Pu'erh Tahiti

I loved this tea back when I first bought it, so I stupidly hoarded it. Now a lot of the tropical flavor has faded, which makes me super tea-sad. To rescue it, I had to add a bit of rock sugar, refrigerate, and then mix with an equal amount of seltzer. The result is actually a pretty tasty tea soda. The tropical flavors are still pretty muted and there’s more earthiness than I generally like, but it’s quite refreshing.

This must be an old sample. The coconut has that old soapy taste like coconut gets when it goes stale. I’m getting a combo of that and perfume. The aftertaste is very patchouli like… earthy perfume. I’m not digging it, but I’d give it another go with a fresh sample if I came across it.

Backlog:

I am excited about the changes that Simple Loose Leaf is making to it’s format. Then again, I’ve always enjoyed this company. I hope that these changes are something that works well for them.

Here’s my full-length review of this tea: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/07/03/pu-erh-tahiti-blend-from-simple-loose-leaf/

I’m not always excited to try pu-erh teas. It’s a thing … that goes back to my earliest experiences with pu-erh teas that were not exactly “positive.” Since then, I’ve learned a lot about the best ways (for my palate) to brew pu-erh and I’ve learned to appreciate them and even actually like more of them than I’ve disliked. But there’s still that … memory of the bad. You know?

Anyway … if this had been the first pu-erh I tried, I think that I would have fallen in love with Pu-erh at first sip. This has a really lovely tropical flavor to it. Earthy, sweet, juicy, tropical. Lovely! Notes of mango, papaya and coconut.

Really tasty!

Backlog from last night.

I tried this tea yesterday as part of my Sunday Tea and Books series. When I got this as part of my June subscription box, I got two large envelopes – so much that I figured I’d never finish it all and placed one of the two unopened envelopes into the GCTTB3.

How much I regret it now! This makes a great iced tea.

I’m still fairly new to pu’er teas, and new to pu’er blends in particular. This one smelled really interesting to me, as the normally earthy, somewhat damp and leathery scent of the plain leaf was transformed by the addition of the flavoured ingredients. The aroma when I opened the bag of dry leaf was really sweet, smooth, and creamy – almost like peach-flavoured yogurt, or even cheesecake.

Both cold and hot, the flavour of the tea is very true to the scent of the leaf: creamy, fruity, and somewhat tart, like it’s had some sort of dairy added, even though it hasn’t. Underneath it all there’s the earthiness of the pu’er base. I know this is hard to describe, but given the tart, creamy smell of the tea, it feels like this one is playing a little joke on my tastebuds, doing the ol’ switcheroo. Dare I say that the tea is somewhat…puckish?

Well, if you like A Midsummer Nights Dream this tea might suit. The full Sunday Tea and Books post is here: http://christinavasilevski.com/2014/07/sunday-tea-books-puer-tahiti/

This was a sample with my $1 Simple Loose Leaf trial that I sure appreciated! Between requesting this and trying this one though, I’ve realized I’m not much of a fan since it is exactly the same as an Adagio blend I tried. This isn’t really the pu-erh for someone new to them to try. It might scare possibly pu-erh fans away. I really love pu-erh. The other day I think I realized they might be on the same level of love as black teas! WHAT?!?! How could that be? I guess I’ve been drinking some good ones lately. The flavor of the pu-erh here is a bit on the dusty side to me. Not on the strength a nice pu-erh should be. The leaves are loose, long and twisty which might be why. The fruity flavors with this one are nice with it, because without I think the pu-erh itself would be terrible. But the hints of fruit make it better.

Of course I had to choose this tea as part of my Simple Loose Leaf Selection club. PU’ER!

Hot, it is mostly ripe pu’er flavored backed with coconut with a light fruity finish – good if you want some pu’er with a tropical twist.

Iced – this is where this tea shines – it’s fruity mango papaya upfront, coconut finish with an interesting earthy background. Kinda similar to drinking a black tea, but more rich and earthy. I’m sure I could serve this to my iced tea friends and they’ll dig it.

Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/june-simple-loose-leaf-tea-selection-club/

For this tea we have a blend of Pu’erh, Apple, Coconut, Natural Coconut Flavor, Marigold, Mango, and Papaya Flavor. Long ago I had a tropical themed Pu’erh and was not the biggest fan, so lets see how this one compares. The aroma is a blend of mango sweetness, nutty coconut, and a tiny bit of earthy and metallic Pu’erh. The coconut has a bit of that ‘old’ coconut oil aroma, it is not off putting and it is very faint.

The taste, oh man, it is so sweet! Very strong notes of mango and papaya. This fades into very strong notes of coconut, and this lastly fades to a mild earthiness at the finish. I certainly enjoyed this one more than my last tropical Pu’erh, it is very sweet (which I like) and tastes like some of my favorite fruits.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/06/simple-loose-leaf-june-subscription-box_7.html

This was the sample I chose for the May Simple Loose Leaf box.
This is interesting. Caribbean flavors in a mild pu’erh base. It’s ok. The pu’erh adds a bit of depth to the flavors, but isn’t really prominent. I couldn’t really pick out the individual fruit flavors, but it was fruity, with some coconut.
I will probably choose this for the June box, because there really isn’t much else I’m interested in…

This tea was good but I didn’t find it particularly memorable. It possessed the earthy tones of a classic pu’erh, although quite mild in my opinion. The fruit naturally sweetened the cup but I didn’t get a good sense of the tropical flavors that give this tea the name Pu’erh Tahiti.

I chose this as my sample for next month’s Simple Loose Leaf selections because it sounded interesting, but puerh’s make me a little nervous because when I don’t like them, I really don’t like them. Why not find out for sure?

And now that I’ve had some, I think I’ll select this one after all!
It definitely has that smooth earthy taste you would expect from a puerh, but it’s also bright and tropical! I can taste the creamy coconut, and fruity papaya. It’s not a blend I would have thought of, but it works!

So far I’m off to a good start with my subscription!