavy eye lids

167/365

Another from my first White2Tea order. I’ve been really impressed with these; they’ve definitely changed how I think of sheng, particularly. I’m brewing this one western style at work, but keeping my steeps short since experience has told me that’s what works best.

The initial sip is very creamy, with a definite dairy/milk mouthfeel and flavour. There’s a slight brassy/sour sheng flavour, but it’s not significant – and nowhere near as prominent as it was with 2015 Poundcake. The only thing missing at the moment is the alcohol!

Second steep has a little more sourness, but I may have steeped it a few seconds too long. The creaminess seems a lot more muted, at least in terms of flavour, but the mouthfeel still has that delicious dairy-like weight and texture.

Third steep is less sour again (25 seconds is as long as I want to brew this one to find my own happy place with it; the second steep was more like 30-35). There’s a muted creaminess, but it looks like I’m not going to be able to recreate the utter yumminess of the first steep again. While the texture is mostly smooth, there are the beginnings of a low-level astringency that’s leaving me with a slightly dry mouth.

Fourth steep was very similar to the third, with the astringency just a touch more pronounced. That’s with a reduced steep time again (15 seconds this time), so I think I’m going to call a halt here for today. There’s no question that I could keep going, but I figure when you stop enjoying something it’s probably time to quit.

I’d purchase this one – or its future iterations – again. The first steep was the best, and at the very least I’d like to experience that another time!

This tea lived up to its namesake. It very clearly tasted like cream and Brandy, and if steeped too long became incredibly bitter. I found after several steeps the bitterness actually increased. It tastes best with sweets, and has a strong and astringent taste reminiscent of alcohol.

Steeped gaiwan style.

Didn’t care for this one at first, so I tried it grandpa style and thought it was tons better. I recommend trying it grandpa style if you thought it was lacking.

7 g leaf
200 F water
small gaiwan, 6-8 oz

I did not rinse the leaves, since they were fairly loose. I think I should have, though. The first steep is weak in color and taste; the color is a light yellowy brown after a 15-20 sec steep. The dry leaves smelled sweet but musty, a bit like tobacco. The liquid smelled less musty, but something reminiscent of tobacco and dust still held. Perhaps a second steeping will bring out a stronger flavor.

Second steep about the same length. Color is a bit darker, more like honey now. The initial sweetness is gone, replaced by a touch of astringency on the end of the sip. No particular flavors stand out to me, although I am holding out for future steeps.

While quite aromatic with little to no astringency, I did not find this tea satisfying to my palate. I didn’t understand the name of this tea because it showed neither of the characteristics of milk or cream. Perhaps alcohol but there wasn’t much of a promise. I can see this as a daily drinker but it just wasn’t for me.

The leaves in my sample are quite dark in color and broken up into fairly small pieces. The wet leaves strongly smells of apricot fruit, and the leaf itself has a slightly different fruity note, like a sour plum sort of smell.

It brews up as a deeper, golden yellow color. It has a very strong and forward body combined with an upfront bitterness that generally blends together well. The bitterness reappears in the aftertaste, though in this early steep, it’s an enjoyable bitterness. There is a little bit of fruit in the aftertaste as well, that quickly fleets by after you drink.

The second steep brings in a little bit more roundness to the flavor. There’s a smooth transition between a low sweetness to a medium body and bitterness up to the ever-so-slight fruity high notes.

Overall, this is a tea that plays quite low in its overall flavor profile. It has a unique sort of sharpness to it due to the way the high notes appear and disappear as an aftertaste, but overall, the main allure of this tea is the mouth filling bittersweet. This isn’t a beautiful, delicate tea, but you’ll definitely know it’s there when you drink it.