2022 Yunnan Sourcing "Man Gang Tea Flowers" White Tea Cake

Distinctive, earthy sweetness

The first thing that stands out to me with this cake is in prying the leaves, that the flowers seem to make the cake more elastic to pry, coming off more in chunks than flaky layers, which is interesting in and of itself. Without the reference of the non-flowered cake to compare, I can't say I know exactly what the tea flowers bring to the soup and I don't pick-up any forward floral notes. Perhaps to the contrary, I find a distinctive, earthy, oxidized sweetness, while still tasting 'young', with the soup itself leaning into light orange which seems to fit the profile. I'd say this tea seems to have more in common with an aged white tea, having overall more body that the typical fresh white. Yet, it pleasantly retains the mouth coating nature to it's sweetness which I more associate with good, fresh whites. Very nice!

Oh yeah

This is a really nice surprise - not just a good white tea but floral in a good way, sophisticated, special