Hello hello!

In the fall of 2017, White2Tea released a small selection of sheng and shou puer teas. One of those teas happens to be called Swinedog 76, and despite having a fabulous wrapper, it seemed to be overshadowed by the released of 2017 Flapjacks. Anyways, according to White2Tea, 2017 Swinedog 76 is described as being very potent with strong bitterness and body feels. So is this tea as bitter and as potent as White2Tea says? Lets find out!

Water Temperature - 185ºf

Dimensions - 4g in a 60ml gaiwan

Beeng Price - $139.00

Number of Steeps - 14

Steeps 1 - 4

Swinedog 76 first opened up to a very faint bitterness, along with a sage and medicinal body. After a few more steeps, this tea produced the undertone of moss, and began to thicken up with a broth-like body. By the fourth steep, this tea was in full swing.

Steeps 5 - 8

Swinedog 76’s bitterness took over this tea’s palate, as it took ever every aspect of this tea. This tea’s bitterness carried a powerful punch as it left a very faint green grass and light sage undertone. With this tea’s protruding bitterness, there was a light tang to its body, which seemed to widen the pupils of my eyes. By the eights steep, this tea was full on bitter.

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Steeps 9 - 14

Swinedog 76’s bitterness still took over this teas palate, and didn’t seem to lighten up until the tenth steep. Despite this teas bitterness, it became mouthwatering and seemed to resemble something savory. However, by the twelfth steep, this tea’s power started to let up, and continued to taper off until the very last steep.

Conclusion

Swinedog 76 is a new 2017 fall tea released by White2Tea, and is described as bitter and powerful. Well, this would be a correct assessment because Swinedog 76 sure carried one hell of a punch, and was bitter throughout the session. Despite this tea’s bitterness, there was still other tasting notes in there as well such as the light green grass and sage undertones. Due to this tea’s texture, it tasted very similar (nearly identical) to other ‘wild’ tea’s that I’ve had in the past. If I had to guess, this tea possessed some sort of wild tea tree leaves. It even had powerful energy, which made me sweat halfway though the session.

Overall, I don’t think Swinedog 76 is for everyone, which his part and due to the fact that it’s so powerful and bitter. Despite its bitterness, I could see where this tea would be favored by a lot of puer enthusiasts, mainly because of the punch and body feels that it carries. In conclusion, I think Swinedog 76 has some aging to do, and points to a brighter future ahead of it.

Would I beeng this tea? - I would, and want to see how it ages

Note - this small sample of tea was given to me as a gift in my last White2Tea order