236 Tasting Notes
When I first tried this tea I thought I liked it and I ordered a canister of it. Since getting the canister I’ve found that I don’t like it as much as I thought. It may be that I am over-steeping it but it has a strange taste to me.
Typically I like green teas, white teas, yellow teas, and black teas but haven’t much cared for oolongs. On the other hand, I love Golden Moon’s Coconut Pouchong tea, which is also an Oolong. So I’m not certain what is up with me.
Fortunately, I have more of the Sugar Caramel Oolong and can experiment with steep times and temperatures.
It sounded so wonderful in the description but it is disappointing in person. The tea is harsh and, while the spices are fragrant in the bag, their flavor rapidly falls away once the hot water is poured upon the leaves.
It’s a “be brave” day. I’m trying pu-erh again. This time it’s the cute looking little tuo cha nests. I have followed the directions rigorously. I’ve boiled my water to 212 degrees. I rinsed it in boiling water then steeped it for six minutes.
The pu-erh tea is thick and black. It smells of leather and grass with a slight sweetness. I added creamer to it as I do to all of my black teas. It isn’t too bad, which is not to say that it is all that good either. Still, it doesn’t smell or taste like dung, which is my previous pu-erh benchmark. There is a slight saltiness and the leather smell carries through to the taste. It still turns my stomach over, though.
I think this is a pretty definitive test. I am a failure at pu-erh appreciation. Does anyone want the rest of the pu-erh sample?
It took me some time to get used to pu-erh, but now I quite like it. You might want to try something that’s got some other flavor to it – I’m a big fan of Samovar’s Blood Orange Pu-erh, myself.
boiling water is only 212 degrees.
Puerh definately takes getting used to. Try skipping the creamer next time though. What did you brew it in? I prefer making my puerh in a gaiwan so that the steep times are much shorter.
Sometimes the problem with a pu-erh is that is has not aged long enough. Throw it on your shelf and come back to it in 5 years.
No, I’m not kidding!
http://teamasters.blogspot.com/2006/02/what-pu-erh-will-age-well.html
P.S. Good pu-erh will not take getting used to. :)
Ones I’ve tried and would recommend include Rishi’s Green Pu-erh Tuo Cha, Pu- erh Ginger, and their new Pu-erh Vanilla Mint.
Pu erh I have found is def. hit or miss, and once you find one, savor it all you can, you may not be able to find it again!
Thank you all so much for your advice. This latest pu-erh tasted ok, but I had the same problem I do with almost every pu-erh: I drink it and then I throw up. The only one that worked out ok was a pu-erh combined with black tea, cocoa, and spices. My guess is that the quantity of pu-erh was small enough that I didn’t react that way.
If I am to throw the remaining pu-erh on a shelf and come back to it in five years, how should I store it? Does it want to breathe or be sealed up tight?
Thanks for the advice Oh Cha. I may try the Pu-erh Ginger since I currently use ginger tea to settle my stomach. So maybe the combination will work well together.
Remember when I said that the Chai Agni was a bit disappointing since it didn’t have enough heat and spice? Well that was apparently due to the sample. Perhaps it didn’t come with enough chilis. I ordered a full sized tin of it and the chilis are warming the cup quite nicely. It is a wonderful chai that balances the various spices perfectly. I can see that this will become one of my favorites.
is the decaf chai the only one w/ chilis?
Strangely enough, it seems to be. I went looking for a Chai Agni that wasn’t decaf in Upton Tea Imports but couldn’t find one. I have plans to do a more thorough search.
I absolutely LOVE a chai w/ chili or crushed red pepper flake! As long as it has no fenel or anise;) Let me know if you find a good one that isn’t decaf:)
I will keep my eyes open and let you know! (Plus I will quickly buy some for myself.)
I finally thought to email upton and they said they do not have any caffinated chais w/ chili. So I told them to get on it. And I told them that we need a chai spice mix (sans tea) w/ chili in it because I’d love to mix it w/ Adagio’s chocolate chip black tea.
The fragrance is marvelous, like mulled wine. However, the tea itself is somewhat weak with more tannin than I like. I probably won’t be getting more of this one.
It was a very hard day and night yesterday and I’m still shaky. So I’m having the Pu-Erh Chai, which is a very serious tea that speaks to me of being grounded on Earth and not burning up in flames of anger or fear.
This is the first Pu-Erh I’ve had that I truly do like. Mixing it with black tea and chai spices was inspired, I think. The earthiness of the Pu-Erh, which has a muskiness in this blend, is sweetened by the tea and spices. The Pu-Erh taste that is so upsetting to my senses when I drink it plain is moderated. The chai spices which can sometimes overwhelm the tea are damped down as well. It is a happy blend that makes all the parts better.
For something that should be as theoretically simple as boiling [or near-boiling] some water and sticking some leaves in it for x number of minutes, getting certain teas right where you want them can be deceptively difficult. Nearly everyone who talks about making tea uses the phrase “making tea isn’t rocket science.” I think that maybe I even have. But on some days I’m like, “WHAT DO YOU KNOW? MAYBE IT IS! MAYBE IT IS EXACTLY LIKE ROCKET SCIENCE! And uh…please tell me it is because then I won’t feel like such an idiot.”
On a different note, Sugar Caramel Oolong sounds delightful. Let me know if you get it sorted out.
Probably not like rocket science. More like organic chemistry. ;)
I plan this weekend to spend some Oolong time with thermometers and timers. I’ll let you know how it comes out.