Numi’s Chocolate Pu-erh bags are the perfect intro to flavored Puerh: organic yet inexpensive, and bagged for easy travel. In fact it was the very first tea I pulled from my very first sampler, an inexpensive add-on in my amazon cart. This is also sold loose leaf by the pound.
I have to admit I was skeptical because not only did I dislike chocolate, but I also had heard “fishy” things about the fermented tea. But as a scientist, I had to test these assumptions, and the evidence supported the null hypothesis. This was a light bodied, full flavor tea, that I’ve found is impossible to screw up in the brewing process.
This silky brown infusion reminds me of a hot cocoa with toasted marshmallows fresh from the campfire, and ooooooh that tiniest hint of that nutmeg. Alton Brown would be proud. As a final touch of perfection, cue a chef’s kiss, no sweetener was needed!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Flavored Pu-Erh
Where to Buy: Numi Tea
This velvety infusion combines black Pu∙erh tea and organic cocoa. Accented by whole vanilla beans and sweet orange peel, this decadent blend is rounded off with nutmeg and cinnamon for a spicy finish.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Yunnan Golden Strand Spring 2011 from Stone Leaf Teahouse
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Stone Leaf Teahouse
Tea Description:
Jinggu, Spring 2011
Smooth, velvety, nutty
The most delicate combined with the robust; a skilled harvest of just the tips of the tea plant, exposed to the outside world for one day, then processed as black tea. Features characteristic earthy tones of Dian Hong, yet yields an incredibly soft, sweet cup. Notes of grape, slight pepper, and olive.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This Yunnan Golden Strand Spring 2011 from Stone Leaf Teahouse has the sweetest bready flavor. It reminds me of raisin bread, or fig cake. There is even a yeasty quality to the sip that makes it even more like a true gourmet baked good.
While it is sweet, very sweet, there is something interesting about this tea that brings it toward a savory note as well. I do get the olive note that is mentioned in the description, and just a light taste of black pepper, which is very nice, but I also taste bulgar wheat, and milo.
The mouthfeel of this tea is heavy but not thick. It fills the mouth and has a near creamy feel, but with all the sweetness it finds a way not to become syrupy. It has a clear finish.
The leaf itself is beautiful, one of the lightest colored Golden Strand teas I have encountered.
Other notes worthy of mention are caramel, cocoa, fruit, hay, cane sugar, indeed it is a strange brew, but quite delicious.
Stone Leaf Teahouse never fails to provide tea of the highest quality.
Darjeeling Second Flush Rohini Black from sTEAp Shoppe
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Darjeeling. Black
Where to Buy: sTEAp Shoppe
Tea Description:
Rohini Second Flush Black Tea delightfully smooth full bodied mouth feel. Cocoa notes with highlights of almond and spice delivered in a baked bread. Warm and inviting gliding over the palate pleasing your every whim. As with all of the high quality Darjeeling teas this tea remain inviting for several steeps.
Rohini is a well established Tea estate, though the estate did remain closed for a period of 30 years the Saria family revived it in 1994. The garden is divided into four; the lower Jaberhat, mid elevation of Kotidhara and Pailodhora, and Tukuriya which is the highest in elevation. Tukuriya division which is located at an average elevation of 4400 FT and stretches right up to Kurseong town. The teas from Tukuriya are made from tea bushes that have remained there for more than 100 years.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Darjeeling Second Flush Rohini Black from sTEAp Shoppe offers a lighter darjeeling with a deep lurking presence.
Upon first sip you will get a sweet raisin note, a light grape essence, not nearly as muscatel as some Darjeeling, and you may even think that it is a rather light, bright, tea with a clean finish. But wait… sneaking upon your unsuspecting taste buds is a rich, full mouthfeel, almost creamy, velvety, with a nutty, woodsy, backdrop of flavor.
There is a honeyed sweetness to this Darjeeling, and while my palate does not detect cocoa notes as in the description it does offer a wonderful hint at almond, and fig.
The more the tea cools the fuller and more robust it becomes, almost as if it thickens.
I could see this tea being quite excellent iced, but it requires no additives and I feel adding any thing, even sweetener, would ruin this perfect cup.
Janet at sTEAp Shoppe offers up another winner in this Darjeeling Second Flush Rohini Black.