What's App---I don't do, nor Skype; so, Victoria, you have talked with the vendor more in a few weeks than I have in several years. Unless I win big in a lottery, I'll never meet him, but I will continue to get white tea from him. There's been a bit of magic in his acquiring excellent white tea that pleases me greatly though it has come from different parts of Nepal etc. I bought a large quantity of his last procurement of white tea for me because it is more unlike other teas that I have than other white teas have been. (Also, the way he prices his shipping, one should buy around a kilogram or see about buying the same tea locally: from someone like me
)
I've been staying with my younger sister for a week because she had surgery.... Anyway, I found Himalayan Orange (HOR) from Jun Chiyabari & Oriental Beauty from 2017 in her box of teas. (Bok, I think it is the very same HOR you tried.) The HOR & O.B. are similar to my palate. Preparing my way (modest amount of leaves, fairly short steeping times), I've been getting 3 infusions from the O.B. & 2 from the HOR. Of course, they are not really the same. However, I came here with some of the white tea that I've been drinking & selling, & find it has enough of what seems special in the HOR not to miss it. I also came with O.B. from late 2018 & found that it has opened up very well, now matching the 2017 in quality & dynamic, complex array of flavors.
My sister also had an unopened packet of dayuling which was harvested & processed in early 2019. (Was late by more than a few weeks.) I had written that this dayuling seemed to develop well with time & did not have me wishing it was the "same" as the stellar crop from a year before. Unfortunately, my sister had not kept her packet in the refrigerator. It was effected: not quite as good & not good for as many infusions, as the DYL is for me when I take care of it. (She did not notice, saying "Why can't I get these teas to taste this way! I do not bother to make suggestions anymore about proper preparation, storage, etc. Besides, it was an exclamation not a ?) All in all, I wonder whether we do a bit too much comparing etc. However, if we don't concern ourselves a lot, how soon will we be too lazy to prepare loose leaves properly & have only good tea when someone else takes care?