Hello everyone, I wanted to give you all a review in case anyone finds it useful. Note that these are my opinions, you might have a different experience, and I might perceive tasting notes differently than you.

This tea was marketed as a Gongmei from the ancestor of the modern Dabai tea cultivar. One River Tea desccribes The Gatekeeper as being: "all vegetation, spices, and less of the fruity sweetness found in the Shoumei tea cakes of a similar age.”

I always try to brew tea in different ways, varying temperatures, brewing times, and methods, to really get a feel for it. Therefore, I’ve structured this review by method, with some notes on time and temperature.

**Hybrid**

Because I enjoy my tea during the day while working or studying, I mainly use a kind of hybrid approach. I brew tea in a 350 ml teapot and pour it into a tall glass, mug, or thermos of similar volume. I mainly brewed this between 80 and 90 °C, using between 5 and 7 grams of tea, steeping for 30–45 seconds, and resteeping it this way two times (so three steeps in total). When using closer to 5 grams, the taste began to fade by this last steep.

When brewing at around 90 °C, the first thing I noticed was that it was quite grassy, like fresh-cut grass, but also dried hay or straw. It also had a nutty, roasted pecan-like, and buttery taste profile. There was a slight sweetness to it, which was enjoyable. The vendor mentions a honey note, but I don’t seem to get that. Perhaps that’s because I find the smell of straw to have its own unique sweetness. Again, taste is subjective, so it might just be me.

**Gong Fu**

When using 5-7 grams and \~90 °C water, the wet leaves have a toasty, slightly acidic/vinegary smell, with something reminiscent of spinach. For the first three steeps, I tended to go for a flash, \~5-second steep. The early steeps tasted very vegetal, like freshly cut grass and spinach, with a nice underlying sweetness. I do feel like I got more of a honey note with this brewing method.

From steep four onward, the grassy notes made way for sweet straw or hay, which I found very pleasant, especially during early spring. It reminded me of high summer, of fields warmed by the scent of sun-dried hay. When the water is a bit cooler, there seems to be a hint of licorice too. From this point on, the tea also became more nutty and buttery.

From steeps five to six, there is an interesting coconut note, which I initially couldn’t place. But thank you One River Tea for giving the tasting notes! Overall, the tea tastes like a lazy, mellow summer afternoon to me.

**Grandpa Style**

For the third brewing method, I went for grandpa style brewing. Just getting a large mug, adding some leaves and resteeping it when it became bitter. It was very easy to brewing this tea this way. I used about 3 grams in a 360 ml mug, refilling it four times. The leaves sink nicely, and the taste is similar to the hybrid style I mentioned earlier. However, I do get more of that straw and honey here. It doesn't get bitter easily and I would say I enjoyed this method slightly more than the other two for this tea, given my overall brewing preferences.

**Cold Brew**

Lastly, I cold brewed this tea. I’m generally not much of a cold brew person. I only really enjoy it during hot weather, but it doesn’t hurt to try it once or twice with a tea. You just never know. I usually add sugar, since that’s how I like it, and sometimes even a stick of cinnamon (though I didn’t for this tea).

That being said, I did enjoy this tea cold brewed. I got similar flavors to the other methods, with a bit more vegetal freshness and grassy notes. The sugar enhanced the tea’s natural sweetness, and adding ice makes it particularly refreshing for the coming summer. I’ll definitely save some tea for that.

**Conclusion**

I enjoyed my time with this tea. As a grandpa-style tea, I liked it the most. I was looking for a daily drinker for early spring that would get me excited for summer and warmer temperatures, and brewing this grandpa style gave me exactly that.

The coconut note was especially interesting. However, I do want to mention, something someone else pointed out to me, that this tea seems to be in an awkward stage of aging. At around three years old, it’s no longer fresh, but it’s not fully aged either. That weirdness may also be due to the fact that this isn’t a typical white tea, which I especially noticed during gong fu brewing. I'll add that you do get used to it, so overall, I would still recommend you trying it if you’re looking for something a bit different.

Gatekeeper 2022 Gongmei White -- One River Tea -- Review