Decaf Sheng and Shou Puer Tea by White2Tea: A Review

Hello hello!!

This year, White2Tea released one of the first-ever decaffeinated sheng and shou puer teas ever made.

Yes, that’s correct!

After being in tea for well over a decade, I’ve never heard of decaffeinated sheng or shou before in my life, which explains why I had to try it.

So, how is this tea? Is it a marketing gimmick, or is there actually something to this?

Let’s dig in!

Brewing Parameters: 1g of tea per 15 ml of tea

Temperatuer: 200 f/93.3 c

Infusions: 12 infusions each

Sheng Puer:

Upon opening the tea, I noticed that the tea leaves looked darker than normal for a fresh sheng puer tea. According to White2Tea’s website, this is due to the CO2 process that the tea undergoes to remove the caffeine. Upon brewing the tea, the liquor turned dark quicker than a normal sheng puer. The taste was floral, savory, and slightly bitter. It almost resembled a sheng puer that’s had 3-4 years of age on it, while still being smooth and soupy. This tea even held up during the middle infusions, however, this tea’s overall body and notes notably dropped off during the last few infusions.

Shou Puer:

The shou puer was a nice contrast to the sheng. It smelled like fresh shou, except it didn’t have the fishy aromas that fresh shou typically possesses. This shou puer’s texture was silky-smooth, while being relatively light. After a few infusions, I pushed this tea so its soup could become thicker. Despite pushing it, it still held a relatively earthy/sweet tasting note that continued through out the session. However, just like the sheng, this tea’s body also dropped off pretty quickly towards the last few infusions.

Overall thoughts:

I think this decaffeinated sheng and shou puer was a lot tastier than any of the decaffeinated teas I’ve ever had. One of my favorite things about these teas is that they tasted near-identical to a traditionally processed sheng and shou. You would have never known the difference. However, one of my main complaints is that the teas were not as strong as typical puer teas and quickly died off in the later infusions. It’s probably attributed to the additional CO2 processing these teas went through to become decaffeinated. Despite this, these teas were a wonderful surprise, and I’m happy that I can now drink gong-fu before bed without it negatively impacting my sleep!

I hope to see White2Tea continue creating decaffeinated puer teas, and I can’t wait to see how these age over time.

Best wishes,

~ Cody Wade

Aka The Oolong Drunk

“Blissfully Tea Drunk…”