2016 Daily Drinker

I was craving simple teas today and well, that MlesnA Dimbula was maybe way too simple. And this one… it’s called Daily Drinker so I assume, it will be a good one, though a bit boring, puerh. Well, and this tea have double entry too; writing here as it has got more tasting notes here, though, the brand name is wrong.

I did 5 seconds rinse which I tossed out, and let the humidity absorb the leaf for 2-3 minutes (only!).

1st steep, around 10 seconds
Weirdly somehow mineral, expected some astringency and it is rather sweet. Grassy a bit, round and smooth. A bit drying in aftertaste.
2nd steep, around 15 seconds
Here comes the… drying notes again. Not really the astringency. Again, a mellow and round cup. It’s not much aromatic, somehow “typical” sheng. Wet leaf is a bit into tobacco, luckily not in taste. Chunk dissolved completely with a little help.
3rd steep, around 25 seconds
Maybe my tasting buds are sleeping today, or it’s same? Daily drinker for sure, it’s easydrinking, but kind of flat and boring.

I assume following steeps will be pretty much same/similar, so I will end my tasting note here. If something exceptional happens, I will update/write down in comments what I found out. It’s a nice tea, indeed good for daily drinking… and that’s not wrong. It’s not luckily somehow super-complex in tastes, sometimes it’s way too much and I certainly was looking for something like this today.

Smell – tobacco, menthol, snuff, pepper

1- steep: tea aroma is a muted of the dry leaf. Cooling, refreshing, crisp. Warm mint chocolate ice cream. Cream? Apple , and pear brightness. Smooth and round. Subtlety sweet…medium light in the mouth. Lingers in your mouth for awhile. Drying on the sides of the tongue, like tobacco.

2-5 steep: steps up, a little in the bitterness department. Tastes really pickup where the aromas left off, reinforcing them well. Watercress bitterness. Arugla pepper notes. Coats the tongue. Good body energy coming through. Relaxing, and calming. Not fruity or sweet for me yet. Leaves are taking there time to open. Bitterness , and astringency finally break to a smooth, medium body tea.

Overall, pleasantly surprised by the initial complexity of the tea, considering it being a budget friendly option. A good, down the middle sheng. However, not fruity, atleast not for me. I’ll more than likely pick up a cake my next order, just due to its value. Color me surprised.

Sample Session; Sipdown

Bitter notes throughout this session. Strong mushroom notes, too. I kind of enjoy these teas that, once pushed, have a solid astringency/bitterness right away; however, tend to die down after a few steeps in. I thoroughly enjoyed this tea.

Spicy and astringent with slight sweetness and qi. Lives up to it’s name.
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2016-daily-drinker-w2t

tldr: Try flash cold brewed its really good.
I got a sample of this. I first tried this gong fu with 7g to 150mL. The tea is exactly what it is described as, a daily drinker. It doesn’t have too much complexity but is quite mellow and pleasant to drink. However, because I wasn’t actually super interested in drinking this tea hot I tried flash brewing this with ice.
I stacked two steeps of the tea in a cocktail shaker full of ice. Shook till all the ice disappeared and I have to say that this tea shined a lot more. Through this method there was a lot more dry mouth to the tea but there was more flavors brought out through it being cold and it was extremely refreshing. I would highly suggest anyone to try this tea cold brewed if they do decide to get a cake or sample of this tea.

Last night I tasted my sample of this daily drinker.

Upon opening the bag I got a fruity smell that reminded me of Hojo’s teas, except that those smell even better. Nevertheless, a promising begin!

Tastewise too, the first infusions are seem to aim for that same fruity spectrum. I like that and I enjoyed the tea. Unfortunately, the endurance is not quite there and the tea lost taste before I was through my thermos of boiling water (I usually take the first steep from the kettle and then fill a thermos with water on a rolling boil. When this is finished some teas are steeped out but the better ones can go for overnight infusion.).

It’s quite a likeable tea but for not a whole lot more money, there is tea that tastes better and lasts longer.

Dry leaf: Very pleasant aroma! Dried fruit, cranberry, raisins. Very hard compacted dry cake material. Leaf in a warm clay pot smelled amazing – like plump, hot, sweet, stewed raisins.

Taste: Very light vegetal, sweet raisins, tart dried cranberry overtone. Pleasantly warming, nice solid medium mouthfeel. Light astringency started to show up after second steep.

Liquor: Light golden yellow.

Spent leaf: Olive to dark olive. No discolorations. Material was fairly broken but it was a tightly compressed sample and took some coaxing to break apart. Leaves that were still intact indicate this is made of quite small leaves along with a bud here and there.

Vessel: 125ml clay pot

I’m finding out as I taste more and more teas, my favorite part of the experience is opening up the bag and smelling a tea for the first time. This tea smells amazing in the bag – like plump little hot raisins, rich and sweet! This tea isn’t particularly complex, but it has a very solid medium body and a great balance of sweetness, astringency, and smoothness. It warmed me up immediately and my mouth was buzzing after about the 4th cup. The astringency is something someone new to shengs could handle, yet the balance overall should be plenty satisfying for someone more experienced.

A nice wrapper again from W2T’s art department. This contemporary satirical style has been done before but usually watered down for consumers, its nice to see it here presented with a bit of bollocks, unusual for a the niche market that is tea, one which usually carries a connotation of old & regal, rather than youthful & subversive.

I know its a bit been-here-before-done-that but the lovely green & white colour scheme is just a pleasure to look at, & so I’ll return to this one again as it still makes me chuckle.

Middle of the road sheng. I think this provides more character than the 2015 Little Walk or MCA. It has definitely improved as it has had time to settle a bit. It has just enough oomph to cause discomfort on an empty stomach, but I find the qi to be mild. It is a good tea. While not the safest beginner sheng in my book, if a newbie is turned off by this it is a good indication they are not going to be a sheng head.

The White2Tea 2016:

I purchased samples of all the 2016 new line up this year, and I started at the bottom (cheapest) and worked my way up. I did this to taste the profile improvements and variances. I brewed in the same pot with same leaf water ratio. Also, this helps to hone in my palette to identify what’s a good deal and what’s not. At the conclusion of my tasting I will be placing my cake order.

I opened up the package and gave the leaves I light sniff. I can appreciate the very direct fresh and green scent. I take in a light sweetness and some hay. I warmed up my pot and threw some in. The scent moved into a sweet wood aroma with lots of fruit and honey. This is a very bright tea. The taste was something else; it was surprisingly great! I was greeted with a sweet “in your face” taste along with a thick fruit flavor. I could taste definite and clear peach tones with apricot and a fig newton base. i was appalled by how flavorful this brew was. However, the flavors were very abrupt and flat; I could note no depth to them. I still thoroughly enjoyed this brew. The huigan was nice and lasting and the qi was warming and soothing. The sensation began at my head and smoothed things out. I could feel the nice warm waves go over my temples. A nice cooling sensation began at the tongue and throat. This tea was great with crowd pleasing in your face attention. I really liked how direct the fruit tones were.

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