Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh
Where to Buy: Canton Tea Co.
Tea Description:
Another classic puerh from Xing Hai, made from authentic leaves, grade 5 –7, harvested from the large, mature tea bushes of Meng Hai.
A good quality raw puerh, it will keep improving for 10 years or more. For best aging results, store in a well-aired location with a constant temperature. The Xing Hai Beeng Cha is a young puerh and shows the classic characteristics of mild flowery notes with a traditional bittersweet finish. It will develop more woody notes as it matures.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I know I’ve mentioned this before, but the more I am sampling different Pu-erh teas, the more I’m realizing that I really do like them. I still suffer a bit from a couple of bad experiences concerning Pu-erh, but, really, the number of good experiences I’ve had outweigh the number of bad at this point.
This is a really nice raw pu-erh, quite sweet with pleasing floral notes. I don’t think I’ve had a pu-erh where I really noticed such well-pronounced floral tones before. Usually, I taste earthiness, and yes, I taste that here too, but, I don’t think I’ve had a pu-erh where the focus is more on the notes of flower over the notes of earth.
The sweetness is very molasses-like … in fact, had I not prepared this cup myself, I would have thought that whomever did prepare it for me added a dollop of molasses to the cup.
Overall, the cup is very smooth – no bitterness, no astringency – and it has a very mellow character. A very enjoyable cup of tea, I find it to be an especially enjoyable tea to enjoy in the early evening while watching the sunset.
Daily Man Tea from BijaBody Health + Beauty
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong, Pu-erh and Herbal
Where to Buy: BijaBody Health + Beauty
Tea Description:
We’ve gotten enough feedback from guys to know you want your own tea, and you don’t want a frilly peacock feather on it. Point taken. Here you go.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Of the three different teas from BijaBody Health + Beauty I was sent to try, this was the one with which I hesitated longest. I could think of all kinds of silly excuses, but, if I were to be completely honest, it was because it was a “man” tea, and well, the last time I checked, I’m a woman.
But, really, that’s pretty silly too. It’s a tea! There are some herbals in there that are definitely intended for men, but, I have never claimed to drink tea for its health benefits, so why should I not drink a tea because of its purported health benefits for men?
This tea has a strong earthy quality to it, much stronger than I recall tasting with either the Daily Beauty Tea or the Nightly Beauty Tea from BijaBody. I definitely taste the Pu-erh here, but, it isn’t an overwhelming or off-putting flavor. I also taste the Oolong, and I can feel the texture from the Oolong too – its smooth and almost creamy.
This also has a slight medicinal quality to it, but not so much that it makes me want to stop drinking it. The medicinal flavor is balanced out with the warm spice notes in the background as well as the tea flavors to give this a very enjoyable taste. After a glance at the ingredients, I worried that the cayenne might be a bit too much for the cup, but, it is actually quite subtle, providing a little bit of heat, but, certainly not to the point where I’d categorize this as spicy or even medium-hot. It has a mild spice – it’s warm and energizing.
Overall, this is an enjoyable beverage, even for those of us who are not men. If I were to change anything about it, though, I should like for there to be more of a chocolate taste from the cacao nibs… I taste only hints of cocoa here. But for what it is, I found it quite agreeable.
Wild Arbor Buds (White Pu-erh Leaf Buds) from Mandala Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Mandala Tea
Tea Description:
Although this amazing tea is pu’er leaf buds, it is best described and prepared as a white tea since it is picked in the late winter/early spring of 2011 and only sundried. No other processing takes place.
The liquor is clear and the flavor is sweet and floral with hints of pine. Complex flavors and yet so simple to enjoy. Mild and pleasant. This tea is rare and beautiful, as fresh as spring!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is one of the more unusual looking teas that I’ve come across in my tea adventures. These buds remind me of the tops of the grassy weeds that I used to run through when I was a kid … you know the ones that would deposit burrs in socks and then keep poking you as it got further and further embedded into the fabric of the sock, becoming more and more uncomfortable? Well, the uncomfortable feeling never stopped me from running through those grassy fields when I was a kid, and this tea’s unusual appearance isn’t going to stop me from trying this tea!
It brews up to a very pale color … it almost looks like water that is in my cup, it is so pale. But for such a light color, there is a lot of flavor to this. I hadn’t read the description above until after I had taken my first couple of sips, and my initial reaction was that this tastes very much like a pu-erh. It has that pu-erh earthiness to it, although it is more like a “white tea” pu-erh earthiness (which is quite appropriate for this IS a white pu-erh) than the darker pu-erh teas that I’m used to.
It also has some characteristics that I’d expect from a white tea, although it is not as delicate as most white teas I’ve tasted. But this does have that hay-like quality to it that I often taste in a high quality Bai Mu Dan.
The sip starts sweet, with an almost immediate transition to the earthiness of the cup, and hints of hay, as well as woody tones and floral notes weave their way throughout the sip. Towards the end of the sip, I notice a mineral-y kind of taste toward the end of the sip that settles on the palate. The finish is slightly earthy with hints of fresh pine.
It’s quite a nice cup, and a different way to experience pu-erh.
Yanxin’s Reserve ’04 Shu Nuggets from Verdant Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh
Where to Buy: Verdant Tea
Tea Description:
These nuggets are formed from only the smallest most delicate buds, and slow-fermented to form nuggets.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Wow! Just … Wow!
I always seem to be so surprised by pu-erh… surprised that I actually like it. The first couple of times that I did try it were less than successful tastings, and as a result, I have it programmed in my head that I do not like pu-erh. But, you’d think that by now, after so many successful tastings since those first few, that I’d have managed to reprogram myself and realize that I DO like pu-erh.
And I REALLY like this pu-erh. Immediately upon opening the pouch I KNEW this was different. The tea has been formed into little nuggets, looking a bit like dried clots of dark earth. And I expected it to smell like dark earth, but it didn’t. The aroma is fairly faint. I detect hints of wood, but not much else.
The flavor is quite remarkable. The tasting notes on Verdant Tea’s website seem to describe what I’m experiencing very well. Notes of sweet cinnamon and a vanilla tone that is not so much a creamy vanilla, but more of the sugary sweetness you’d experience from an angel food cake. Enhancing these angel-food-esque flavors even more is a sort of cake-y like taste … wheat and browned sugar and tones of malt.
But it’s what I don’t taste that makes this shu even more remarkable … I don’t taste EARTH! Usually with a shu pu-erh, even a very good one that is sweet and delicious, there are earth tones that taste unmistakeably … well, like earth. But, I don’t taste those same earthy tones here. I don’t taste that brine-y fish taste. I taste a sweet, clean flavor with notes of wood and spice. And I like it a LOT!
If you have wanted to get in to pu-erh but have not found one that you can enjoy without tasting those strong, earthy flavors, try this one! This one WILL surprise you!
Ripened Aged Pu-erh Mini Tuocha from Teavivre
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
Aged Pu-erh tea is created by secondary-oxidation and post-fermentation tea. This type of Pu-erh tea is referred to as ripened, or cooked, Pu-erh, which has a rich, mellow and earthy flavor. Unlike many other teas which should be consumed shortly after production, such as green and white teas, Pu-erh tea can either be brewed immediately or it can be stored and aged for many years, much like a fine wine. Most Pu-erh teas are classified by the year they were produced and the region they were grown in, much like many wine vintages. In fact, when it comes to Pu-erh tea, the longer it is stored and aged properly, the more complex the flavor and the more valuable the tea gets. Many aged Pu-erh teas are served in Chinese restaurants after heavy meals, as Pu-erh tea is known for it’s ability to break down fat, also making it a great weight loss tea!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I was a little afraid to try this Pu-erh, as I worried it might end up tasting a little too earthy for my palate. It was the name of the tea that frightened me … “ripened aged” usually says to me “very earthy.”
But after unwrapping the individually wrapped tuocha and inhaling deeply, I noticed only a hint of earthiness to the aroma. In fact, the aroma of the dry leaf is very indistinct, with mere insinuations of an earthiness.
The flavor is more earthy than the aroma of the dry leaf would suggest, but, I am not finding it to be TOO earthy. Perhaps it is because beneath that earthy overtone, I taste this underlying note of delicious caramel-y sweetness. And even the earthiness here I find to be very interesting, as it seems to interchange with a deep, woodsy kind of flavor.
Overall, this has a very rustic kind of flavor to it … very masculine. It is very smooth and mellow, with no bitterness whatsoever and no astringency either. After my first couple of sips, I added just a little bit of turbinado sugar to see how that would affect the flavor and it ended up giving the caramel-like sweetness I mentioned earlier a very molasses-y kind of taste … very nice indeed! I like how that molasses flavor marries with the masculine flavors of wood and earth. This would also probably taste wonderful as a latte! Might have to try that sometime soon!