This delicious, sweet, creamy goodness is a mix of rich pu’erh tea, cacoa nibs, and flower petals (mostly for appearance, I suspect). The flavor profile of this is a warm chocolate bar. One that will kick you awake with caffeine.
My husband and I like to walk around on New Years Eve in our town, look at ice sculptures, and drink hot chocolate. This tastes like that night. It tastes like the excitement of a new year. It tastes like a red nose and hand-holding.
It tastes, possibly, like a trip to the ski lodge, though I don’t EVER participate in sports, so I wouldn’t know.
If you’re in the mood for a sweet picker-upper, give this one a whirl!
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Puerh
Where to Buy: Fraser Tea
Description
Decadent Chocolate Truffle is an organic, healthful beverage with calming effects. Delight in the richness of chocolate and comforting cream in your first sip of this high quality organic Pu-erh tea. Fraser Tea handpicks all teas and chose this Pu-erh variety for its ability to improve with time. Often used as a slimming tea for those working to manage weight and wellness, this tea is sought all over the world.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
White2Tea – 2016 Daily Drinker
White2Tea says that this Daily Drinker is a tea “for the everyday”, “for the people.” I was like “uh, what does that… mean?”
I’m still not sure what that means.
But I *do* know that this orchid/honey tea is incredibly sweet while still not losing that rustic pu erh charm. It’s aged, but in a way that’s not rancid, or fishy, or musty, or cardboard-y, or whatever else you might fear out of pu erh.
It’s like an orchid oolong that’s in a retirement home, still sweet and sharing jokes that have been worn smooth and refined through multiple retellings. She’s the old lady in the nursing home that has a boyfriend (YOU GO GIRL) and slips other people’s grandkids the best candy.
This is one of the first teas I’ve ever drank that came from a cake, which meant it was a little more work. I had to snap off bits and try to crumble the right amount into my steeper. I think I gave it a good whack.
I don’t know what makes a tea a “daily drinker.” I sort of imagine it as an old shoe that you know will fit you nicely, even if you don’t wear it on special occasions. But that seems… somehow disparaging of the tea? Like “oh, this old thing? I drink it daily. I don’t even notice it any more.”
I think that this tea deserves to be a little more special. I shall drink it only every once in a while, until it’s complete.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Pu Erh
Where to Buy: White2Tea
Description
A blend of raw Puer material meant for the daily grind. Sweetness and a delightful fragrance. Solid, reliable, affordable, and better quality than you’d expect for the price. Tea for the everyday. Tea for the people.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
2016 Loose Leaf Gu Hua Sheng from Verdant Tea. . . . .
I ordered a giant basket of pure teas from Verdant because I was trying to be more worldly. I was like “I am going to UNDERSTAND this tea. I am going to BECOME ONE with MORE VARIETIES.”
Today’s pick: a pu’erh! That’s fermented tea. Sort of intimidating. All the pu’erh I’ve ever loved has been in a blend. The only other one I’d tried before this was sort of appalling, so I was nervous to try this one. (I only ordered a tiny sample, just in case).
This one, 2016 Loose Leaf Gu Hua Sheng, tastes a little bit like a toasty sencha green tea mixed with yam or some other starchy vegetable. The description for this product on their site describes this flavor as “plantain.” I think I can pick up a sliver of banana-ish taste, but I’m not really familiar with plantains
I’m mostly into blacks and sweet teas, but I enjoy this cup. It’s different from what I typically drink, in an exciting and not-intimidating way. I think that this is a good introduction to pu’erh for a n00b like myself.
This is also a tea that one could feel good about purchasing. According to Verdant, proceeds from this go to books and operating costs for the sleepaway Zhenyuan Jiujia Wengang Village Primary School. The Collective that grows this tea is the “stewart” to the “truly wild” 100-300-year-old tea trees “that grow in one of the oldest and most remote tea forests in the world, on Mt. Ailao.”
They use traditional methods. And they look really happy about it.
If you’d like to try one of the Collective’s teas, here they are.
I feel nice about it and I hope you do, too!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Pu-erh
Where to Buy: Verdant Tea
Description
Master Zhou’s Gu Hua harvest is a careful blend of maocha from trees aged between one hundred and three hundred years old, picked for a balanced and rich full body and aroma. Gu Hua is the very early autumn harvest prized for its rich flavor and intense aroma. These truly wild trees grow in one of the oldest and most remote tea forests in the world, on Mt. Ailao. Every leaf is hand picked and carefully sun-dried without applying heat or using machinery for the most natural and pure flavor.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!