Today’s review is one of the new offerings from White2tea – the budget friendly 2016 Daily Drinker Sheng Puer. This sheng puer is the cheapest tea in the 2016 line up with a promise of you guessed it, being a daily drinker.
Before I went to review this tea I just finished drinking a sheng and a black tea. I went into drinking Daily Drinker completely tea drunk, which is different compared to getting tea drunk while I write the review.
Unwrapping
All of the 2016 White2Tea shengs have great wrappers, but the 2016 Daily Drinker is certainly a statement piece of the puer industry.
Dry Leaf & Steeping Instructions
2016 Daily Drink has an olive green appearance with some ripples of silver and gold. The scent is clean, and a vegetal grassy scent – oh yes this is young sheng!
I steeped 2016 Daily Drinker how I always do for young sheng, 200F/93C, 1 gram to 15ml ratio. The cheaper and young sheng, I figure, would prefer a lower temperature to limit the bitterness. The hot leaf smells strong, fruity, floral, and hot grass compost scent. Compost in a good way, like the kinds shown on TV filled with perfect blades of grass, not my compost filled with angry rabbit poos and a million spiders.
First, Second, Third, and Fourth Infusion: The sheng steeps up practically clear, damn these vampire investor middle men!
2016 Daily Drinker sips in soft, light, slight slick lip balm feels. Later steepings in this bracket I got raisin notes, but that taste of the scent of sunmaid raisins in the paper box, not the actual taste of raisin. It is sweet, clear, fruity, and a decent creamy body.
Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Infusion: What, how did I did I do 5 steeps already? This tea is so easy to drink I can chug it down, putting frat boys to shame. The main feature here is the body – it is creamy, thick. The tea has a light fruity sweeteness and a bit of vegetal leafy arugula salad mix thrown in. The flavor is pretty mellow, the feels are pretty static, though unknown if it is carrying or contributing to my earlier tea drunk status. The notes are pretty consistent and unoffensive as it is not dry or bitter.
Eighth and Ninth Infusion: I decided to abuse this tea and let it steep longer than I would normally, say 5 minutes. What I got was something pretty bitter. If you are new to puer this is too bitter for you. If you are not new to young sheng, it is not that bitter and not a good bitter. In exchange for bitter, I milked some apricot fragrance out of this. The flavor is still very much a salad blend with some arugula bitterness. That said, this puer is not bombproof. But I figure if you under leaf it a bit, do a lower temperature to 185F, you can make this more bombproof than any other young sheng.
Tenth and Eleventh Infusion: 2016 Daily Drinker is pretty much dead. The flavor is pretty consistent to the end – light dryness, soft level vegetal. I get a wisp of fragrance, but it is gone so fast.
Comments
Other than being a daily drinker, White2Tea’s 2016 Daily Drinker screams #basicbitch. If you know how to brew it, it is super easy to drink, unoffensive, and trendy that anyone could drink this tea. This is 100% new puer drinker or someone wanting a true gullet stuffing daily drinker.
Daily Drinker is so easy to drink that it is so approachable and marketable. White2Tea could totally become a sell out just with this tea and I know I can help. You can have a new website of only selling the 2016 Daily Drinker. Re-wrap the cake, calling it “green” puer with a bunch of buzz words. Have the website feature a bunch of fitness chicks, with some Instagram content with recipes that contain literal bird food of salad and chia seeds. You can make promises of a trim waist, shiny plumage, strong beaks and assorted fitness BS. This is your opportunity White2Tea, we can sell this and make a killing. Call me! The Tea Owls and I accept Tuhao AF cakes and prime rib roasts as payment.
In all seriousness, I say this #basicbitch remark with as nice intent as possible. 2016 Daily Drinker isn’t bad, it is really good for a puer this price point that is drinkable now. If you had cheap puer before but were scared off by bitter, smokey, gut twisting, strong flavor – try Daily Drinker, it’ll hold your hair. If you always wanted to try puer and are scared of it – this Daily Drinker is gentle introduction and inexpensive. Right now 2016 Daily Drinker is $19.00 for 200 grams, as much as about 4 tall Pumpkin Spice lattes.
However, if you are more of a seasoned puer drinker hoping for something cheap and interesting, White2Tea’s 2016 Daily Drinker is too basic for you and all you get is a sweet wrapper to frame. There is no oomph, striking notes, brain melting, or mule kicks to the chest (you know what I’m talking about).
