Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White & Pu-erh
Where to Buy: The Whistling Kettle
Tea Description:
Inspired by Dr. Oz and Canadian natural health guru Bryce Wylde, our pu-erh/white tea blend is designed to shrink fat, burn deposits, and prevent new fat from depositing. Tastes excellent hot or iced. The rich smoothness of pu-erh is contrasted with delicate notes of white tea, and accentuated with flavors of acai, tangerine, and chrysanthemum.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
According to the description on The Whistling Kettle’s website, this tea was inspired by Dr. Oz and health guru Bryce Wylde. To tell the truth, I don’t know who Bryce Wylde is, and I don’t really put a lot of stock in what Dr. Oz says. I don’t drink tea because it’s healthy or because it is supposed to enhance weight loss. I drink tea because I like the way it tastes. If it is also good for me, that’s a bonus, but not one I allow to influence me one way or the other.
And this tastes good! I’m not usually a big fan of the tart Acai berry, but, when combined with the sweetness of the tangerine, the tartness mellows somewhat, making this a very enjoyable drink, indeed.
There is so much flavor in this cup. From the deep, mellow, earthy tones of the Pu-erh, to the crisp sweetness of the white tea… combined with the sweet-tart notes of fruit and the hint of floral taste from the chrysanthemum, this cup has a taste that is very palate pleasing. These different flavors all come together in a way that is very well-balanced. Nothing competing with anything else, nothing overpowering the cup. Just smooth, mellow, delicious flavor.
The Pu-erh is what I notice first, but what stands out about this Pu-erh from some others that I’ve tried is that it doesn’t taste overwhelmingly earthy. It does have an earthiness to it, it is somewhat peaty with a woody note. It is very mellow, and the softness of the white tea curbs the flavor so that the earthy tones of the Pu-erh do not come across as too strong. The white tea is not as prominent a flavor, but then again, it shouldn’t be. White tea has a delicate taste. But I can taste it: light, fresh, almost hay-like. The flavor is slight but where the white tea is primarily noticeable is as a softening agent to the Pu-erh.
The tangerine and acai seem pretty evenly matched. In one sip, I seem to notice more tangerine, and in the next, I’ll taste a little more berry. It’s quite lovely the way these two flavors play with one another, very enjoyable, especially for this taster who often finds the tartness of acai to be a bit much. When paired with the sweet taste of tangerine, it becomes much more palatable.
I’ve tried a couple of blends from this company – The Whistling Kettle – and I’ve enjoyed what I’ve tried. And I’m liking this blend a lot! It’s also really good iced!
2002 Raw Pu-erh Tea Brick (Ke Yi Xing) from ES Green
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh
Where to Buy: ES Green
Tea Description:
The Region of Harvest: Yunnan Province, China
Plant Type: Yunnan Big Leaf Bush
Tea Factory: Xi Shuang Ban Na-Yiwu-Key Yi Xing Tea Factory
Brand: Ke Yi XingAbout the brand “Ke Yi Xing” . It is one of the time-honored brands in Yun Nan. It is built in 1925.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The picture appears so much greener than the leaves look to me, I had to double check to make sure that this is indeed the tea I’m tasting.
But, the flavors match the way ES Green describes the tea:
It tastes earthy, old, strong. But it is living, vivid, fresh. You will find it smooth and mellow on the first sip.
This is what I taste from this tea. I taste the earthiness (I did do two pre-rinses though, to ensure that it would not be too earthy), and I even taste the strength and the age. I also taste a wild note to this … like a vibrant, green tea that is hiding in the distance. It hides behind the earthy overtures and the caramel-y undertones, but every once in a while, the vibrant, green … almost lushly fresh tasting green tones emerge just to remind me that they’re there.
A remarkably smooth and mellow tea, and very deep in flavor. With each subsequent infusion, the flavor became deeper and sweeter! Much of the earthiness softened by the fourth infusion. It was still somewhat earthy, but not as earthy as the first few cups. I found that the tea started to taste lighter and more vibrant and fresh with each subsequent infusion, which seemed to give me a gentle nudge to steep it yet again to see how the flavors would be with the next cup.
This is not one of those teas that you want to rush … you want to sit back, and spend an hour or two just exploring the many layers of flavor that it holds in store.
Wild Raspberry Pu-erh from The Whistling Kettle
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh & White Tea Blend
Where to Buy: The Whistling Kettle
Tea Description:
This Pu-Erh is flavorful, mild and with an addition of silver needles, makes a great iced tea. Dr. Oz has recommended this tea as a way to help lose weight. Pu-Erh also help reduce cholesterol and great after a meal to help “cut the grease”. Pu-Erh has probiotic properties no other type of tea has.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
As those of you who read this blog pretty regularly are probably aware, I’ve pretty much come around when it comes to Pu-erh. There was a time when I DID NOT like Pu-erh … or at least I didn’t think I did. I was even “afraid” of Pu-erh, so much so that when someone would send me some in a swap package, I’d send it off to someone else without even tasting it! And that REALLY doesn’t sound like me, does it? But it’s true.
Now, I’m not afraid of Pu-erh any more, although I do often cringe when I receive Pu-erh … worried that I will have a bad experience with it. But truth be told, I have far more positive experiences with Pu-erh than negative ones. The negative experiences are indeed very few and very far between!
This Pu-erh blend … is amazing. And let me just say that if my first tasting of Pu-erh tasted anything like this … I would not have been so afraid of Pu-erh for so many years! This is so good!
The raspberry notes are sweet with just a twinge of tartness to them – just enough to make it taste like a true berry taste. There are hints of flower in the blend as well as a softness. Soft is generally not a flavor I associate with Pu-erh so this is a characteristic I attribute to the white tea. The white tea really offers little else to this blend, other than some visual interest to the dry leaf. As I taste this, there isn’t a moment when I can say definitively “there’s the white tea.” However, I don’t think that this blend would be quite the same without the white tea in it. It adds something … a creaminess, perhaps?
However, the Pu-erh offers the majority of the flavor here. And while it does have that distinctive Pu-erh earthiness, it is slight. Instead, this simply tastes rich and mellow and smooth. Almost like coffee, but without the bitterness of coffee.
A very enjoyable tea from the Whistling Kettle … and it’s a good one!
2008 Raw Loose Leaf Pu-erh Yunnan Broad Leaf from ESGreen
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh
Where to Buy: ESGreen
Tea Description:
The raw material of this tea has been stored since 2008. Now it has been naturally fermented. The aroma is strong with the special raw tea note. But the tea soup is in amber color, mellow, smooth, a little bitter but has very sweet after-taste.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m always just a little bit leery when it comes to trying a new-to-me Pu-erh. I haven’t been disappointed by a Pu-erh lately, but my first few attempts with Pu-erh some years ago led to an automatic thought that I do not like it. I don’t know if my palate has changed or if it’s that I’ve gleaned information along the way, including better ways to brew teas like Pu-erh. Probably a combination of these two things.
This Pu-erh is a bit different from what I’m used to when it comes to raw Pu-erh… this almost tastes like ripe or Shu Pu-erh as opposed to raw or Sheng, because this is much more earthy than I am used to from a Sheng Pu-erh. It has a strong mushroom-like flavor to it, reminiscent of wild mushrooms. The flavor is mild, and there is a hint of bitterness to this which is also surprising me about this Pu-erh because very rarely do I notice a bitter taste in Pu-erh. It is almost a sour/bitter taste, somewhere in between these two flavors.
The earthiness is a little bit off-putting at first, I will admit. But once I got past that, I was able to discover this very intriguing sour/bitter taste that then morphs into a delicately sweet aftertaste. It’s very interesting and unique … as I said, it’s quite different from any Pu-erh that I’ve tried.
Because this is so unique in flavor, I would recommend this to experienced connoisseurs. It’s really quite lovely and interesting, and I think that those with some experience with Pu-erh would find much to enjoy with this Yunnan Broad Leaf. I don’t know that I would recommend this to those just starting out with Pu-erh because of the strong earthiness of this tea.
This is the first tea that I’ve tried from this company, and I would say that this is a promising start! And, after taking a look around on their website, I must say I’m intrigued, especially by this amazing tea set! OH my goodness – I WANT!
The Skinny from DavidsTea
Tea Type:
Oolong Tea/Pu-erh Tea Blend
Where To Buy:
DavidsTea
Product Description:
Did you just eat and eat and eat? And then eat some more? 2000 years of ancient Chinese wisdom suggest you try this organic blend. It contains oolong and pu’erh teas, both reputed to speed your metabolism and block fat absorption after a heavy meal. Plus it’s got ginger and ginseng, two more traditional metabolism uppers. So go ahead, drink up. The only thing you’ll gain is wisdom.
Tasters Review:
The Skinny from DavidsTea really took me by surprise! I ended up really liking it! Here’s the SKINNY on this tea from DavidsTea…
This tea takes a while to infuse before the true color appears. Dry…I thought this first smelled like Orange Cream and then I thought it was more of a Fruit loops/Orange aroma. Post infusion – it smells more like a woodsy/orange. The taste is flatter than I thought it would be. I would say more Oolong than anything else and then a share of orange taste. I can’t really taste the Pu-erh, Ginseng, or Ginger much…which is ok with me but maybe not-so-good for those specifically looking for those ingredients, I suppose.
Overall the taste of this one is pretty good! As far as me liking this tea – I do enjoy it – much more than I expected! It’s a goodie!
