After some (im)patient waiting I finally got to try the much lauded 2002 White Whale from Paul at White2Tea. This sheng puerh brick comes wrapped in white paper with a memorable blue inked doodle of a whale. This is not your normal packaging for aged puerh. I’d had my eye on this tea for a little while and was very excited to break into it. Now I’m not new to the puerh game, I used to have a few cakes and bricks that I lost in an apartment fire a year ago and never replaced, but I had a hard time breaking off a piece of the brick. It must have had something to do with the way it was stored because usually you take a knife ( I don’t have the fancy puerh pick) and go in through the side and gently lift up a piece of tea. Well, this just wasn’t happening for me. I started to make a little headway when my knife slipped over the top of the cake and went straight for my other hand, slicing open the section between my thumb and index finger. While the cut was deep and painful I managed to get it to heal without needing stitches or getting any blood on the tea cake. Despite being patched up there was still the problem of the impenetrable brick. Without the proper tools I had to get creative and broke pieces off with a hammer over a cutting board. After this experience the next tea thing I’m buying is a proper puerh pick. Hurting myself and damaging tea with a hammer is not worth it.

I’ve now had several days with this tea and its far exceeded my expectations. The dry tea doesn’t have much of a smell once wet it gives off an earthy clay smell. For this brewing I took about 7 grams of tea and gave it two quick rinses to open up the full flavor and body. Upon pouring it out of the pitcher and into the glass cup I was met with a gorgeous display of mandarin orange liquor.

Accompanying this initial slightly smokey earthy taste of an aged puerh was a surprising minty aftertaste. It tastes like a mild and earthy version of lapsang souchong tea. The body on this tea is near perfect, full and rich that compliments the full piney taste. I might have progressed to quickly with this tea because I started to get a mild but still noticeable astringency four or five steepings in. But after a while the bitter bite subsided. A true testament to the quality of the White Whale is its longevity. The White Whale giveths and giveths and giveths. I tend to lose track of my steepings but I have gotten 10+ out of the White Whale.

Overall this is an excellent addition to any tea lovers puerh collection. And at 23.00 dollars its a fantastic bargain. I give it one white whale’s head up!

Currently listening to Yob – Marrow