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“I’m a pu-erh novice – I’ve tried a little, but not very much. This is the first one I’ve ever liked, though. I wouldn’t have ordered if it didn’t come in a sampler pack I ordered, but I’m glad it...” Read full tasting note
“So I walked past the store today and saw that they have a $1 straight tea sale, and couldn’t resist! and I’d also forgotten that I have a sample in my cupboard! I could have had the yummy assam...” Read full tasting note
“This is my first time trying a pu-erh. I know the experience of a DavidsTea pu-erh will be greatly different from that of a high quality pu-erh, but I had to get my foot in the door just a little...” Read full tasting note
“I can’t help but try and defend this tea. It’s a very mildly flavored pu-ehr with amazing earthy aroma nothing short of mountain soil. On tasting it you can easily taste the young roots and meadow...” Read full tasting note
China’s wonder tonic
For more than 1,700 years, the Chinese have been drinking pu’erh – especially as a digsetif after a heavy meal. It is traditionally aged underground, and as with fine wine, the older it is, the more prized its taste. This particular tea is part of the new school of pu’erh production. Called a “cooked” (shou) pu’erh, it’s heated and fully dried to simulate aging. So unlike some pu’erhs, you don’t have to rinse the leaves before. It’s smooth, earthy and very strong, with a hint of dark honey. (MK Kosher)
Ingredients: Chinese pu’erh tea from Yunnan Province.
DavidsTea is a Canadian specialty tea and tea accessory retailer based in Montreal, Quebec. It is the largest Canadian-based specialty tea boutique in the country, with its first store having opened in 2008.
I’m a pu-erh novice – I’ve tried a little, but not very much. This is the first one I’ve ever liked, though. I wouldn’t have ordered if it didn’t come in a sampler pack I ordered, but I’m glad it did.
I do get a lot of the fishy smell that other people are getting, but I don’t get it in the taste, which I’m glad for. (Although maybe I am and just don’t know it – I’m a vegetarian who doesn’t eat fish!) And it’s not fishy like a fish market would be… more like taking a walk in the woods near an ocean? There’s definitely an earthiness that comes out, especially on subsequent steeps.
But the liquor, true to its name, is definitely a beautiful golden-red color. It tastes very earthy, especially as it steeps more and more times (I’m brewing this gong-fu before class in the morning – I knew I wouldn’t have time to finish a mug, but I could do a few smaller cups!)
It’s very earthy. I don’t know if I’ll order it again, but it’s not a sample I’m running to get rid of.
So I walked past the store today and saw that they have a $1 straight tea sale, and couldn’t resist! and I’d also forgotten that I have a sample in my cupboard! I could have had the yummy assam bandaspaty instead*sighs*
Anyhow, I’m glad I gave this a go. It’s very fishy at first, but then less so as it cools. Very earthy to. I steeped it for too long, so it’s a little biting.
There is a natural sweetness here to, which I don’t find in all pu’erhs.
Funny, the sample I have at home isn’t fishy like that… I wonder if it varies per batch?
Oh well. I’ve raised the rating a tad. ugh and I’m feeling a bit queasy. I find that comes with the fishy note in pu’erhs. Well, can’t have everything right? C’est la vie!
I’ve only ever tried Pu-erh at David’s Tea and I always get the fishy smell and feel kinda nauseous. Thus, I gave up on Pu-erh! Greens sometimes make me queasy too, actually. It’s a bit of a bummer.
apparently that’s a characteristic of lesser quality pu-erhs. I too was turned off for awhile… and then I got the sampler package from Jerry Ma, and wowsa- I was hooked! his teas are exceptional.
Oh and I get that from greens sometimes as well! :/
One thing important with puerhs is to rinse the leaves first, I am not sure if they’d do that at DT or if that would in fact get rid of the aforementioned smell. I for one realized that the best tasting puerhs come from tuochas, any loose leaf ones I tried were at best mediocre.
yes, I agree! and I don’t think they do rinse. Some of the girls at teaopia do, maybe I should try their pu-erh next. Most of the tuochas I see are so expensive… it kinda scares me haha
Hear ya on that one, not to sound like a promotion but I usually get my tea at Tea Dynasty, I like their prices and the guy at the counter is super knowledgeable. He sold me pieces of tuocha before so I didn’t need to buy a whole one. But I am actually thinking of getting my first yixing pot for puerhs along with a nice tuocha for self present :D
ahhh lucky you. I’ve seriously cut back on my tea budget these days. It’s out of hand and I need to use up what I have! esp those samples I got from Jerry. I have been craving a visit to TD though! I miss that place. and the counter guy to, he’s really nice!
This is my first time trying a pu-erh. I know the experience of a DavidsTea pu-erh will be greatly different from that of a high quality pu-erh, but I had to get my foot in the door just a little bit.
Yup! There’s that fishy smell everyone was talking about! I decided to try to not let it get to me, since I read the smell isn’t really in the flavour of the tea. I’d have to say I disagree. Although it’s a lot less strong, there is fishy flavour to this tea, but it’s balanced out by the smoky/earthyness of the rest of the flavours.
I really like the smoky/earthyness but the fishy flavour kind of gets to me. I don’t know if I’ll ever restock this tea but I’ll still drink it, and maybe blend it with some of my favourite teas to see how that is. I’ve also read it gets better after more steeps so I will try that out in the future as well.
Update: I didn’t keep this, I ended up returning it. As I finished the pot I just couldn’t get over the fish taste. Being a vegetarian too it was really weird drinking something that tasted like fish. I know there’s not actually fish/fish oil in it but still…
Maybe I just got a bad batch because other people didn’t pick up on fish flavour as much as I did, but still, I’m gonna change my rating and hope that I can find a yummy not-fishy pu-erh from somewhere in the future.
I think rinsing may get rid of that flavour. Haven’t tried it myself on a DT puerh though.
Noordelijk- It took me a while to realize what people meant by the fishy quality of some Pu-erhs. So far I have not found it offensive or undrinkable. I am recenly drinking more Pu-erhs, but still just beginning to branch out with them. If you want a cooked Pu-erh with no offensive “fishy” taste, I would recommend this one-which I recenly reviewed. I think you’ll like it! I would send you some, but I received a sample in a tea swap, and it’s gone ://
Here’s my review:
http://steepster.com/teas/bana-tea-company/23925-denong-wild-2010
Ew, fishy smell and taste in tea? No way. Its awesome they let you return it.
Thanks @ScottTeaMan I’ll look out for that one!
@CupofTree Yeah DavidsTea lets you return things! It was bought from the store though. I don’t know if they do online returns.
yeah I figured. Lucky lucky you for having one near you! I only have teavana and they don’t let you do anything of the kind. :(
Noordelijk, I would recommend you try a Camelia Sinensis pu-erh such as the ‘1998’. The great thing about it is that it’s more earthy than fishy, yet incredibly comforting. Have fun discovering Pu-erhs! You can really taste the ‘time’ in those :)
I can’t help but try and defend this tea. It’s a very mildly flavored pu-ehr with amazing earthy aroma nothing short of mountain soil. On tasting it you can easily taste the young roots and meadow grass. Resteeps easily for at least 3 times keeping the flavor (getting milder and gaining more of a fresh hay taste). One point I must bring up is the “pu-erh effect”, this tea definitely delivers an amazing rush. The best I can describe it is feeling instantly refreshed, clear-minded and gathered. If you need a coffee in the morning to wake up and you are trying to find a tea that will match that I cannot recommend pu-erhs highly enough. No caffeine crash, no jitteriness, no thoughts all over the place – just pure clean energy. In fact try having a 3rd or later steep short time before bed, you just might learn something new about yourself or solve that problem that has been bugging you forever. This is my first pu-erh and I am forever in love with this sort of tea. I would definitely recommend this particular one to anyone who wants to jump into amazing world of Pu-erh.
or try drinking it right before a meditation, will do that next
Thank you, Ryan, I will definitely try that. This note is a little dated, I’ve had my share of puerhs in a mean time and I’d recommend trying a tuocha puerh if you haven’t yet had a chance. If you want to get more into straight Chinese teas try finding a dedicated store around you for that, David’s Tea is good for quick purchase but there is better tea out there definitely. If you’re in T.O. I could recommend a couple, let me know!
Would definitely be open to recommendations!
Tea Dynasty – (http://www.tea-dynasty.com/) – Yonge/Bloor
Sanhe Kungfu Tea Shop – Yonge/Erskine
Tao Tea Leaf – (http://www.taotealeaf.com/) – Yonge/Rosedale
All three of them have an extremely knowledgeable people working so it’s always a lesson in tea for me any time I come :)
Thank you! Will definitely give them a call. Do you know any places in the NYC area you recommend?
This is why I don’t like pu-erh.
To me, this tea taste like I made a generic Ceylon tea, and then added low sodium fish sauce. I am finding the brewed tea smells and tastes kind of “fishy” Not raw fish, but like seaweed paper maybe. It also has a kind of canned mushroom-y taste.
I know this is most likely not “good” enough pu to judge whether or not I like pu, but for now, the answer is no thanks.
I fixed a pot of this yesterday afternoon and promptly fell asleep, so I drank it later on in the evening warmed up in the microwave (wince). In between the nap and the drinking, it lost that pu-erh fishy, earthy smell. It didn’t smell like much of anything at all. Surprisingly, it didn’t taste like much at all. Mainly like strong tea. Not leathery, not fishy, not musty or earthy. Weird. It was a definite reminder of the way that smell impacts the taste.
I resteeped the leaves this morning after reading that pu-erhs are good resteepers. This cup has more of the pu-erh flavors and scents. Definitely musty and earthy. Not bad, actually. I am quite enjoying it. I was really skeptical after I opened up the bag of tea and took a whiff. It was really fishy and off-putting. I don’t know that pu-erhs will ever be a staple in my cupboard, but I definitely wouldn’t mind trying more.
Here fishy fishy fishy!
I swear I felt like Ernie sitting in his boat when I smelled this one brewed. I’d even tried rinsing before brewing, hoping that it would make a straight pu’erh drinkable for me. But nope. I did two sips and just couldn’t do anymore. Pu’erh is definitely not a type of tea I can do straight right now. I’ll revisit them later in my life but right now, they are definitely not for me.
I can’t stand the fishiness of David’s Pu’erhs. I put up with it, for lack of a better option at the moment… but I’ve noticed the other local tea vendors tend to have better quality options in this particular category. Once I’m allowed to buy more tea, I’ll be investing in some for myself! :P
Hmm, maybe I’ll give them one more chance, then. I DO like David’s Oh Christmas Treat so it isn’t a 100% ban from the collection.
Next time you are downtown, I’ll take you to Tea Dynasty… they have some serious tea there and the guy who runs the place will sit and talk for hours while he gives you free samples :P
Oooh, that sounds lovely! (Why do I foresee I doing massive tea trips? :D)
The only way to describe this is that it tasted like earth. It was almost like you could taste the Chinese Yunnan caves it was grown in. It was amazing. I did three infusions and it just got more delicious. By the end I had a natural tea high, and it could feel the positive energy. Overall, great, I can’t wait to try some higher end Pu-erhs.
First steep:
Boiling for 5:45
Second Steep:
Boiling for 6:15
Third Steep:
Boiling at 9:00
Thought I would try for a little longer to say how strong it could get. Since, it was the third steep it wasn’t a whole lot stronger than the first I did at 5:45. I let it sit out to long and it was not that good at room temperature. Next time I will do the first steep at 9:00.
