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The dry leaf smells smooth and roasty. Brews a medium orange. Initial steeps taste predominantly of roast with a bit of tobacco and leather and a light sweetness. There is a bit of a rubber-like note that fades over time. With the third steep I start to get a good mineral note. I was hoping this tea would get better as I go, but it pretty much stays the same.

I’ve ordered a couple of ripes lately because I drank down quite a bit of my relatively small ripe collection over the winter. This one sounded nice, and for only $16 I thought why the heck not!

The cake smells fairly clean for a young ripe, and the taste follows suit. It makes a bold brew with a thick mouthfeel. Tastes of wet earth and pecan with a bit of camphor and mineral and a brown sugar sweetness. Comparable to Dayi’s more premium ripes. I like this tea quite a bit and it’s a steal at it’s current price.

I got a sample of this with a teapot that I bought second hand from someone on Tea Forum. The dry leaf smells roasty with a slight fruityness. It brews a medium orange color and has a very strong mineral note, maybe the strongest I’ve experienced. It also tastes of roasted barley and overripe fruit. Lilly aroma. This was quite enjoyable, however from the second steep on I got a strong, savory cooked meat or pumpkin-like note that I didn’t really enjoy. Maybe I should have used cooler water? I’m never quite sure what temperature to brew yancha at, but I’ve seen some places recommend boiling…

I was really interested in this tea, and lucked into a sample via a kind Redditor.

It has lightly woody camphor and pine notes, and a honeyed, fruity, yeasty funk like a good Belgian ale. Low bitterness, low-moderate astringency. Signs of it’s youth have mostly faded save for a few green spots in the spent leaves. Reminds me a bit of Repave, but fruitier and more accessible.

Full review on the blog https://themellifiedcup.wordpress.com/2018/02/15/white-2-teas-200x-wuliang/

Blind caked this one, mostly because it was cheap, Dayi, and the wrapper looks gorgeous.

Compression is on the loose side for a factory cake. The smell of the dry leaf is quite funky, almost fishy, so I gave it three rinses. It brews a nice red-brown color and not too murky. The taste is nice, earthy with hints of cocoa and a definite dried fruit note. There is a noticeable date/dried apricot aftertaste. The mouthfeel is on the brothy side, not very clean but this may improve with age. This is the opposite of a woody/camphorous ripe, I don’t get any of those flavors.

This is a good tea, a little funky but that should fade with age. Definitely a good buy right now.

I ordered this of this out of curiosity, and I’m glad I did! The leaves are interesting, looking a lot like a Yunnan gold bud black but with the gold buds being more grey. The dry leaves smell strongly of sweet potato which had me worried.

It brews a medium yellow and tastes of sweet potatoes, but also tropical fruit (mango maybe), mineral, and umami. It’s an interesting mix of sweet and savory. It lasts for many infusions, but astringency seems to build up as you go. In latter steeps it was very astringent.

Overall tasty and interesting!

In other news, I started a blog! https://themellifiedcup.wordpress.com/
It would mean a lot if you would check it out and comment or give feedback on the blog and what you would like to see on it in the future.

Got a sample of this tea a while ago, probably over a year now in a swap. While I don’t get the fishy note that a lot of people describe, it mostly tastes like citrus dish detergent.

Edit: Gets better with further steeps! The citrus backs off and becomes more enjoyable

Dry leaves smell like raisins and musty books. My sample looks like it was literally cut with a saw/serrated knife haha. Brews a clear golden orange. Tastes of dried herbs, raisins, old books, and citrus. Nice, oily mouthfeel like I get with a lot of W2T teas; I feel like that’s something he selects for.

Shou sample I got in the mail from Steph on the Slack chat! This is a very clean shou with a strong mineral note. Like every shou I’ve had from Mandala it is very good.

This is a nice, mellow, easy drinking young sheng. Thick, oily/brothy texture, low-moderate bitterness and astringency. It has a particularly strong mineral note to it. Moderate sugarcane sweetness balanced by a savory mushroom flavor. All of this with a nice floral orchid aroma. Later steeps develop some musk, citrus, and incense notes.