Aloha Pu'erh

Disclaimer: I do not like pu-erh. I should qualify that. I have never tried a pu-erh that I really liked. I have tried flavoured and non, loose leaf and brick-style. I wouldn’t say that I have ever tried top of the line pu but I have no desire to either.

A while ago a friend gave me the David’s Tea pu-erh collection. Which is 8 little containers of different flavoured pu’s. About enough for 2-3 servings of each tea. I hummed and hawed over trading it or giving it away, but I thought because it was a gift, I should at least try the teas. And my friend kept asking me how I liked the tea, so I think I have to stop telling “white” lies and actually try it. In saying that, I did drink the other two teas she got me, so its only half lies – right?? :P

This is the first one to try from the box. I have to admit, I have read a lot of reviews on this so my hopes were no where near high.

On dry smell, it is not too bad. A bit tropical. There are what appears to be coconut shavings and dried fruit mixed in with the tea.

When brewing it appeared that the “coconut shavings” melted and it looked like congealed fat floating on the top of my mug – yuck. After steeping there was no more congealed fat but there was a thick oil slick left over floating on top of the tea trying to trap any fish or birds that got too close.

The smell of the dry tea is like super dried up nuts, no sweetness, very dry type of smell. Almost smelled dusty.

On first taste, I have to admit it is not horrible, but it is only tolerable. I do not get that pu earthy taste but it does taste dusty to me. There is a dry, nutty flavour, which could be coconut but doesn’t have the sweetness or wetness of coconut. There is a slight kind of fruity flavour, but it is more like dried fruit that has been sitting out too long and doesn’t have much taste left. Astringency is left on my palate.

Anyway, not my favorite for flavour, but willing to try. I didn’t expect to like it so that might have tainted my review.

Edit: Just realized my “coconut shavings” were actually white chocolate shavings. Ha, explains a little bit, but not a lot.

Sipdown!! (161)

Whiskey Buzz sent this to me to try and at first I did not mind it but more and more I am realizing that, for the most part, pu’erh teas are just not for me. I find that for some reason the earthy fermented tea tastes just a little bit too much like dirt. For instance, this is sweet and pineapple-y but it tastes like someone dropped the pineapple first. Well, you live and you learn and what I have learned is I am not a huge pu’erh fan and that is okay. Anyways, thank you Whiskey Buzz for sharing this with me :)

Maybe it’s because I’m new to pu’erh but it seems to me that this tea isn’t as awful as everyone has led me to believe. It’s sweet, it’s slighty creamy and then that smooths over into something earthy.

Maybe I’m just used to artificial flavouring? Or I don’t know how good this should actually be? I’ll probably have a better idea of what pu’erh should be like after I receive my sample from Butiki but for now I’ll play around with the few samples I bought from Davids.

Now, where do I file my Pu’erh teas? I probably should rearrange all my sachets in the boxes and get more containers, but buying more storage containers just means that I’m accepting the higher number of teas that I have. :| Better to just have them strewn on my counter and annoying me so that I sip and make room to file them away! #newplan

Mmm… I like that this is earthy and not fishy!

My roommate said this tasted like the Indonesian medicine she had as a kid.

I thought it was ok if I didn’t breath through my nose. It has the puerh trademark fishiness, although it isn’t as heavy as I’ve experienced elsewhere. In theory I should love this; it has a candied tropical fruit flavour and a creamy, white chocolate body. It doesn’t work for me however, and it’s not because I dislike puerh (it’s great every once in a while). This comes off tasting a little medicinal, a little artificial, and very off.

Eh, it does succeed in reminding me of Hawaii- fruit, cream, Kona coffee, fish, and all, but I don’t know if this is the right combination of it. Maybe this would be better on its second steep but I don’t really want to find out.

Edit: I like this a bit more cooled down. It’s creamy on its own but it might be ok with milk or as an iced smoothie/latte.

every time i’m about to steep this, i think of momo’s review:

“why did they think this was okay to make?”

it has an oily top coat. probably from the candied fruits. or the white chocolate more likely.
it’s not as awful as all that. but really a puerh can be so much better than this.

Am pretty glad I only got a small amount of this one. David doesn’t do pu’erh to my taste so I went into this tea with trepidation . . . and I was right, but for different reasons. Normally all I get from their pu’erh is fish and count me shocked to discover that I didn’t this time, dry or brewed. I love how this tea smells in the bag, all fruity and delish. But brewed its just too dark of a pu’erh for me and the more I sip the more I’ve decided I really can’t finish the cup.

Dry Leaf Nose: Creamy with an earthy note followed by a fresh fruity aroma that gives this blend a very balanced nose.

Liquor: Golden and opaque.

Flavour: Sweet, creamy, slightly fruity and underpinned by an earthy shou pu’erh. The liquor is well balanced and quite sweet, full bodied. The creamy note and the fruit dominate but the earthy pu’erh still shines through.

why did they think this was okay to make?

Ha Ha, not surprised to look up this tea and see it has a 44 rating. I’ve never seen anything rated that low, but I totally know why!

The smell alone is enough to clear the room. Holy smokes! And I’m around 1 kid that still wears diapers, so yeah, I know stinky smells.

Thanks Shmiracles! This was a fun tea to laugh about :-)

I’ve been avoiding this because, well, I didn’t like it the first time around. I pout the rest of this in my mason jar in an effort to finish off my little packet, and it worked! Sipdown for me! (388/378)

Usually an oily film on a tea doesn’t bug me, but combined with the white floaters from the chocolate, it’s a huge turn off. It smells…weird. Like old, earthy, white chocolate with a side of…feet. Ugh.

I don’t understand how this was considered a good idea. Earthy, fishy pu-erh with pineapple and chocolate? shudder

So…yeah. It tastes like pineapple feet.