The 2019 Green Hype was featured in June’s white2tea club. I got my sheng Puerh cake in the mail a few days ago and couldn’t wait to dive right into it! It consists of plenty of aged maocha (unfinished loose leaf tea) and was compressed into 200g cakes.
Do you want to read about another sheng Puerh tea I have tasted recently? You can read about the GuShu NaKa from 2016!
2019 Green Hype
The 2019 Green Hype is a sheng (raw) Puerh tea from white2tea. This tea was compressed into a cake only a few weeks ago, which makes it perfect to study the immediate effects of ageing. I’m planning to come back to this tea regularly to see which changes take place in the flavour profile. They compressed this cake a few weeks ago but that doesn’t mean that the material is purely from this year. The accompanying letter states that the cake also contains some aged maocha, which results in a more complex taste. If you did not manage to be part of the white2tea club before May 31st, you can still buy the cake on their website (here) for $38. Let’s see if this tea really qualifies as a daily drinker!
The dry leaves look very long and twisted. They have brownish and grayish colours and some leaves even have hairs on them. It smells like fresh hay and also has a certain sweetness. It’s both bright and warm at the same time.
After infusing, the leaves have opened and now you can see how long the leaves and stems really are. It’s mostly khaki green colours. The aroma is still some hay and now I’m also getting a sweetness.
Tea tasting
- Water 99°C
- 7.5g of leaves for 150ml Jianshui teapot
- 1 rinse
- 6 steeps
Infusions
1st infusion (15 sec): a light orange colour and it has very subtle notes of hay. Thick mouthfeel and is pleasant to drink. Not much more during this steep so I guess the leaves did not want to share much of their secrets during this infusion.
2nd infusion (20 sec): the colour is a little bit brighter and I get a chalky mouthfeel after swallowing. I’m also getting subtle notes of hay again and a very light sweetness. You can sense a sweetness out there somewhere but you don’t really get much more than that.
3rd infusion (25 sec): there seems to be a sweetness that is noticeable from the start. It’s not that prominent because I’m mainly getting notes of spinach now. This steep is all about green flavours with light hints of sweetness.
4th infusion (30 sec): less green flavours now and it’s starting to get sweeter. Really pleasant and thick mouthfeel as well.
5th infusion (35 sec): all about that sweetness! It’s not as green anymore. The finish is sweet as well.
6th infusion (40 sec): more of the same sweetness as steep 5. I also get a chalky mouthfeel after swallowing.
I did some additional infusions after the 6th one but I did not write down my notes. It was just too good not to fully enjoy the moment. This tea just kept on going! The longer I brewed the leaves, the sweeter they got.
Interested in white2tea club’s tea of May 2019? Read my notes on The Thing Still Is.
Conclusion
Although this tea has some aged material, you can clearly taste that this is a 2019. Especially during the earlier infusions because those were dominated by green flavours. This is, however, not really a bad thing. In the beginning, I noticed there was a sweetness hiding in there but it took a while for it to show itself. This shows the cake’s complexity and can be an indication of its potential for ageing. The further into the session, the more I enjoyed this tea. From the 4th infusion, it started to change towards a subtle sweetness. If you are looking for an everyday sheng, this could be the one for you!
