Tag: Pu’erh Tea

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Global Tea Hut – March 2018 “Swirling Mist”

March 2018 “Swirling Mist” 2004 Sheng Puerh by Global Tea Hut
Pu’erh / Straight
$20-30USD/month

Global Tea Hut has provided me with their March 2018 issue of Tea & Tao Magazine with a sample of “Swirling Mist” for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

When I was first contacted by a representative of Global Tea Hut, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. A tea magazine? Why not! It came to me in the post from Asia, so it did take a little while to reach me in Canada. The magazine is a beautiful 60+ page magazine with full colour, glossy pages, and no advertisements. The March 2018 issue talks about several different locations where tea is grown, harvested, and processed. There’s even a full feature on the tea of the month, as well as a feature on a Tea Wayfarer, which I’ve come to learn is a regular feature on a Global Tea Hut member.

“Swirling Mist” is a 2004 Sheng Puerh, it came to me in a metal tin that’s lined with rice paper to help protect the tea. The aroma from the dry leaf is actually very mild, I found it to be a little bit earthy. There were some leaves that were heavily compacted, just from how the puerh was made into a cake.

Preparation

Global Tea Hut recommends steeping Swirling Mist in 98°C (208°F) water and suggested steeping it gong-fu method up to 20 times. It’s a bit of a time consuming method, consisting of very short steeps. I opted to steep in 100°C (212°F) water for an initial steep of 2 minutes.

First Taste

Swirling Mist steeps to a dark gold colour. I found that it had a smooth, pleasant mouthfeel. There’s some earthiness in the flavour – something that reminds me of mushrooms, and also sweet plums. It makes for a very pleasant cup of tea, and I don’t say that very often about pu’erhs.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Swirling Mist a total of eight times (nine steeps total). I found that the flavour stayed strong and consistent throughout, until about the sixth resteep – which is when the flavour started to decline a little bit. I added an extra 30 seconds for each additional steep and found that the tea stayed smooth and enjoyable throughout each steep.

My Overall Impression

I loved Global Tea Hut’s March 2018 issue of Tea & Tao Magazine along with Swirling Mist. I really enjoyed reading the magazine, and learning more about the kind of places where tea is grown and harvested. The pu’erh was a really nice treat to have, I’ve been disappointed in the past before with pu’erh tea, so I was very pleased that I enjoyed this one. I think for the cost, you do get good value if you are interested in learning about tea farms and the process of making some of your favourite teas.

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Davidstea’s S’mores Chai

S’mores Chai by DavidsTea
Pu’erh Tea / Flavoured
$8.98 for 50g

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First Impressions

When I first heard about DavidsTea putting out a S’mores Chai, all I could think was the fact that I really wanted to taste some marshmallows over an open campfire (huge fan of s’mores here!) so of course I had to get my hands on some of this tea. S’mores Chai smelled delicious in the store, the dry leaf honestly smells like a s’mores with the smell of chocolate and marshmallow. I don’t really smell graham crackers, but it’s forgiven because it does remind me of s’mores. The pu’erh base gives it a nice nutty aroma.

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S’mores Chai consists of: pu’erh tea, brittle pieces, cinnamon, sugar, marshamllow, chocolate chips, natural and artificial flavouring. The label suggests that the tea contains hazelnuts, but where? Perhaps in one of the flavourings.

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Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping S’mores Chai in 194-203°F (90-95°C) for 4 to 7 minutes. I steeped it at 200°F (94°C) water for 5 minutes.

First Taste

S’mores Chai steeps to a cloudy reddish brown, with an oil slick on the top from the melted chocolate. The tea smells like s’mores, which is quite delightful. On first taste, there’s an oily mouthfeel (from the melted chocolate) and it tastes a bit chocolately with some nutty flavour. It’s a slightly watery version of hot chocolate, with the sweetness of marshmallows. I didn’t really enjoy the tea straight so I added it some sweetener, and milk to make it a latte. It’s delicious as a hot latte and would highly recommend it.

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If you’re interested in learning how to make tea lattes at home without the use of a fancy machine to froth the milk, check out my tutorial on how to make lattes at home using a glass jar (and a microwave).

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A Second Cup?

I steeped S’mores Chai a few times and found that the flavour wasn’t as rich as the initial steep. I would say that S’mores Chai is good for only one steep only.

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My Overall Impression

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I liked DavidsTea’s S’mores Chai. I loved how this tea smell, it smells just like s’mores! This tea is excellent as a hot latte, and would highly recommend it. However, this tea didn’t taste remarkably well as a straight tea and I didn’t enjoy it. The addition of milk helps temper the oily mouthfeel that was the result of the melted chocolate chips and make the tea more enjoyable. A s’mores-flavoured tea is okay in my books and I greatly enjoyed it as a treat. I think this makes a great dessert latte.

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Grand Tea’s Chenpi Loose Black Pu-erh

Chenpi Loose Black Pu-erh by Grand Tea
Pu-Erh Tea / Flavoured
$36.00HKD for 25g

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Grand Tea has provided me with Chenpi Loose Black Pu-erh for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

I haven’t had the greatest of experiences with pu-erhs, and I’ve never had one that was aged inside of a tangerine, so I was a bit apprehensive about trying this Chenpi Loose Black Pu-erh from Grand Tea. If you’re not familiar with how dried citrus peels smell like, you’ll get a good whiff of it from this tea when you open up the package. If I had to describe it, I would say it smells quite subtle compared to a fresh orange or tangerine. You can smell that it was a tangerine, once upon a time, but it’s aromas have become subdued with time.

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Chenpi Loose Black Pu-erh is aged pu-erh that was kept inside of a hollowed out tangerine. Each unit of tea comes with some of the peel. The peel is still supple, and you can tear it into smaller pieces to steep with the tea leaves for added flavour.

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Preparation

Grand Tea recommends steeping in 90-100°C (194-212°F) water and to do two rinses with boiling water prior to steeping for 1 minute. The rinsing process is to remove any dirt or debris in the tea. I rinsed twice and steeped according to the instructions.

First Taste

Chenpi Loose Black Pu-erh steeps to an incredibly dark amber colour, but in my tea pot it looked quite dark – nearly black – before I poured out a cup. The aroma of the tea is warming and inviting – there’s the soft aroma of the tangerine/citrus, and there’s an almost woody aroma to the tea as well, which I’ll attribute to the pu-erh base. There’s some great earthy notes to this tea, which go great with the woody aroma. It has a bit of musty flavours, something that reminds me a bit of meaty mushrooms (think portobello), which all get wrapped up with a warm citrus flavour. There’s no sweetness here, it’s a completely savoury tea and it’s quite enjoyable (yes, I’m saying that about a pu-erh tea).

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A Second Cup?

I resteeped Chenpi Loose Black Pu-erh a few times (four steeps in total), and found that the citrus/tangerine flavours were fading by the second resteep and almost completely gone by the third resteep. It still had a great warming quality to it, and it still had the rich earthy notes in the flavour.

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My Overall Impression

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I liked Grand Tea’s Chenpi Loose Black Pu-erh. I’m still not a convert when it comes to pu-erhs, but I genuinely liked this one a lot better than the last time I tried (which was a raw pu-erh). I think the tangerine peel made a difference for me, the flavour just balanced out the earthiness of the pu-erh and led to a very well balanced cup of tea. I enjoyed the richness in this tea, it tastes quite good. I think it’d go really well with a heavy, savoury meal. There’s also this lovely warming quality about this tea that I quite enjoyed, it’s a characteristic that I find often with tea blends that have ginger or cardamom, but it was in this one as well and it was nice on the palate.

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