I snagged a sample of White2Tea’s new 2016 We Go High Sheng Puer, feeling a little scared. This tea could be an inspirational of a puer “we beat those low blow bullies” or the mega tea drunk style. 2016 We Go High Sheng Puer is described as “A blend of raw Puer material with a diverse profile. Sweet and soft, elegant soup. Weighty flavors appear in later steeps with a soft entry. Pressed tightly for the long haul, but very drinkable now.”
Official Wrapper Art
Dry Leaf and Steeping Instructions
2016 We Go High Sheng Puer is pretty fragrant. It has a sharp, tangy fruit scent that makes my nose wiggle and itch. I quickly rubbed my nose and I am now worried I am about to start a tea that might make things go very weird. We Go High Sheng has a nice colourful appearance of dark greens, olives and the odd silver leaf.
I started with my typical steeping method of using 1gram of leaf to 15ml of vessel. 200F water temperature and a single rinse.
Tasting of White2Tea’s 2016 We Go High Sheng Puer
Steeps up clear pale cream yellow tint. The hot wet leaf smells very strong – like a steam facial of hot grass and a 1000 angry peaches. This scent really sets off my nose in itching and as much as I love puer smell, I think this is warning number 2 I’m about to drink something very tea drunk druggy.
First and Second Infusion: The flavor is pretty strong for a first couple steeps that I often consider rinses. It’s soft, but has a powerful back of the mouth fragrance of green peppers and paperback books. A fruity pear taste sneaks in as an aftertaste, and sometimes I get a bitter green pepper skin flavor. Right away I feel as if I am getting a head massage from one of those wire head massagers that give you chills down the spine. WHAT HAVE I DONE?! I had surgery 2 weeks ago, I’m off the handfuls of medications finally. IS THIS TOO SOON?!?!?!
Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh Infusion: Well I can feel my heart beating through my ears. I think We Go High Sheng is trying to kill me. The wrapper is not accurate, it should have a tentacle creature that sucks your brain and whispers things into your ears. Right after the 3rd infusion… the take over came.
“BOW DOWN TO ME, OVERLORD OWLTOPUS, TENTACULOWL OF SOULS. Foolish crock. How dare you not offer more tea blog posts over the last few weeks…”
“But, I had surgery. I was tired and couldn’t move around on my own…”
“SILENCE. BWHAHAHAHAHHAHA you are weak Owl. You are not prepared.” /BRAIN SLUUURURRRRRPPPP
“BEGIN THE RITUALISTIC DANCING!”
YASSSS!! (Art by Meg Lynman)
We Go High Sheng is pretty strong and sharp. It’s got a bite of bitterness on the tongue, like a bit of burnt reflections of baking cookies in a shiny cookie sheet. There is an acrid dryness in the back of the throat and roof of my mouth. Each sip is like eating a crisp green pepper pizza, and aftertaste is dessert of beauty counter floral perfume, stone fruit, and sweets. The texture is a thin silk that coats your lips like balm.
Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Infusion: Upped the temperature to boiling as per OVERLORD OWLTOPUS command. I found boiling bumped the bitter dryness, but OVERLORD OWLTOPUS effect is strong, then tea needs to be pushed into. Tuhao AF was only a set back, WE WILL HAVE OUR REVENGE. The flavor continues the sharp, bitter, crisp vegetal with an elegant floral, sweet aftertaste.
Eleventh, Twelfth, Thirteenth Infusion: We Go high tastes like bitter and butter. The move to boil was a good idea, the texture got more slick and heavy, and continues the theory of this tea being a green pepper greasy pizza. As part of the ritual, I started flailing around the house and provided thin chocolate oreos to our esteemed guests of OVERLORD OWLTOPUS. He was disappointed in my lack of car as this tea would go great with handfuls of fast food greasy french fries.
Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth Infusion: Longs steeps here. I’m not sure how long as time became fuzzy. We Go High sheng moved to mostly a bitter flavor with a strong sandpaper dry mouth feel, giving me scratchy cheeks and biting lips. I tried to tea sober by stepping outside in 1c weather, trying to break the spell and save the Tea Owls. We lost.
The steeped leaves feature some large pale green big leaf and some thick stem pieces. I got most of the scent out, but I might of gotten another bitter round.
Comments
White2Tea’s 2016 We Go High Sheng Puer is a sensation tea – you drink it for the feels. The notes are pretty heavy, with a strong bitterness that would not be suited for anyone who dislikes bitter and dryness. I’m not confident, but I would guess there is Bulang material in this tea as it has that bitter facepunch element that I’ve tasted in young bulang shengs. As a texture addict, the texture wasn’t calling to me until I boiled it, but at the risk of cooking this sheng to bitter slop. Running tea steeping theory, you can probably steep this 185F and bypass the bitter, but lose the texture completely and run 15+ infusions before it overcooks into vegetal bitter.
2016 We Go High Sheng Puer, at this time, is priced at $139 for a 200 gram cake. I got quite a few rounds out of it, so you do get your moneys worth for high amount of sessions. You also have White2Tea’s 2015/2016 Tuhao AF (review coming very soon) at the same price range – in comparison I find Tuhao more approachable with a crazy awesome fragrance but with less bitterness and octo-owl takeover.
Tea drunk rating… 11/10. I completely lost my mind during the third infusion and it continued throughout. It’s a head fuzzy, brain massager, maniac, and blood pressure riser kind of tea feel. Before the puer session I did have an oolong and ate a sandwich, so in my experience a punchy puer shouldn’t of beat me this bad coming in with a full gas tank. We Go High is unrelenting… it is out to get you.
