99 Grams of Poundcake from white2tea

this shape and I have a past.

I hadn't planned on reviewing the new white2tea Poundcake gourd but it is a week already since it arrived and no one else has. The gourd is just such an enticing shape I can think of several uses for it. Originally I thought I'd pass on reviewing this since I have no way in hell of breaking this thing apart. Recently I got a pick injury trying to pry apart a tiny sample, so I worry over the dangers I might face. But what the hell, I might as well brew it on top of my car.

30 sauerkraut jar

Now I'm not just about doing crazy shit for the blog. I did my research. Early scuttlebutt on the Poundcake is the first three steeps are incredible. Seems reasonable to me therefore that I want those steeps as long and as large as possible. So the only solution here is to steep the whole 99 grams at once. Sometimes you gotta go big or go home, baby.

A wise teapot choice, the double-wall.

Big tea calls for big equipment so I drag out a Bonjour borosilicate double-walled 30 oz honker. I don't have a gong bei this size, so instead I am using a 30 oz sauerkraut jar which luckily nestles my strainer quite nicely. Right away I can see that I am going to need to refill and heat the kettle for each steeping. I start out with two rinses and photographed the second one because I don't think I want to stop for photos on a real steep.

None for the neighbors.

Steep number one I use about around 20 oz of water and get a bright yellow brew. I therefore have about 4 cups of first steeping. The brew is entirely honey sweet with no bitterness whatsoever, and notes of nutmeg and cloves, suggesting that "cake" image the tea is named for, and the motor oil thickness that all of white2tea's house label productions seem to give me.

First steep of oily goodness.

So yeah. I drank the entire first steep in one go. I have sheng literally down to the inside of my ankles. If I stand up now I will slosh. Really should be taking my time but instead I gulp the whole thing. Now I'm sweating with dry mouth but not so dry that I need water. In fact I kinda want more. Thought I'd  wait til tomorrow for a second steep, but might as well keep going.

Rinse photo again.

Second steep I moved indoors to use my Zojirushi water heater which keeps my water just under boiling. I must remember to use my Bonjour pot on puerh shapes like this, sheng balls and whatnot. The double walled insulation really keeps the tea lightly steaming for a bit in between steeps which helps to open up the gourd. I really don't need to use a puerh pick after all. The tea is really starting to kick in now and I'm feeling decidedly woozy in a happy way.

Have you ever noticed when green tea really hits you that your eyesight improves? I don't know if this is the actual tea or the effect of hydrating the eyeballs. Or, in my case, floating the eyeballs. I check the scent on the leaves which is rather vegetal, a swampy vegetal since I'm brewing so much tea all at one time.

I've heard this tea will brew more bitter as time goes on and people are reporting a good ten steeps so far. I'm sure other reviewers will be there for you with deeper exploration than I'm providing here. I think the flavor really does have the sweetness of cake and suggests to me that Poundcake is one of those teas for people who really enjoy their young sheng, that the leaves are chosen for this particular flavor in their fresh state.

Right now I've got my Son posted for sale on EBay so I can afford all of the white2tea productions this year. So far a lot of lookers but no takers. In reading all of the Yunnan travel logs from western puerh vendors, I can say that Twodog spent more time in Yunnan sampling more young tea, drinking more alcohol with farmers, eating more insects, and plucking more lunch chickens than any other producer. You all know this is true. We've heard there is still one cake left to come in the 2015 Collection, and that a few of these gourds remain if you contact white2tea.

I'm glad I decided not to hoard the gourd and instead went all out for the huge brew pitcher, just like some people might drink lemonade or beer in the summertime. Come winter when I'm steeping away at shou, heicha and oolong teas I will have a wonderful summer memory of this huge pot of tea. As for now, you know what I will be drinking for the next five days while I steep this one out.

Requiescat in Pace.