Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
This raw pu-erh cake is grown and produced in Fengqing, Yunnan, which is the origin place of DianHong black tea. This Wild Tree Yesheng Raw Pu-erh Cake is harvest in spring of 2013. Between March to May, after harvesting the fresh leaves, tea workers will process them: fixation, rolling, drying, sifting, and then store the leaves in carton boxes.
As the workers use iron pan for fixation, and roll the tea with their hands, the leaves do not have good looks as machine-made leaves. Yet regarding on quality, this Wild Tree Yesheng Pu-erh Cake is a green food from nature, in the mists and clouds on high mountains. It is a tea worth being in your collection list.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The dry leaf aroma of this 2013 Fengqing Wild Tree Yesheng Raw Pu-erh Tea Cake from Teavivre is almost non-existent. This surprised me, only because I’m used to Pu-erh having some aroma, but I didn’t smell much of anything when I smelled the dry leaf.
Conversely, the wet leaves have a strong vegetal scent to them that immediately made me think of peas. Granted, peas are not my favorite vegetable (that’s putting it mildly) and because of that, they are not a food that I’m smelling on a regular basis. But when I smelled these wet leaves, green peas is what came to mind.
For those of you who are like me: timid when it comes to Pu-erh tea because of that strong, earthy and sometimes fishy taste and smell, you can rest assured that you won’t experience that with this Pu-erh. This is a very young Pu-erh, and it tastes much more like a green tea to me than it does a Pu-erh.
It has a vegetal taste, but it’s a remarkably smooth vegetal note. It doesn’t have that “crisp” or “lively” sort of vegetative taste that you might experience with a typical green tea. Instead, this has a very mellow vegetative taste. It doesn’t taste grassy. It tastes like mild steamed vegetables: like spinach, perhaps, only milder and sweeter.
There is a buttery note to this too, something I don’t typically experience with a Pu-erh. So, imagine that aforementioned extra mild, sweet spinach, topped with mushrooms that have been lightly sauteed in butter and then topped with thinly sliced almonds … only the almonds are raw. It has that sort of creamy, buttery taste that you might experience with a raw almond.
Later infusions brought out more savory flavors to the vegetal tones. Notes of salt and seaweed were contrasted by some newly emerging fruity notes. The flavor becomes deeper and more complex with each new infusion.
I like in “wild tree” teas like this that I can almost taste the “wild” in them. There is a note to these teas that I don’t often find in the more conventional farm grown teas.
I would recommend this Pu-erh to those new to Pu-erh so that they can experience some “different” Pu-erh teas, as well as fans of green tea. It’s a really unique tea experience … one definitely worth trying.
Master Han’s 2013 Sheng Pu-er Tea from Verdant Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh
Where to Buy: Verdant Tea
Tea Description:
Beautifully complex, this young pu’er is creamy with citrus notes and a floral finish. Steep small and short infusions up to 10 times and experience this tea transforming on your tastebuds. Starting sweet, this brand new pu’er develops woody and nut characteristics. Enjoy the bright astringency of this tea as it layers over each steeping.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about subscribing to Amoda’s Monthly Tea Tasting Box here.
Taster’s Review:
Yeah, I’m really behind on the February teas from my Amoda Tea Tasting Box! I’ve already received my box for March, and I haven’t finished sampling the teas from February! This Pu-er Tea from Verdant Tea – Master Han’s 2013 Sheng – is the last from my February box.
I guess it just goes to show how I tend to procrastinate when it comes to pu-erh teas. And I really shouldn’t, because I have enjoyed most of the pu-erh teas that I’ve tried in the last couple of years. After learning the proper way (or at least the proper way for ME) to brew a pu-erh, I’ve come to appreciate a good pu-erh. And this one from Verdant is a good one!
Then again, I can’t think of a time when I’ve been disappointed by Verdant Tea!
This pu-erh is quite special. The aroma is not at all what I’d expect from a pu-erh. Usually, I detect some earthy notes – even from a young Sheng – but, all I smell here is a strong vegetative note that falls somewhere between kelp and steamed spinach.
After a quick rinse, the first infusion was steeped for 1 minute. Normally, I would go for just 30 – 45 minutes, but, I got distracted and it steeped for a full minute. This cup was light and refreshing! Sweet! It has a creaminess to it that I don’t recall ever experiencing with a pu-erh tea. There is a distant nutty tone to this, and a crisp, bright citrus note.
My second cup (also infused for 1 minute) has a stronger flavor. There is a slight floral note to this cup – again, not a flavor I’d usually associate with a pu-erh – and it is somewhat sharp. This cup is less creamy and delicate than the first was. I can also taste the woodsy notes start to develop and the distant nutty tone start to emerge.
Subsequent infusions brought those woodsy notes forward, and the warm, sweet nutty flavors were more pronounced. The citrus notes were still present in the third cup, but by the fourth cup, I couldn’t find them without really focusing on the flavors swirling around on the palate. The fruit notes seem to have melded with the other notes. The same is true of the creamy notes that I noticed in the first two cups.
Most of the flavors started to taste more mellow and unified with the third cup and this seemed to continue with the infusions that would follow. The floral notes were delicate in the third cup, but I really enjoyed their presence. I liked the slight sharpness and the contrast it brought to the cup.
Despite my misgivings about having a Pu-erh in my Amoda Tea box for February … I really enjoyed this. I shouldn’t have been so apprehensive – it is, after all, a tea from Verdant Tea!
Fengqing Zhuan Cha Raw Puerh Brick Tea 2005 from Teavivre
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
The Fengqing Zhuan Cha Ripened Puerh Brick Tea 2005 is small but has full weight of 240g. The brick is in the size of 13.5 cm long, 9 cm wide and 1.5 cm high, which makes the tea easy to store. Brick tea is a kind of compressed pu-erh tea. This Raw Pu-erh Brick Tea has yellow and bright liquid, stronger flavor than ripened brick with strong astringent taste. Yet the bitter taste differs from other teas’. A strong sweet aftertaste comes after the liquid fills in your mouth, as well as the long-lasting mellow flavor promoting the secretion of saliva. The sweet aftertaste still remains even half a minute later. This Raw Pu-erh Brick is picked in 2005’s spring and summer, and pressed in the same year. Aged Pu-erh Brick teas will become more profound after years of store. It is regarded as an eatable antique in China.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Although I’m not always enthusiastic to try a pu-erh, after having tried a good number of pu-erh teas from Teavivre without disappointment, I found myself actually looking forward to trying this 2005 Fengqing Zhuan Cha Raw Puerh Brick Tea.
After a quick rinse (15 seconds), I infused my first cup for just 45 seconds and achieved a very strong, deep flavor with notes of mineral and a somewhat salty/savory note. The description above suggests “promoting the secretion of saliva” and that’s what I’m experiencing from this tea. The salty note from the tea encourages my mouth to begin watering.
This is earthy but not in the same way that a ripened pu-erh would taste. This is more earthy/vegetative sort of taste. I note hints of kelp. By mid-cup, I start to notice some bitter/tart notes that brighten the overall flavor.
I steeped this tea eight times before I was ready to move on to something else – but I do suspect that this tea would have kept going strong for at least two or more infusions! With each infusion, I noticed a deeper flavor than with the previous cup. The flavor keeps developing.
I’ve often used the word mellow to describe a pu-erh but I don’t think that word applies to this tea. The savory/bitter notes are very unique to me. I don’t consider myself an expert when it comes to pu-erh, in fact, I think of myself as just the opposite. Pu-erh is the tea that I feel least knowledgeable about, and with each new experience, I feel as though I’m learning something new and after each experience, I feel as though I’ve so much more to learn!
That said, I can’t recall a tea quite like this one before. It has a brine-like flavor to it … but not a fishy-brine taste. The brine here reminds me more of a vinegar-ish type of taste, the savory/bitter/salty notes you might experience from vinegar. The earthy notes here are very mushroom-y.
A very intriguing tea!
Organic Chocolate Chai Tea Blend from Rishi Tea
Chai Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh Tea & Yerba Mate
Where to Buy: Rishi Tea
Tea Description:
Velvety, mellow and deep, this chai is an enticing blend of energizing pu-erh tea, shade-grown yerba maté, and cacao. Made even more inviting by creamy vanilla, nutty coconut and fruity, pungent and uplifting Ayurvedic long pepper, Chocolate Chai is a most sophisticated take on hot cocoa.
Learn more about this chai here.
Taster’s Review:
On this cold and wet evening in the Pacific Northwest, I wanted something warm and invigorating. This Organic Chocolate Chai Tea Blend from Rishi Tea is just what I needed!
And it is tasty! I did a quick rinse of the leaves (there’s pu-erh in there, and I didn’t want the cup to taste too earthy) and then I steeped this for four minutes in just under boiling water.
I find that when I use boiling water for Yerba Mate, the resulting brew comes out just a wee bit bitter. My solution to this was to use just under boiling water for Yerba Mate and Mate blends like this one. That way, I can steep a while to get full flavor out of the blend without having a bitter cup.
I’m really liking this chai, although, I find myself in disagreement with calling this “chai.” While I do understand that the word “chai” means “tea,” here in the United States, we’ve come to recognize the word “chai” to mean a tea blended with spices, and these spices usually consist of (but are not limited to) a combination of cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and ginger. There are sometimes omissions of one or more of these, and sometimes other spices like peppercorns or anise are added.
However, this blend includes these ingredients:
Ingredients: Organic and Fair Trade Certified™ pu-erh tea, organic roasted cocoa nibs, organic roasted dandelion root, organic yerba maté, organic coconut flakes, organic long pepper, organic cardamom, organic vanilla bean.
With only one of the “usual” ingredients, I find it difficult to call this a “chai.” That … and the fact that this isn’t as spicy as you’d normally experience with a chai. There is some warmth from the pepper and cardamom, but, it’s not a strongly spiced tea.
That said, this is still really enjoyable. I love the deep, mellow notes of the pu-erh and how well they marry with the earthy, vegetative notes of the yerba mate. The cacao and coconut and vanilla play incredibly well together to give this a sweet, rich, chocolate-y and creamy coconut-y flavor. YUM! It’s almost dessert-like!
I love the warmth, I love the complexity of flavors, and you KNOW I’m loving the chocolate! A really yummy tea!
Fengqing Raw Pu-erh Cake Tea 2006 from Teavivre
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
This Raw Pu-erh Cake Teavivre choose is from the representative Pu-erh production area Fengqing. Fengqing is the original place of the world-wide famous Dian Hong Tea. And it is also a classic place of Yunnan Pu-erh. It is a place in Lingcang which is one of the four famous Pu-erh production areas. The taste of Fengqing Pu-erh is mellow and sweet, deeper than Pu-erh in other production area. And it usually has the flowery flavor of Dian Hong Tea.
This Raw Puerh Cake is special for the two seasons resource from the same Arbor Tea Trees. Some are picked on March which we called “Ming Qian” or “Chun Jian” leaves. This is the best tea leaves in Spring Tea because it contains more nutrition and tastes mellow. Some are picked on September which we called “Gu Hua” or “Paddy Flower”. This is the best leaves for Autumn Tea because the aroma is stronger lasting longer. The Autumn Tea (Paddy Flower Tea) also has special flower fragrance. This Raw Puerh Cake is made by the two kinds of tea resource which were carefully blended by certain proportion.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I know I’ve never made any secret about my first disappointing experiences with pu-erh but since those early days, I have learned the way to brew the tea for the best flavor and I find that I now enjoy an afternoon now and then sipping on pu-erh tea. And I’m really enjoying this Fengqing Raw Pu-erh Cake Tea 2006 from Teavivre.
The dry cake has an earthy scent to it, but I found the aroma to have more of a vegetal scent than an earthy one. But the reverse is true for the brewed tea: I’m finding the fragrance of the brewed liquid to smell more earthy than vegetative.
The flavor is both vegetative and earthy. The first infusion (following a 15 second rinse) tasted light and slightly dry. Earthy tones, yes, with hints of vegetation. It is quite mellow with a slight brine-like taste to it … I can almost taste a hint of salt, and I think that’s where I’m getting the aforementioned dryness from. Overall, I found my first cup to be lightly sweet and pleasant, with a mild, soothing taste.
I noticed more earthy notes begin to emerge with the second infusion, and a slight mushroom-y sort of flavor. The brine-y note from the first cup was no longer present, however, the dryness remained (although it was significantly less noticeable in this cup). Still mellow, the flavor deepened with this infusion, and it is still sweet and enjoyable.
With subsequent infusions, the earthy notes began to subside a little, making way for a more well-rounded flavor that I found to be both sweet and savory, with it leaning more toward the sweet than the savory.
I enjoyed the mild character of this tea. It was soothing and relaxing to sip, and especially nice after eating something spicy (wings!) … I found that it helped calm my belly after that meal. A very pleasing pu-erh!