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I am definitely a total amateur when it comes to pu-erh, so this won’t be the best info for real pu lovers. This was another sample sent by a certain someone. Thank you!

When I first smelled it, I thought I could detect a bit of muskiness (the kind of musk in some nice incense) and some smoke. I don’t like smoke, so I was nervous about tasting it. It does have a bit of a smokiness to it, but it goes very well with the other flavors, is very mild, and isn’t the main flavor, so I don’t mind it. I’m not sure how to describe the other flavors. It’s very interesting (again, note that I’m not a regular pu-erh drinker). The description says it’s a mellow tea, and it is fairly mellowing. After having a few slurps of it to get used to it, I think I might be tasting a little sweetness – a sort of sweetness I just naturally associate with tea. To me (my tastes run into the sweet and spicy, typically, so take that into account), this tea is definitely savory. This isn’t what I’m used to, but I think I might like it. This would be a nice one to try if you’re a pu-erh novice and don’t mind a little bit of smokiness.

I thought I’d do this one while drinking it, as long as I was online. It’s another sample I got from John. Woohoo!

The first taste was…interesting. It wasn’t what I expected, though I wasn’t completely sure what to expect. It was strong and in-your-face. I slowed down, taking little sips at a time (like wine). I can definitely taste the tea, a bit of grape flavor, and the wine flavor. Kind of green (leafy/vegetal) and sweet, but definitely not too sweet. The aftertaste is definitely sweet and grape-y/wine-y. Very interesting. Complex. I’ll have to try another cup or 2 before I decide whether or not to add this to my shopping list. licks lips

This was part of a variety of samples sent to me by a friend, who does happen to be here. Thank you again!

I wasn’t sure how strong it was going to be, so I tried it with food – something I don’t normally do. Since it affected how I tasted the tea, here’s what I had with it: a little dish of Boston cream pie-flavored yogurt (basically like vanilla) with a bunch of David Rio instant chai mixed in and a bowl of those Tasty Bite Madras Lentils (if you haven’t had them, they’re savory and spicy, but not hot-spicy) with a whole wheat hot dog bun (sweet) underneath and pepper jack on top. On its own, the tea tasted…well…basically like black tea (I’m not the one to ask about plain black teas). After the sweet yogurt, the EB tasted a tad towards the green side, which was very nice; however, it tasted more towards the other (fermented?) end after the lentils, which I was surprised by and still liked. After it got cold, it was still the same to me, except it was cold. This would be worth trying to drink with meals or snacks just to see how different foods affect the taste. That was interesting.

I used to dig green tea but haven’t had nice plain green tea for a while, so I might be a tad biased or weird on this.

I heated the water until it was hot but not boiling, but I didn’t actually check its temperature or anything. It worked just fine, though, so…yeah. I brewed it and strained it into my mug. It was very nice. So…green. That’s all I can think of. It was all the things I used to love about green tea, and it reminded me why I had liked green tea. Very tasty. If I think of just how to describe it in more detail (it’s so hard to find the words, but I loved it), I’ll probably log it again. Would be worth getting in the future.

This log brought to you by the man who sent me a sample of this. Thanks, John!

This has been one of my favorite teas in my stash since I first found it (I think that was in the middle or late-middle of last year). I could review this without having just had a pot of it, but I just had a pot and wanted to log this before making another pot.

I brew it in my pot with with boiling water for 5 minutes. Of course, as time goes on (it takes an hour to 3 or even 4 hours for me to drink a pot because I enjoy it slowly), the flavor changes. At first, the rose and the cardamom stand out separately, and the tea has a kind of kick, like it has black pepper in it (it apparently doesn’t). The flavors do tend to blend after a while, and it keeps the kick. After blending, it tastes spicily floral with a nice kick (it keeps the kick all the way through). I like it the whole way through, but YMMV. It isn’t what I’d call sweet, by the way.

I’ll get off now and have another pot. I sometimes like to listen to Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” while drinking it. Heh. That’s fun.

I only had 1 bag of this, which my non-tea-drinking mom got in the mail free with some Hawaiian black sand. I drank it yesterday, but it left an impression. I can still write about it.

I didn’t let the water get hot enough, so I let it steep longer than the recommended 1-3 minutes. I’m weird. Anyway, it was sweet. I thought I could taste the macadamia, but I’m really not sure what all was in it. It wasn’t coconutty, which was nice for me. It was hard to describe, but it was definitely sweet. For all I know, it could have had rooibos in it. There was something in there that wasn’t sweet (wasn’t bitter), but I couldn’t place it. It was definitely more than coconut (if it actually had that) and macadamia! I wasn’t sure when I was drinking it whether or not I thought I tasted fruit in there. It wasn’t floral. It confused me quite a bit. I probably won’t be looking for it to buy.

This was my second time trying it. Poured my first cup out of the pot after 5min 30sec, and the average time between cups was about 13 minutes after that, especially since some things came up. 1 pot was about 11 of my little cups, and the pot took about 2 hours to drink all of.

At the beginning, the pepper was the most noticeable thing, but the berries and flowers did become stronger after a couple cups. The 6th cup was sort of weird, but the flavors started blending and getting along after that. After a while, I started noticing the floral tastes more and, after a while longer, I noticed the pepper more again. As with any pot of loose tea I have, the last little partial-cup was bitter, but the rest was yummy. Definitely different. When the pepper is in the foreground, it’s not sweet, but it gets sweeter as it tastes more floral. As with any tea, your mileage may vary, but I did find that I liked it the second time I tried it.

Do not expect Earl Grey from this tea. It does not taste like Earl Grey. To me, it tasted more like peach-flavored black tea, which I like the taste of. As they say, your mileage may vary. I liked it once it got cold, too, but, again, your mileage may vary.

The steeping time I put in was for a pot (2 or 3 cup pot) of it.