White2Tea This Thing Is… Puer Tea Review
A few weeks ago, my first tea package full of spring Pu Er arrived. It was from White2tea, one of my favorite (and probably the most unique) Pu Er producers. If you're unfamiliar, no worries – We'll get there!
In the box were some samples (and a cake!) of a few teas I was really looking forward to trying. Including their 2021 The Thing Is cake, the focus of today's tea review.
Most of the teas were on the slightly more expensive side – Meaning that they lie outside of daily drinker territory for me – and while not totally cost prohibitive, they’re a bit more special to me. What’s cool about teas like that, at least to me, is that I can really attach memories to them, or share them with people I care about.
Extra note: If you are not sure what kind of tea is Pu Er tea, I invite you to check out our detailed guide on the topic: What is Pu Er Tea? here.
Catching Up
Right about the same time these teas showed up at my door, my good friend Max moved back to town. So we met up, each brought some hot water, loaded up my tiny little teapot, and resigned ourselves to the tea. We met up in NYC’s central park and wandered through some of the paths until we found a nice little spot next to some running water.
I guess I should quickly mention that my friend Max loves water… But in a really geeky and deeply beautiful way. I love having tea with him because he has this wonderful ability to mix science, flavor, art, and zen all into whatever we wind up drinking.
Somehow, whenever we sip tea together, we get somewhere really special. A deep place that sometimes feels like an uncovering of something extremely human and profound. That might sound a little out there, but hopefully it’ll all make sense soon...
Anyway, quickly back to water. Over the past few years, Max has been getting really into water as it relates to tea.
What makes water good? What needs to be in it to make a tea better? Or better yet, which water suits a tea the best, so it can give all that it has to give? Well, Max is busy figuring that out, and I get to taste a lot of his water experiments.
I brought some boiled NYC tap water, and Max brought some water he and a friend have been drinking a lot lately that includes some minerals that are added to distilled water.
it nurtures everything and harms nothing.
Like water, it ever seeks the lowest place,
the place that all others avoid. This is the way of the Tao.
For a dwelling it chooses the quiet meadow;
for a heart the circling eddy. In generosity it is kind;
in speech it is sincere;
in power it is order;
in action it is gentle;
in movement it is rhythm. Because it is always peaceable,
it soothes and refreshes.”
― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
The White2Tea Experience
Before we get to the tea, let's quickly talk about the vendor. White2Tea is one of the first companies I ever ordered Pu Er from. They’re pretty popular in the western-facing tea market and known for flashy labels and interesting tea names.
While I’ve learned a ton from their teas, direct education isn’t exactly their style… Let me explain (I promise it links to the tea I’m reviewing). White2Tea is about an experience. The way the flavors, art, and culture all converge makes their teas unique to me… They’re about the tea, and then some.
They’re known for deliberately leaving out information you actually might want when learning, like specific growing locations or tea mountains. Information that makes knowing a lot about your tea easier.
But this is done (in my opinion) to let the tea speak for itself… It’s not about being from this one place. It’s about what it is, what it feels like, and what it reveals when being drunk.
So with that being said, most of White2tea’s Pu Er are a bit enigmatic. They contain many nuanced flavors, and I’ve never had a tea from them I disliked, but you have to kind of trust the process and resign yourself to the experience.
In many ways this is a response to how tea is sold, specifically in America, by shady or misinformed vendors – buy from this place! Only the most expensive is worth drinking! The tea will cure you! The White2tea experience seems to be an attempt to strip a lot of this away, making room for the tea to reveal something to the drinker...
Slowing Down
The tea Max and I had is called “the thing is” – it’s an old arbor (gu shu) Raw Pu Er from White2tea. The material for these leaves is usually used for a monthly tea club exclusive only mini cake that White2tea usually sends out. But this spring they made larger tea cakes, also allowing samples, meaning more people could try it.
As previously mentioned, White2tea is an interesting company that does things a little differently… They often make subtle little statements about tea and the tea world. But sometimes they’re a little less subtle…
The Thing Is, in past years – as a statement, beyond just being tea to drink – has been about transparency within the tea world, trust in the vendor, and above all else, the actual flavor and profile of the tea. The tea world and the many interesting ways it exists outside of China can be a very strange thing to navigate.
There are so many vendors slinging tea, making up stories, and selling low-quality tea as something else.
And there's sometimes an emphasis on talking about "gu shu" (old tea trees that yield superior tea and often cost a good penny). But the problem, at least sometimes, is that other vendors don't always go directly to the source. And a long line of miscommunication (or as White2tea says ¨fact omission¨) ensues.
See video playlist below for reference / a weird understanding of what White2tea is… In true White2tea fashion, they released this Snapchat story about this tea a few years ago without any real explanation:
Lessons & Learning
By withholding, maybe more is learned. Maybe not through typical education or knowledge, but maybe through feelings, emotions, and flavor.
Which is kind of where Max and I come back in… As tea drinkers, we tend to focus on the experience. Which obviously has much to do with the flavor, aroma, space, and time of tea. But it doesn’t always directly mean the tea is the focus.
I mean, I guess it is…but it fills the role of facilitator. The whole experience is about something else. Like the connection of friendship enhanced by tea that allows you to sit with someone for two hours catching up.
I think that’s probably what White2tea is alluding to in the video of compiled Snapchat stories… The thing is… That the tea is what matters. But it matters for many reasons, some beyond what might be expected or on the surface.
Obviously growing locations, quality, flavor, feelings, processing, etc are all extremely important. But those types of claims – say expensive, supposed gu shu (old tree) Pu Er tea from a hot selling location, for example – don't automatically make a tea good.
Good tea means something else. It’s deeper than that. It’s about unlocking something more, and not necessarily in a spiritual way. At least for me, it’s about so much of what Max and I experienced together while sipping The Thing Is.
Sitting there, experimenting with different waters, we were amazed by how far those few grams of tea took us. It kept giving and we kept receiving. Learning more about water, noting the subtle differences in flavor, finding parallels to other parts of our lives… For me, that’s what the thing is.
Tea Recap
Tea Name: The Thing Is...
Producer: White2Tea
Price: $116.00/ 200g cake ($.58 / gram or about $4.06 / standard session of 7g)
Year: 2021
Growing Location: Yunnan, China
Tasting Parameters:
Gong Fu Brewing Method
2-3 grams of tea
50ml Teapot
Flash Steeps – 2-5 seconds
Dry Leaf Aroma:
Sweet
Floral
Light fruit
Fresh and Bright
Earthy
Wet Leaf Aroma:
Floral
Fruity
Fresh/Green
Subtle Cream Note
Tasting Notes
Early steeps 1-5
Bitter on the front of the sip, felt in the cheeks
Slight spicy note
Floral, but the astringency rules the palette
Green, fresh tasting
Floral bloom in the middle / body (felt in the cheeks)
Long lasting Hui gan (returning sweetness)
Middle Steeps 5-10
Bitterness and astringency still quite prominent
Prominent juiciness emerges –hard to explain, but it's a kind of flavor and feeling some Pu Er has, it's almost a texture
Subtle sweetness lingering
Full, round flavor – the tea tastes quite balanced
Drying, astringent feeling in the cheeks
Feeling the energy kick
Later Steeps 10-On
Tea is still quite strong
Less bitterness, but there's still a distinct sharpness turning into more of a mineral aftertaste
Subtle, beautiful floral sweetness lingers
Extra info: Pu Er tea can be re-brewed multiple times (at least 5 to 10 steeps), though the number of steeps will vary depending on the quality of the tea leaves. Some Pu Er leaves can even go through up to 20 flash steeps. If you want to know more about the Gong Fu brewing method, you can have a look at our previous article How to Brew With a Gaiwan here.
Overall Thoughts
This tea is really enjoyable. It fits a flavor profile I love and often crave. And like most of the more unique or higher-end White2tea Pu Er, it really demands my attention when drinking it. Overall, I really love this tea and am curious to see what it tastes like in a few years.
Would I repurchase?
Absolutely, this tea is quite special, and not the most expensive. Meaning I would definitely let myself drink it a little more often. I think the quality to prices ratio is pretty spot on too. The tea keeps brewing and brewing, and the flavor keeps giving.
Brew With Us
If you found this review helpful, or if you just want to learn more about tea in general, we'd love to connect with you! Join our Steepers Union Facebook Group to connect with like-minded tea lovers. We’ll be waiting for you at the tea table.
Also, leave a comment if you’ve tried this tea or other samples from White2tea. I would love to know your thoughts on them. And if you’re into their Pu Er teas, you might want to take a look at my other White2tea reviews:
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