Thought it might be fun to pull out one of my 2018 white2tea Snoozefest cakes and re-taste it after being in sealed storage for almost a
year. Thought it might be useful to
those thinking of attempting to nab one if white2tea even releases one this
year (I think they won’t). Looks like
they will be giving away a few giant puerh cakes again, Tunji looks like it will make a comeback, maybe they will do this
cake again afterall… This year's white2tea black Friday sale is looking unusually predictable. I guess it must have worked well last year? I'm hoping for a few crazy surprises just to humor myself... If you want to get a rich history about this puerh please
read my previous here.
Turns out Mica of The Weekend Sessions had the same idea as
me. Check out his initial impressions of
this cake and then his review a week ago.
Think his storage might be a bit more humid and he definitely leafs this
one lighter than me but great notes. An
interesting thing about this Snoozefest, which keeps it really interesting is
how much it changes with different leaf ratios, different pots, and steeping times. This one is interesting in this way…
It occurred to me when meditating on Paul’s diss-cakes
that the whole concept of Snoozefest was based on refuting the critique by
tinkle4 on a $22 2015 white2tea Little Walk.
He said white2tea’s puerh is a snoozefest. I think that probably calling white2tea’s offerings
boring was probably the worst criticism that could be leaved on a brand that
tries to be everything but. So the whole
concept of Snoozefest was challenge this by offering a cake at an even cheaper
price but make that cake very engaging and interesting. I would say they accomplish just that…
The dry leaves have a pungent almost funky fruity
smell. There is candy and tropical
odours underneath.
The first infusion presents with a banana tropical onset
with a vegetal base taste the mouthfeel is flat and full with a full chalky
almost sandy consistency. There is a
mild expansive sweetness in the aftertaste and a low lying bitterness
throughout. There is a floral and almost
melon nuance to the aftertaste. The
throat is nicely stimulated.
The second infusion presents with tropical banana fruits
over a vegetal almost vegetable tasting base with a long note of mild
bitteness. The mouthfeel is really full
and paints the mouth, tongue and throat in a tight sandy coating.
The third seems to have even more fruity tropical nuances
which become pronounced as the cup cools.
There is a candy like quality to the sweetness now. The mouthfeeling is sandy, flat, and full
coating in the mouth and touches the throat a bit too. The Qi is a mild relaxing vibe.
The fourth infusion has a nice tropical fruity onset with a
deeper emerging pungent floral quality.
The vegetalness is still there but much less than the tropical and
florals. The mouthfeeling is this
coating sandiness. The throat opens at
the top over a mild fine sandy and almost chalky feeling. The aftertaste goes for a bit then drops off.
The fifth infusion has a soapy perfume tropical floral taste
that has almost grapefrutiy-orange almost orange rind taste to it. The mouthfeel is full and flat fine sandy
almost dry simulation to it that is real nice for this price of this cake. The Qi is a mild relaxing feeling. I can feel it a bit on the face, like a
relaxing face drooping thing.
The sixth flattens out a bit as it gets more bitter here but
still nice tropical onset with floral but more flattened out by the
bitter. It starts to punch away at my
stomach which is pretty normal for young sheng.
The Qi relaxes nicely with a touch of a stimulating push.
The seventh is a nice tropical, with vegetal sweetness. The
sweetness has a floral perfume quality to it.
There is a moderate bitterness underneath along with a full sandy
mouthfeeling.
The eighth infusion has a thick fruity tropical taste with a
moderate base of bitterness and a under base taste of some vegitalness. There is a thick painting of fine sandy
almost chalky mouthcoating. Faint candy
and floral finish.
The ninth infusion is full of fruity nuances tropical fruity
tastes that stretch into a soapy perfume taste.
The mouthfeeling is this sandy almost chalky slippery feeling and the
throat is stimulated at the surface. The
aftertaste is a bit bland floral sweentness some candy appears.
The tenth is much the same with a deeper and thicker fruity
feeling at times. The mouthfeeling is
almost slippery stone feeling and less sandy.
There is a flat blandness that comes off the initial taste.
The eleventh infusion has a thicker fruity taste with an
undercurrent of bitterness. The
mouthfeeling is thick and slippery feeling and a perfume floral sometimes candy
sweet taste emerges. The bland stone
like mouthfeeling with moderate bitterness and fruity floral taste is
interesting and engaging. The Qi is a mild
relaxing thing, not very strong.
The 12th infusion starts with a thicker fruity
perfume taste. The bitterness is building
and is a moderate-stronger in the mouth.
The 13th has a pronounced bitter fruit almost
grapefruit and tropical underneath with a chalky almost dry mouthfeeling. The top of the throat is nicely
stimulated. The bitterness aftertaste
the fruity perfume aspects of the profile here.
The 14th has a fruity vibe sweet almost tropical
and slightly bitter the vegitalness has disappeared and the two polarities of
taste are bitter and sweet fruit and perfume.
There is a flat stone feeling in the mouth along with a dry slipperiness
that offers a full coating in the mouth.
The 15th has a perfume fruity onset with a bitter
base taste. There is a stewed fruity
taste that is coming out in there over the last handful of infusions. The bitter stone like full mouthfeel gives
this tea a nice counterbalance.
16th is more fruity still initially with a
moderate bitter base and stone like mouthfeeling. There is a breath coolness that is starting
to work itself out.
The 17th has a bitter stewed fruit taste. The taste this late in the session is still
clear with fruity sweetness, perfume florals, and moderate bitterness. The mouthfeeling remains a full coating sandy
flat stone almost but not dryiness.
This puerh has nice stamina from the very tight pressing’s
slow release. Could have easily steeped
this a handful more times as the flavor is still there.
Overall there is some good sweet taste, very good stamina,
nice mouthfeeling, still weak on the Qi though.
This is a nice tea for 15$ worth at least double if not triple the
price. The above session was a particularly good one with this puerh. I really stuffed a small pot and it made a
big difference. I find when I use large
pots or less aggressive ratios with this one I don’t get as nice of a result
but then you have to be able to tolerate the bitter. Even when you push it, the Qi seems a bit
lacking but for the price it’s a good one!
I compared this one the next day to 2017 Yunnan Sourcing Impression. Impression had a much
thicker mouthfeeling and more oily presentation. Snoozefest still had a full and very
simulating mouthfeeling but Impression felt more dense and full where
Snoozefest was more active but not as thick.
The Impression had less stamina but much more strong Qi presented in the
session of Impression. I would say the
2018 Snoozefest weakness was its lack of Qi whereas the 2017 Impression’s
weakness was its average or even below average stamina. These two are really very different. The Impression is mainly blended from areas North of
Xishuangbanna and Snoozefest mainly Southern, I think. Comparing the Impression to the Snoozefest is analogous to comparing Yunnan Sourcing to white2tea.
Peace
8 comments:
I loved popping over to your blog today and seeing this! It's great to compare notes with somebody else in such a short amount of time and see if you're on the same page or not.
"There is a candy like quality to the sweetness now"
This made me laugh as in my quick notes I had written down "candied fruit?" about half way through my session, but took it out of the review because it was a short lived note and I didn't think candied fruit made much sense.
Micah,
Truth is, I took these notes days before you published yours so was blinded to your opinion on them.
Mmmm.... candied fruit.....
Peace
The 2017 Impression has exactly zero Xishuangbanna material in it. It "consists of tea leaves from Spring and Autumn, originating from Mengku, Bang Dong, and Jing Gu tea gardens."
Yunnan Sourcing,
Oh man. That is what I meant but not what I said. Thanks for correcting that.
I will edit that.
Peace
Matt, No problem! ;-)
Yunnan Sourcing,
I herd the 2018 Impression is even better than this 2017. Haven’t tried it yet.
Peace
Matt,
Depends who you ask. Some people prefer the 2018, others the 2017.
Yunnan Sourcing,
Had a mind blowing session of a pretty humidly stored 2017 Impression today. The rich oily thickness in that cake is deliciously satisfying.
Peace
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