Crème de Menthe

Woo! My tea from Herbal Infusions came in today, and I also got my huge mystery stash package from Janelle. It had a lot of teas from DAVIDs in it that I’d never tried, so I’m pretty excited to run through them all.

My cupboard is up at 119 now though. :O

This tea smells really amazing. I hope it tastes as good.

Ok, this is interesting. I mean it’s a puerh blend, and I didn’t think puerh would work with mint, but this sorta does? It adds a bit of weight to the creamy mint. I like this. It’s very relaxing and smooth – not what I expect with all that earthy puerhness… I guess the vanilla and licorice help to tone that down by adding a bit of sweetness. It’s a good thing I like licorice!

And the licorice in this is much nicer than it is in the chocomint oolong that came out this year.

ETA when this cools, the licorice really starts to dominate it the blend, so it’s best enjoyed warmer IMO.

Argh, still have another cup of this left! Anyhow, although I’m not a fan of minty teas in general, I figured I’d put some effort towards drinking down some of my 2011 Advent Calendar samples, and besides, I hadn’t written a note on this one!

Admittedly, the aroma’s actually not bad. Kind of vanilla mint-ish, which I actually tolerate fairly well (if not enjoy, when I’m in the right mood). And the flavour matches the aroma very well, just minty with vanilla – I can’t even taste the pu’erh! It’s just there as a nice base, but I can’t even pick out it’s earthiness. Obviously this is another inconsistent pu’erh from DT, as I see that other people mention that it smells like fish/dirt, which mine doesn’t at all (but I’ve had this problem with DT’s Oh Christmas Treat, so completely understand).

As long as this isn’t one of the discontinued blends, I’m thinking it might be another that my mom would be happy to try. She loves mint, and pu’erh, and liked another vanilla-minty tea I gave her over the holidays (aside from asking “is this a black base? I can taste it!”)

Ok… the only issue I’m having here is that it tastes like there’s sweetener. AKA licorice or fennel, or something of the sort, and it’s hitting me in the back of the throat, and it’s not super unpleasant, but I would prefer it wasn’t there.

ETA: Second infusion not too bad, more pu’erh, less mint, but still the sweetness in the back of my throat.

Thanks Daisy Chubb

I am afraid tho

It smells like, dirt, fish, and spearmint. It looks like tar.

The amount of mint flavor-wise is MUCH appreciated…it sits well on the tongue. Any less I would have had to dump the cup. It’s this cuppa’s saving grace.

I like the mint, can’t taste the creme, the pu-erh smells awful, but it’s not as bad as I thought it would be based on several reviews. I’m a mint freak tho. I can finish the cup but wouldn’t order it.

Very glad I got to try it tho :)

I am on a mission to drink up some of the smaller samples I have so that my tea cupboard will be a tidier collection of teas that I actually want to have around, instead of samples that I keep ignoring in favor of teas that I prefer.

And it’s not that I don’t like this one – it’s creamy and minty and tastes like Christmas. I feel like I should be sipping it in front of a roaring fire, watching the snow fall. Which is partly why I want to drink it up, I only have enough left for one more cup and it is definitely not a summer tea.

With the licorice and vanilla and cinnamon, this one still smells like a ginger cookie to me. It’s very odd, but I don’t mind it at all. Better that than the stinky feet, dirt, fish smells that other people are getting. Yay, allergies?

Ugh. Oh boy. I can drink it, but only if I don’t smell it. I have yet to develop any love or even tolerance for pu-erh, and even this mint flavoured tea is no exception. The steeped smell is slightly light wet dog, fish and dirt..the taste is more of creamy mint with a hint of cinnamon spice, but if I smell the smell at all while I drink it…Ugh! I could maybe get used to it, but it’s not my thing. I will try to finish the rest of my sample, but I’ve got so many other teas to enjoy, that drinking those I don’t really like seems foolish.

My rating, by the way, is largely skewed by the smell. If I could have the taste without the smell, it would get a 60ish.

I chose this tea at random and noticed that it contains licorice root…oh joy :s The Licorice Twist from earlier didn’t settle in my stomach for very long. Yuck!

Once steeped it smells like a cheap scented candle that is confused about what scent it’s supposed to be because it’s been stored next to many other scents. Candle tea is not appealing in the slightest. I really hope it tastes better than it smells otherwise I wont be able to drink this.

It has a mild Pu Erh base (mud, clay and wood) with sweet vanilla and mint tones that disappear quickly in the after taste. It tastes as candle like as it smells though too and I just can’t get passed it. My husband also agreed it smelled like candles.

I can’t drink it, having to tip it away.

I’m currently watching Season 1 of Game of Thrones while I’m drinking this tea. Off with his head – Mwhahahahaha! ;D

The clean, cooling mint makes an unusual counterpoint to the earthy pu’erh, but in this case it seems like opposites do attract as they manage to work very well together. The pu’erh gives the tea a cocoa-like note that brings to mind mint chocolate chip or something similar and the vanilla, while subtle, smooths down all the sharp edges of the flavours.

I don’t have any of this left, but I wanted to say that I didn’t hate it, not at all. I didn’t get any fishiness out of it, and I thought it was pretty true to its namesake! If they’d have still had it in stores I would have bought some more, but last I checked it was only online, and probably disappearing fast.

I remember thinking that all of the ingredients did a good job of hiding/blending with the pu’erh, because I’m probably not a huge fan of pu’erh. I mean I doubt I’d drink it straight! Anyway, I’m a bit sad to see this go, but again, not so sad that I’d buy some online so there you have it!

Dumped a spoonful of spearmint in this and I am so relieved. This is the tea I had wanted when I first tried this tea. It’s still not amazing, but the extra mint drowned out the WTFcinnamon, and it’s creamier. I’m enjoying this cup, and I’m glad to have found a way to drink this tea, but this is definitely not one I plan to restock. Like the Cream of Earl Grey, I want more cream. Oh well.

Ok first I’m not a fan of pu’erh the muddy and fishy taste is really not my thing so i decided to do a 5 seconds wash before steeping it for 4 minutes.
I think it really helped with the fish after taste.
It’s actually a tea I could have like because the mint and cinnamin was really well balanced but there was a strange after taste and it was all i could remember after each sip so I after reading the the tea description it hit me. The licorice ! Nooooo that same annoying after taste as the disgusting (in my opinion) Bravissimo (but really less… Intense).
Again thr licorice killed it for me i will niw have to accept that licorice in tea is something i will never like. Oh well.
But really not a bad pu’erh but also doesn’t taste like a typical pu’erh ( but hey I’m not a pu’erh specialist so correct me if I’m wrong.)

Oh and i decided to add a dash of milk at the end and i think it brimg out the creaminess a little.