Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh
Where to Buy: Teasenz
Tea Description:
SMOOTH, FRUITY with ORANGE AROMA: A beautiful tea for the adventurous tea drinker. Definitely a master piece resulting from aging pu’er leaves in a hollowed out wild orange (clementines). Simply a must-have for any pu’er tea collector.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Even though I am rarely “excited” to try a pu-erh tea, I have to admit that I was a little excited to try this Wild Orange Pu’er Tea from Teasenz. Especially after opening the foil packaging and seeing the dried tangerine casing. Maybe it’s silly (my husband would say “nerdy”) of me to think so … but these tiny dried oranges filled with pu-erh are just … so cool and clever!
But how to prepare this tea? I can imagine someone new to tea might find the tangerine casing to be a bit confounding. And to be perfectly honest, I can’t tell you if I did it “right” or not … but I’ll tell you what I did.
Since I brew pu-erh in my gaiwan, I cut away the tight cellophane wrapping from the dried tangerine, and then I took off the little “lid” of the tangerine and cut into the side of the fruit. I cut off a portion of the dried tangerine peel, and then I scooped out some of the dark tea leaves and I put the bit of tangerine peel and the scoop of dark tea leaves into my gaiwan.
Then I brewed it the way I would normally brew pu-erh: with a quick 15 second rinse, and then I started infusing. My first infusion was 45 seconds, and then I added 15 seconds to each subsequent infusion. I got eight tasty infusions out of this one bit of Wild Orange Pu’er.
And from someone who tends to be timid when it comes to pu-erh, I like the tangerine flavor that the casing imparts on the earthy tea. The fruit notes balance out the earthy tones without making it taste too “sweet” and without making it taste as though it’s been artificially flavored. The tangerine comes through, providing notes of sweet and hints of tart.
If I had to choose just one word to describe this tea, that word would be mellow. The flavor of the tea is sweet with notes of deep caramel, but overall, it’s a very smooth and mellow taste. There is earthy notes but it doesn’t taste brine-y or fishy. The orange notes are also mellow, but they do a little more than just mellow out the earthy tones here … the tangerine also brightens the overall flavor.
This is definitely an ideal pu-erh for someone who – like me – tends to shy away from pu-erh because of its strong earthy overtures. The fruit notes soften the earthy notes … bringing a taste that is neither too fruity nor too earthy. This is just right. Even in the subsequent infusions, as the fruit notes tend to taper, I found that the tea kept it’s mellowness and did not ever taste too earthy.
A true delight!
Master Han’s Wild Picked Yunnan Black Tea From Verdant Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Verdant Tea
Tea Description:
Master Han is a remarkably talented crafter of wild picked pu’ers and black teas whose workshop and ancient plot of tea forest is an hour’s walk to the nearest gravel road in a national forest preserve. We were lucky enough to meet him at his first tea conference. Tucked away in a hidden corner behind slick modern displays with uniformed reps from Xiaguan and Menghai, Master Han and his young apprentice seemed apprehensive about the operation. We were on our way to a panel on gongfu brewing when the sheer beauty of a bag of his wild-picked black tea caught us in our tracks.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Verdant Tea is among a handful of tea purveyors that I consider to be the very best, and so when I see that they have a tea that I haven’t yet tried – like this Master Han’s Wild Picked Yunnan Black Tea – I am quickly putting that tea in my cart when I am tea shopping!
The tea brews up lighter in color than I expected … or perhaps the word I’m looking for is more transparent. It is a transparent copper color … not really “pale” … just not quite as dark looking as a typical Yunnan black. The aroma is rich and sweet.
On the website, the first taste mentioned under “notes” is grape, and indeed, that is the first taste I noticed when I took my first sip. Not really a “muscat” grape that you’d experience from a Darjeeling, this tastes more like the grapes that my grandparents used to grow in their backyard when I was young. They were the kind of grapes with seeds in them, and the flavor was less sweet than the seedless grapes you find in the grocery store this time of year. It was a more complex tasting grape … something that I wasn’t really able to appreciate a lot as a kid (back then, I just wanted the sweet, seedless grapes!) but, now I find myself missing that unique flavor that you simply don’t find in the grapes that are readily available today.
There is a pleasant sweetness to this cup, but it is not the caramel-y sweetness that I often associate with a black tea, nor is it a molasses-y or a honey-esque sweetness. This is more like a fruity sweetness, like a crisp, sweet apple. The tasting note on the website suggest a “linen” like flavor, and I get that too. What I’m really enjoying about this tea is that the more I sip, the more flavors I discover. There is a pleasant malty tone to this cup, but, without the strong sense of caramel-like flavor, it is a “thinner” kind of malty taste.
I found myself searching for the olive oil notes … and by mid-cup, I recognized a flavor in there that remind me of that taste. Sweet and slightly spicy.
This is seriously unlike any Yunnan I’ve ever tried. It has some familiar Yunnan qualities to it, like a malty, spicy tone, but … the best way I could explain this is that it has some of the dark qualities of a Yunnan, combined with the complexity and smooth, soft textures of a dark Oolong.
It’s really quite a lovely experience … one I’m really glad I decided to try when I found it on Verdant Tea’s website. And I notice that the supplies are limited of this tea – so if you’re interested in trying this truly unique Wild Picked Yunnan Tea from Master Han … you should order it quickly before it’s gone!
Yunnan Beauty Oolong Tea from Mandala Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Mandala Tea
Tea Description:
This tea is a variation on a Taiwanese oolong named “Oriental Beauty”, utilizing large-leaf wild arbor Yunnan grown leaves. Nearly black leaves and silver tips impart a dark, sweet, wine-like flavor unto the water. Great no matter how you choose to brew it. This tea is quickly becoming a favorite in the tea thermos. It will keep well and develop new flavors over 2-3 years.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This Yunnan Beauty Oolong Tea from Mandala Tea is a very forgiving tea! I accidentally brewed it at too high a temperature (boiling water!) because the sampling that I received said “Yunnan” and I saw leaves that were large and black and I thought … Alright, this is a black tea. So I brewed it the way I would normally brew a black Yunnan!
But the flavor is amazing, regardless of this oversight on my part. The flavor is sweet, rich, and has a lovely woody tone to it. The sweetness is fruity with notes of molasses. I also notice a toasty nutty taste to this as the tea starts to cool down a little bit … still warm, but, not quite as hot as it was when I started sipping. A hint of caramel also weaves its way through the sip every once in a while, too.
There is a very pleasing sweet wine-esque note, complete with a muscatel-ish taste that … had I tasted this without knowing what it was, I might have guessed a Darjeeling, or at least an Oolong that was grown in the Darjeeling region. After reading my Sister’s review (Azzrian!) of this tea, I see that she’s probably not going to agree with that last part, but, that’s OK. Since I brewed this tea “wrong” … perhaps the way I infused the tea brought out the flavors I’m experiencing.
The mouthfeel is silky smooth. This is one of those teas that I’d want to brew up a big pot of, and just keep sipping on all day long. The leaves will submit several infusions as well, so be sure to resteep!
A really delightful tea from Mandala, I’d recommend this to all Oolong enthusiasts out there – it’s a deliciously different Oolong that will delight your palate!
Blueberry Wild Child Fruit Tisane from Tiesta Tea
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Fruit Tisane
Where to buy: Tiesta Tea
Tisane Description:
The popular pomegranate superfruit demonstrates its best attributes in a tag-team duo with the fruity blueberry. This delicate twosome will invigorate your taste buds with a very fruity taste experience with extraordinary eye appeal with its robe of royal blue cornflowers, blue mallow blossoms, hibiscus, and elderberries.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
I am usually fearful of tisanes with hibiscus in them, mostly because too often, the hibiscus is overdone and the result (especially if oversteeped!) is a thick, syrup-y, overly tart tasting tisane that is really off-putting to me. Fortunately, that didn’t happen with this Blueberry Wild Child Fruit Tisane from Tiesta Tea.
I brewed this in just under boiling water (195°F) for six minutes. I found that this produced a really delightful cup of naturally caffeine free tisane that is sweet, fruity and not too hibiscus-y!
Sure, I taste the hibiscus, but, it melds nicely with the blueberry and does not overpower the cup. This tisane is not syrupy, unpleasantly thick or tart. It is just right! It is a little bit tart, a little bit sweet, and a whole lot of flavorful! The body is what I’d categorize as medium to full … it is substantial without being thick and syrupy.
What I taste, primarily, is blueberry! I also taste hints of pomegranate, hibiscus and even a wine-like note that I attribute to the elderberry. The apple is barely noticeable, but, I think it adds a pleasant sweetness to the cup that it really needs given the tart berries (not to mention the hibiscus) in this blend.
Overall, a very enjoyable cup. Something I didn’t expect to like, but I really do! For something a little different, try adding some bits of cinnamon stick to the tisane before brewing – it gives it a really nice touch of spice!
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!