After sleeping a night on it, I ordered everything from the 2016 White2Tea lineup, barring Old Arbor (due to no sample size) and Poundcake (it is apparently the same recipe and I own a cake of the 2015). My mail comes early here in Seattle, unlike back in Los Angeles where I’d get mail at 5pm, so I can actually drink tea the same day I get it!
The Haul!
I settled on trying the 2016 Diving Duck Sheng Puer first. I almost didn’t buy Diving Duck. There is so many good looking 2016 puer this spring release that I was tempted to just buy only $50+ puer. I talked myself into it as you never know if the cheap stuff could be good – I’ve since learned I can upsell myself well.
Dat cute wrapper art! (swiped off White2Tea’s site)
Dry Leaf and Steeping Instructions
Diving Duck smells sweet and slightly grassy marine. I could be fooled here thinking I’m smelling a lump of green tea.
I started steeping Diving Duck with my standby “young sheng” method of 200F/93C water temperature and 1 gram to 15ml ratio.
Tasting of White2Tea’s 2016 Diving Duck Sheng Puer
The hot leaf smells of hot grass, the kind you walk around outside in the park and sear your feet on. The tea steeps up pale yellow.
First and Second Infusion: The 2016 Diving Duck Sheng sips in soft, light, clean, and a touch of sweetness. The flavor level is really delicate – I get a crack of apricot end of sip. The body is quite nice and thick, like a runny custard. The body is there, so I know this tea is present despite the lack of taste. There is no bitter or smoke notes.
Third and Fourth Infusion: The leaf is opening up fast. I’m drinking this tea record speed, as Diving Duck is easy to pound back as the flavor is clean and sweet. I’m getting a bit of dryness in the cheeks, but nothing unpleasant.
I take a break and the aftertaste slips in – a sweet apricot scent. This tea is like I ate an apricot before running through the waterpark as my mouth stings with a bit of dryness from running.
Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Infusion: I jacked the water temperature to boiling to get the flavor to perk more. I got a flavor jump, which is a lovely fruit apricot note with hint of dryness, and a slick sloppy custard body. The later steeping got a touch grassy. The boiling water makes the after taste more pronounced with the dryness, leaving a great floral finish. The tea is really fresh and light.
I keep drinking this tea and it just screams childhood, likely also influenced by the name Diving Duck and invoking cute mental images of rubber ducks. The tea is gentle, innocent, sweet, safe, cute, and lovable. Drinking Diving Duck like being at the peanut pool at the waterpark on a steamy hot day, but as the perspective of a kid as you don’t think about the inevitable swimmers itch or how a 100 kids have already pissed in the water.
Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Infusion: I did long infusions here, 5, 10, and 15 minute with boiling water. Infusion 8 was punchy and amazing! The flavor is strong, dry, floral apricot mouth explosion – a huge change of pace after drinking light tea. I’m still a kid at the waterpark but a freaking puppy just ran into the place and all the kids are losing their minds screaming puppy, the adults unable to contain the chaos. However, the last two steepings of Diving Duck took a dive to being light and faded.
Comments
2016 Diving Duck Sheng Puer, at this time, is $35 for a 200g cake, a banging price. If you love light profile teas like whites and greens, or want a non-offensive sheng, Diving Duck is your puer. It is super easy to drink, making a great summer guzzler. There are other gentle profile teas out there, thinking Misty Peak’s Yiwu, that are similar but much more expensive.
I keep having an internal debate – I think Diving Duck would be a good newbie tea due to the easy to drink features, but at the same time it is quite gentle and light on flavor, newer tea drinkers might not notice what made this tea good – the dryness, fragrance, and sloppy custard body. However while charming, Diving Duck doesn’t have as much oomph, complexity, and bitterness that some puer drinkers chase, though maybe with some aggressive steepings you can pull it. I can’t decide but at least the puer is affordable if you want to give it a shot, new to puer or not.
I quite like White2Tea’s Diving Duck. I am tempted to get a cake, but there are 8 more teas in the 2016 line up that I need to try first. There is another sheng that is cheaper on White2Tea’s 2016 line – Daily Drinker. That review will be next, stay tuned!
