Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh & White Tea
Where to Buy: The Whistling Kettle
Tea Description:
Crisp, refreshing tea that is great hot, and perfect iced! A Dr. Oz inspired pu-erh / white tea recipe. One of the best teas for weight loss.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I have a confession to make. Well, it’s not really a confession, exactly, but more like a re-affirmation of something that you probably already know. Pu-erh scares me (nothing new there, right?) but even when I find a Pu-erh that I enjoy, I seldom drink that Pu-erh more than once. Oh … I reinfuse it, certainly, and I spend a good couple of hours with the Pu-erh, consuming many wonderful infusions from it. But, once those leaves are spent and discarded, I seldom revisit the same Pu-erh. Instead, I usually pass what I have left on to other people, so that they can try it.
Or, at least, that’s what I tell myself. I guess if I were to examine my true feelings more closely, even though I know that I have enjoyed a particular Pu-erh tea, I still find myself apprehensive about it, and it’s not really something that I tend to want to try again … unlike something like say, a yellow tea or an Ali Shan Oolong or even a favorite Earl Grey. These are teas that I can keep on my shelf and enjoy more than once without apprehension. But Pu-erh, even though I may enjoy it immensely, I don’t think I’ve found more than a couple of them that I have taken out more than once and tried again.
Perhaps I’m stubborn (don’t tell my husband I admitted that!) and even though I enjoy it, I don’t want to enjoy it. I don’t know.
Why am I telling you this? Well, because this particular Pu-erh blend … this is my second time I’ve brewed this blend! It’s kind of a first for me! Maybe not an actual “first” … but it’s the first time in a long time that I enjoyed something enough to think “you know what? I want that again … I want some of that now!” That doesn’t usually happen with Pu-erh.
That is to say, I like this quite a bit. It has such a unique balance. With other Pu-erh blends (that is, Pu-erh blended with other teas … like in this case, white tea leaves), I taste primarily the Pu-erh or a weird (but tasty) fusion of Pu-erh/other tea. Here, the sip starts out with a distinct white tea flavor that tastes fresh and airy, with notes of a hay-ish vegetation. Just before mid-sip, the flavor starts to taste more earthy, with a definite Pu-erh taste.
I like what the white tea brings to this cup. Not just the aforementioned fresh, hay-like, airy taste, but also a fantastic lightness. The Pu-erh doesn’t overwhelm the palate with earthiness, the ginger doesn’t overwhelm the palate with it’s peppery notes, and the lemon does not overwhelm the palate with a strong citrus-y flavor. Oh, sure, I taste each of these notes, but, they aren’t inundating.
The lemon is a tad stronger than the ginger … or perhaps I should say that it starts out that way. The ginger flavor builds as I continue to sip, but it never does reach a very spicy level as ginger is sometimes known to do. Instead, it warms the cup, and adds a nice contrast to the bright, sunny flavor of the lemon, which is tart but not overly so.
Wow! Chalk this one up to another WIN from The Whistling Kettle. I’m really enjoying this. It surprises me just how much I like it!
