Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Puerh
Where to Buy: Samovar Tea Lounge
Tea Description:
Wild-crafted from 30-foot trees in the jungles of Southwest China, this tea is a traditional wedding gift and evening mood-setter. Dark, creamy, and luxurious with notes of bittersweet chocolate and espresso.
Details
Tea Type: Pu-Erh
Origin: Jing Mai Mountains in Yunnan, China
Caffeine Level: Medium-high
Processing Details: Tender, young-leaf, vintage, loose leaf Pu-Erh
Tasting and Aroma Specs: Very balanced, smooth, rich and dark, with a slightly sweet, wildflower honey finish. Deep, strong forward notes of earth and moss with a lingering raisin sugar sweetness.
Food Pairing: Dim Sum and Samovar’s Mushroom Quiche
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
It is really difficult to sum up a puerh in a review without mentioning each and ever steep. Especially when it is such an excellent puerh like this Maiden’s Ecstasy Organic from Samovar Tea Lounge.
Maiden’s Ecstasy is one of the first pureh that I ever tried and is still one of my favorites. I stopped drinking coffee shortly before I found my love for loose leaf tea, and this Maiden’s Ecstasy provides such a rich, full, and robust cup that it brings back memories of my once loved coffee, but is so much better, and far more flavorful!
With a creamy, heavy mouthfeel, this tea has notes of german rock sugar, brown sugar, raisins, tree bark, oak moss, and so much more. Sometimes you will taste a more woodsy note, while other times you get a taste of chocolate, and other times a savory note of mushroom!
There is something otherworldly about this tea. It is the kind of tea I like to drink while watching a movie such as Avatar, or The Never Ending Story. I would take this and drink it at the Renaissance Festival every year if I could find a way to keep steeping it! It makes me feel like jumping from toadstool to tree trunk and swinging from branches of friendly tress and cavorting with gnomes but beware of the trolls because this tea does have a sparky, spicy kick to it at times as well! Its not dangerous though, it won’t burn your tongue at all, its just a little spark of playful now and then in the middle of an otherwise dreamy cup.
It does evoke thoughts of sipping on a very luxurious espresso, a good one though, one you could probably only find at one of those quaint cafes in Italy, as you sit writing in your diary at a white linen clothed table, dreaming of a romantic interlude. Flavors of molasses peek through resembling the sweet desires playing out in your mind as you gaze into nothingness, while someone, sitting at a table not too far away can see everything emoting through your eyes.
Yes, this tea is that special.
Coconut Cacao Tea from The Persimmon Tree
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh
Where to Buy: The Persimmon Tree
Tea Description:
The Coconut Puerh Tea is a unique blend of organic pu-erh loose-leaf tea, cocoa nibs and coconut provides a smooth, full, slightly sweet flavor with a mild hazelnut finish.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This Coconut Cacao Tea from The Persimmon Tree is really tasty! If you’ve read many of my reviews, you know that I’m not always “excited” to try a new pu-erh, because I had some bad experiences with pu-erh early in my tea journey. Since then, I have learned better ways to infuse pu-erh, and this has greatly influenced my enjoyment of the beverage, and I can say that I do enjoy pu-erh now. But that doesn’t stop me from being hesitant when it comes to trying a new pu-erh … there are still some residual effects from those bad memories that play games with my head when it comes to having a cup of pu-erh.
But this Pu-erh blend from The Persimmon Tree captivated my interest because … well, the chocoholic in me couldn’t overlook the word “Cacao” in the name of the tea. And my love for chocolate overrules my hesitation when it comes to Pu-erh!
The Pu-erh here is indeed earthy … but I think that the other flavors in the blend manage to offset the earthiness enough so that the earthiness is not all that I taste. It is rich and mellow, and I like how the mild flavor of the pu-erh melds with the chocolate … it seems to enhance the chocolate experience in a very pleasant way.
While this blend is primarily about the chocolate for me, I’m finding the other flavors of this tea to be almost as agreeable as the chocolate. The coconut, for example, is sweet and creamy … it has that “slickness” that coconut has, and it coats the palate with that deliciousness. The combination of the chocolate (and how nicely it is enhanced with the pu-erh) and the coconut gives the overall cup a very candy bar-ish like taste.
As the tea cools, the chocolate and coconut really POP and the dessert-like taste really comes to life … this tea is best served when hot … but not piping hot. Let the tea cool in your teacup for about two or three minutes, and you’ll be rewarded with yumminess!
Another great tea from The Persimmon Tree. Check them out on Facebook, and don’t for get to “like” them to get updates on what’s new!
Tropical White Pu-erh Tea from Kally Tea
Tea Type:
Pu-erh
Where To Buy:
Kally Tea
Product Description:
Take a journey to the tropics with this Pu Er blend. Taste the complexities of Pu Er balanced with an elegant Show Mei white tea. Then with an added finish of Tropical flavors, it makes you think of sitting on the beach relaxing in a lounge chair, soaking up the sun!
Tasters Review:
This smells AWESOME for a pu-erh! Tropical but not fake! Almost Champagne-like, too!
It has a really neat semi-cloudy/texture-type amber color to it.
The aroma magnifies after infusion is complete! It still smells wonderful! Very tropical, airy, fruity, fresh!
WOW! Now this is a flavor I could see myself drinking more and more of! It’s a lovely flavored pu-erh! Very unique and creative! Juicy! With just a hint of woodsy-puerh to it.
It lingers with a smoother tropical fruit flavor that is very satisfying.
Above all else…a VERY nicely flavor pu-erh! I would certainly put this in my mid 90s of favorite pu-erhs thus far!
Cinnamon Swirl Bread from sTEAp Shoppe
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Puerh, Black
Where to Buy: sTEAp Shoppe
Tea Description:
Cinnamon Swirl Bread Puerh & Black Teas touches your tongue with a rich depth of flavor and the bright embrace of cinnamon. Aromatic cinnamon, combined with rich bread like puerh and the sweet honey notes of gold bud black tea. This combination of tea and spice creates the perfect cup to wake up with or as a dessert. Full bodied with a smooth buttery goodness embraced by bright ribbons of cinnamon.
Pu-erh tea is a post-fermented tea, specifically Dark tea, produced in Yunnan province, China. The difference between this and all other teas is that, Pu erh tea undergoes the standard process of rolling and drying, after which it will then undergo a microbial fermentation. This style of processing tea is unique to China. A process created by the Chinese and produced in Yunnan, a leader in quality Chinese teas.
Taster’s Review:Learn more about this tea here.
Janet does it again with her Cinnamon Swirl Bread from sTEAp Shoppe. Her blend of 2008 Loose Puerh and Yunnan Gold Needle Black tea, with just the right mix of cinnamon, cocoa nibs, vanilla bean, and maple crystals make this tea taste like you just toasted up some sweet cinnamon bread!
I love her use of organic ingredients and that the tea is not overly sweet, nor overly spicy. This blend is balanced perfectly.
The aroma that fills your home when you steep it is nothing short of delicious.
Earthy puerh gives a flavor and mouthfeel of whole grain bread, while the Yunnan Gold Needle provides provides a smoothness to support the zippy cinnamon. The vanilla plays a supporting role that compliments the maple crystals, leaving a lightly sweet taste on the tongue.
The resulting effect is a delicious lingering flavor on the palate of sweet spicy cinnamon, and a toasty flavor.
Janet really does a great job with her blended teas. She takes great time and care in making sure she has them perfected before putting them up for sale. Her selection has grown slowly but steadily over time and I can say that this blend is masterful. I am not generally a big fan of cinnamon teas, or spicy teas, with the exception of an occasional chai latte, but this Cinnamon Swirl Bread tea is a stash staple.
Chocolate Chai Pu-erh Tea from Della Terra Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh
Where to Buy: Della Terra Teas
Tea Description:
This tea has all that you love about chai, the spice and the clove, blended just right with chocolate! Made with Pu-Erh tea it gives it a dark, rich, spicy flavor that, for the chai, chocolate or Pu-Erh lover, will having you steeping another cup before you know it! The chai hits you at first sip and and the chocolate soon follows. Delicious tea for all who love a nice, dark, rich tea!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This Chocolate Chai Pu-erh Tea from Della Terra Teas is a very tasty take on the traditional spiced chai blend. It has what I’d expect from a chai – exotic spices that taste warm and comforting – plus CHOCOLATE which you know I am loving … all with a rich, mellow Pu-erh base.
The Pu-erh provides a really solid background of flavor that is earthy and flavorful, without being extraordinarily robust. The Pu-erh complements both the chocolate and the spices here … the earthiness of the Pu-erh works so nicely with the earthy notes of the spices, while the rich flavor of the Pu-erh enhances the rich, sweet flavor of the chocolate.
I am also liking the way the orange comes in to play here. It isn’t a strong orange flavor — it kind of tastes like someone might have squeezed a few drops of fresh orange into my cup. It brightens the cup just a touch without offering a real pronounced citrus-y flavor. It tastes a little bit like someone liquefied one of those chocolate oranges and added a little drizzle of the liquid confection into my teacup along with the tea. Deliciously intriguing.
This is a really well-conceived cuppa … I found it very enjoyable to drink without any additions … although a little bit of turbinado sugar does bring out the spices just a bit and gives a nice sweetness to the chocolate. I bet it would be good as a latte too … but I found it really delicious without the dairy! Try it both ways and see which way you like it best … but you’ve got to try this. This one is a must try for spiced chocolate lovers!