Pu-erh Chai

SNOW!!!! There is a light dusting of snow on the ground and this makes me happy. I might feel like utter garbage today but I am so happy because of snow. I suffer from SAD, Snow Absence Depression, if it is Winter I want there to be a constant blanket of snow, I really think I need to move farther north. Today’s tea review will warm you up vicariously if you are in a cold climate and, well, if you are somewhere warm just remember that it is frequently very warm in India, Chai’s homeland.

Yes, it is still Pu-Erh week, but I am bringing in a bit of spice! Pu-Erh Chai by Golden Moon Tea is a mix of traditional Chai spices and aged Pu Erh, and can I just point out that their website is very helpful with notes on who would like this tea and various features of the tea. Bravo, Golden Moon Tea, you get one of my (not really since I just invented it) coveted ‘Awesomely Helpful Website’ awards. The aroma of this tea is deliciously spicy cardamon and cinnamon blended with rich earthiness of Pu Erh, the spices are well balanced and blend very well with Pu Erh’s natural aroma. There is also a mild underlying ‘Asian Market’ aroma and an even fainter metallic hint.

The brewed tea leaves’s aroma is richly earthy, loamy and oaky with strong notes of cardamon. It is like the blending of a forest floor and spice and that is an unusual but wonderful combination. Oddly it is one of those teas that reminds me of my time mushroom hunting, you would be surprised how many mushrooms smell spicy. The liquid is also very rich and intensely spiced, mostly cardamon. There is also an underlying creaminess and notes of oak wood, less forest floor more fresh cut wood.

The taste is very sweet, like spiced candy. I mostly detect cardamon with a surprisingly gentle hint of cinnamon, there is also a very rich earthiness. There is absolutely no bitterness at all, this tea is very smooth, I almost feel like I am drinking silk. All of the flavors present in this tea are well balanced and when paired with the traditional cream it turns into a decadent Chai experience that is unlike any other I have ever had. There is a gentle oaky aftertaste that fades into a lingering loam, the mouthfeel is surprisingly tingly since it feels like the tingle of a lot more cinnamon that was present in the taste. This is a new favorite Chai!

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2013/12/golden-moon-tea-pu-erh-chai-tea-review.html

This is one of the most interesting teas I’ve ever tasted, so much so that I don’t really trust my score. Normally, I take a few sips, and I have a pretty good idea of what the tea is going to be like, what to expect from the rest of the mug…y’know? But this tea kept me guessing ’til the very end.

The first thing I smelled when I cut open the packet was cinnamon. Bleh, I don’t like cinnamon. But the very next time I inhaled, I hardly smelled any cinnamon at all. This time, it was cardamom. Meh, I’m not a fan of cardamom, either. But again I couldn’t write the tea off, because it changed again! This time what I got was almost fruity in nature, but more fruit punch, not the “smooth citrusy bouquet” the packet claims.

Steeped, the tea’s flavour was just as variable as its fragrance. One sip tasted all cinnamon-y, another tasted kinded of fruity, another tasted a little earthy (eh?), another a little like…rooibos (whaaa…?). It all tasted good, but more than that, it was just…interesting! The sample wasn’t nearly enough to figure out this tea. I’ve added it to the shopping list for further study.

This tea has terrified me since I 1st heard about it, but I decided to try this Fri. afternoon after getting into Seattle since it was only $2 and the profits of the coffee shop go to support New Horizons Ministry.

16oz of unknown temp/1 bag (bag?!) for approx 5min. Clean

Very light chai, but it was balanced by the light dirt like flavor of the shu base. I did not hate it- in fact, when I get my sampler I wanna try this w/ milk.

I didn’t write any tea reviews in ages :D
Here’s one of the tester Golden Moon packages that I found in my office drawer.
I think I never tried pu-ehr in leaves like this, I always drank the one that came pressed in little balls. And it was always quite weird. So I’m looking forward to this one!

The package smells more like chai than pu-ehr :D
OK in hot water it smells more like pu-ehr, I can barely smell chai :) I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this smell. It’s quite nasty animal-poo-like smell ;)

But, oh well, let’s give it a try…

OK, it’s actually quite tasty. The aggressive pu-ehr goes along quite well with aromatic chai. I can taste both in this blend. And it’s quite even…
The tea itself is really dark colored – like pu-ehr’s. It’s kinda sourish. I’m lacking sweetness. Unfortunately I don’t have any milk here. I think this one could be fabulous with milk and honey. Pretty sure of that.

But all together I’m quite satisfied with this tea. It might be the pu-ehr I liked most till now. 7-8/10-ish

I’m walking barefoot in a damp, musty rainforest where theres not much sunlight that strikes through to the ground.

Thats the experience I had drinking this blend. It is nothing that I’ve tasted before. The liquor is fairly thick and dark. I had this with skim milk and brown sugar. Delicious. It is growing on me more and more. I’m sure this would be tasty with chocolate as well. Yum! :)

GM Sampler of the day. After blasting GM about their ingredients in their Kashmiri Chai, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the Pu-erh Chai, the cardamon pods were actually whole and full of tasty seeds. The smell of the dry tea was very un-chai-like; a faint hint of cinnamon and a sort of basement mustiness. It brewed quickly to a dark fruitwood brown. The taste was very mild with a hint of cinnamon and none of the spicey kick of other chia mixes (I’m talking about clove, black pepper, & ginger spiciness). The underlying pu-erh tea was a perfect complement and I enjoyed this combination better than I did for both GM’s pure Pu-erh sampler and Kashmiri Chai.

A note on how I drink Chai’s: I treat a Chai mix like any other black tea and generally drink it without milk or sugar. For those that I have experience with, more than a single sample batch, I might add a touch of sugar to help bring out the spices. But initially, its straight up, served black :-)

Just got the Golden Moon sampler last night, so I’m excited to dig in. After spending most of the week with Den’s subtle greens, I wanted to move to a tea that would smack me in the face with its flavor – hence the choice of Pu-erh Chai. I’d normally drink anything called chai with milk and sugar, but in the interest of unbiased tasting I resolved to do the first half of my little pot without any additives, and then put in the cream and sugar to see how that changed my perception of the flavor.

The first thing to comment on is the generosity of the cardamom – when I opened the packet I counted five fat pods in there. I was a little wary of the “spice oil” in the ingredients list but what the hey, let’s give it a try. I used boiling water and steeped it for four minutes and ended up with a very dark, coffee-colored liquor. Cinnamon is strongly present, and after a few sips I’m willing to bet there’s a good dose of clove oil in there; I’m getting that tingly numbing sensation this substance usually gives me. Cardamom is making an appearance, and there standing in the background is the earthy pu-erh flavor, not nearly as strong as I would have expected. Much more subtle than the pu-erh I’ve had in the past.

Okay, second half of the pot with milk and sugar. Now that’s better! It looks like hot chocolate now and tastes almost as good. If anything though the pu-erh flavor is buried even deeper and mostly shows up as an aftertaste, which makes me wonder: Why would I choose this over regular chai? I don’t yet have a good answer to that…

Score goes up for the flavor, but comes down again because of the “what’s the point?” factor.

Ehh, this one is okay but nothing to write home about. I am already picky on my chai blends to start with since there are so many different variations out there and this one is mainly just cinnamon… a lot of cinnamon. The pu-erh wasn’t as nice and earthy as Golden Moons original Pu-erh, this reminds me more of fall leaves. Also due to all of the cinnamon this is a bit bitter from it and I can pick up on a light citrus note which I think is a bit weird in a chai, but to each their own! …This is just “ehh”, wouldn’t recommend anyone to go out and purchase this one.

UPDATE – after drinking this more as it cools the more I feel like I am gnawing on a cinnamon stick. Added some milk and honey and now it really reminds me of a cinnamon stick!

Not bad, very sophisticated rich flavor profile. Very earthy you can taste the age if that is even possible. It is very tasty. The cinnamon and cardamom are bold but not enough to take over the tea. I made this black but will try it with milk and sugar another time and will report back. I so however wish there was a bit of a stronger presence of the spices.

Sometimes one just needs a stern tea. Pu-Erh Chai is that for me. I like the strong black liquid, the spices and the salty, musky taste combined with the strong black tea. It helps me get up and do what must be done.