When I saw that this was a white tea Pu-Erh (with a mix of black) and from White2Tea, already imported to Teas to the steeping room, I had to get it. With the dope name "blood moon" to boot, recalling images of those blood-pressure elevating nights in Terraria with my brother on the 360 and later PC fending off against the near endless horde of horrors from the night.
Another entry of "raw" Pu-Erh, or Pu-Erh that is pressed into cakes without being wet fermented like "ripe" Pu-Erh, and is thus meant to age and develop its stronger notes "naturally" through time rather than speeding the process up via micorobial fermentation while wet.
From my earliest time enjoying tea back in high school I had an admiration or aspiration to try and be appreciative enough to enjoy the pu-erhs from White2Tea, which, at the time, was very foundly regarded in tea-related circles and areas I found myself in. I figure there are pretty lofty and presitigous tea sources out there, but White2Tea was impressed into my developing tea-consiousness as "one of the greats" early on, so I was excited to find some of their selection already within the United States from Steeping Room.
While shopping and looking at their selection I can't lie: I put a lot mor ecare and emphasiss into the design and art on the wrapper of the tea cakes White2Tea had than the actual notes. I am certianly guilty of judging books by their character, but in my defense I find that it leads me well more often than not.
After receiving it, I was happy to find the packaging of the wrapped tea cake to be an additional paper bag, labeled with the name of the tea and instructions for brewing.
In addition, I found the design/art on the wrapping that I had so lovingly judged online to be even better in person, very moody and aesthetic!
Unwrapping the tea- I was pleasantly surprised by the marbling of colors within the cake itself, evidently displaying the hybrid nature of this tea being a shade grown and withered tea that was half oxidized. Something inbetween a white and black which the listing on the webstore, perhaps jokingly, decided was approximately something similar to an oolong.
I had found it so curious that the cake was described on the Steeping Room website as having notes of strawberry, in addition to the expected floral flavor of white tea. But after trying it, I can confirm I get what they're descirbing. There is most certainly a strawberry note present in the tea, more like that of freeze dried strawberries than the fresh variety, to be more specific, not in a processed or artifical way, but in the lighter, less full, and whispery way a freeze dried berry displays its original flavor. The darker elements that are present in addition to the white tea deepen the flavor considerably compared to a regular white tea. I'd say its more like a black tea that also happens to have the grassy and vegetal flavors of white tea, in addition to the fruity or strawberry notes.
Overall a great tea, and one I will likely have to hold myself back on from finishing all too quickly, I hope this will age well, I will rate it an 8/10.