2013 Lincang Area Orbs

Brewed the whole orb in my 100ml thick walled gaiwan. Hit the ball with a medium strength off the boil pour for a little over a minute, at which point it was almost completely open. Proceeded with slow and light pours for the next few brews. The liqour was a bit darker than I expected for a 3 year old tea. Nice florality on the wet leaves with a hint of pitted fruit (apricot/ peach?), woody, with some hay and spice. This brew was medium bodied and started silky smooth and then developed a solid and persistent ku wei which went on for about 12 brews. The flavors started on the lighter end of the spectrum and around brews 7-10 hit the darker and richer end, going from floral and fruity with a woody complexity and honey sweetness to a rich woodiness with some forest floor and incense intertwined with a nutty bitterness. Mouth characteristics were great, this is definitely a mouthfeel lovers tea, it’s not overly intense but persistent and long. Wonderful sweetness and cooling sensation in the back of the throat with a lingering flavor of wood. Qi is solid.

Overall this is a well balanced and flavorful tea with a surprising amount of life and a wonderful mouth feel that doesn’t give up. I want to say this is Mengku but it’s not really forward enough for me to guess that.

Brewed while listening to The Shape of Colour by intervals : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx8c3CuUxw0

I’m not part of the W2T club… but I got one of these :)
I’m more of a swapping type of person and was quite happy to see this come in the mail recently.

I took this guy to work with me without knowing anything about it. What I found out is that the first two steeps were light and wonderfully because it didn’t expand. Once it opened up fully around the eighth steep there was more depth to the flavor and a nice feeling came over me at work around the 10th steep so I synced it with some epic music. This is clearly something easy to steep, sip, and enjoy. Now I need to hunt down a Misty Peak orb to compare because I find these to be practical for someone like me who dislikes owning full cakes.

I had this one this afternoon. W2T says to split the 9g orb if you want a lighter tea so that’s what I did. I brewed it at 90C.

It has a light sweetness & fruity taste. Some bitterness came out in steeps 2-4 but only light bitterness. I found it pretty smooth and apricot tasting. Quite pleasant with a gentle cha qi. I got plenty of infusions from the leaves . Although nothing seemed to stand out about this tea it was a very pleasant sheng.

I used 90C water and lots of short steeps, ranging around 5 seconds or so. The smell of the dried leaf was tart, slightly smoky, somewhat fruity. After a quick rinse, the leaves began to stick out from the ball and make the whole thing look shaggy. After a few steeps, the dried leaf bloomed and unfurled like crazy!

Over this steeping session, the flavour was pretty consistent, though it got stronger over time: smoky, grassy, kinda apricot-y and astringent. The taste was pretty clean — no mushroom, fish, or other funky flavours. The initial steep was a lovely pale peach colour that deepened into a nice sunset peach over time.

Full review at http://booksandtea.ca/2015/10/white2tea-october-2015-box-lots-of-puerh/

I’m so glad that I am the first to review. I had a large opening in my schedule for this morning/afternoon, so I knew exactly how to spend it. I’ve been letting these orbs settle for some time, and today was the day to brew one up. The orb is quite a beauty. The ball caries some weight and is an entanglement of long luscious Sheng. It carries a sweet and semi floral tone. I placed this big guy into my warmed yixing and let it sit for some time. The scent is amazing! My pot gives off a deep and thick aroma of sweet jungle, nectar, and a slight tang. I washed this orb twice to get it to open up. The steeped leaves smell even better! My tea room was filled with a sweet succulent aroma. The leaves also carry a very slight smoke tone. The taste is perfect. I brewed it heavy with using the whole orb, for I wanted some deep and lasting flavors. The liquor starts with pure sugarcane and light nectar. This flavor then deepens with some kuwei and a dripping huigan. The brew gives a full mouth-feeling and a bitterness present in the center of the tongue. The flavor is of sweet lilies, light wood (oak), nectar, and some winter honey. The best part of this brew was its qi. It hit me hard by only the second steeping. I’m talking hair prickling, spine shaking, heart warming qi. It was fantastic for a Saturday morning! The brew grew more and more diverse as the steeping continued. The sips would begin with a sweetness and then change to a drying sensation with kuwei. The leaves continued to be fairly aromatic and roughened to a seaweed aroma. The session lasted for quite some time, and I lost track of how many times I steeped the leaves. The qi followed throughout the session and continued long afterwards. This was a very nice session, and I’m glad that I have more.

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