Pluff Tea Company

This is a sipdown. I didn’t care much for this tea at first, but I saw a review from Mark that said you need to double the leaf. Once I did that, I enjoyed this tea.

The sad thing is that after having enjoyed many cups, I didn’t enjoy the last one much because I have a cold and can’t taste things properly. I had made soup for my daughter’s birthday gathering and had my future daughter-in-law ( :) :) :)) taste it and she said it was perfectly seasoned, but when I tasted it I just didn’t get a thing. There was even a pinch of cayenne in it! And the tea was simply smoke and nothing else. It wasn’t the fault of the tea, just the absence of any ability to properly taste food or drink.

Ah well, if it had been a different tea I would have tasted nothing at all, so at least I got to taste a bit of smoke! Good tea when you know to add lots of extra leaf.

I think my last review went under the regular Bohea heading from this company, but I think they are the very same tea. I doubt they change the blend for different historic sites.

I wasn’t really drinking this much because the base was so weak. Then I saw a review by Mark. He said he had found the sweet spot, which was double the leaf, boiling water, five minutes.

I gave it a shot today and he was right. Now I can finally taste the tea in this cup. The smoke is still light, but the base got amped up enough to make for a nice breakfast cuppa today. And it didn’t need milk to tone it down, or sugar to tame or sweeten.

It still isn’t my favorite Bohea ever, but I can drink it. I am somewhat befuddled as to why they used Ceylon tea for the base since Bohea (pronounced boo-hee) is a corruption of the Chinese word Wuyi, which is where most of the early colonial tea came from. I realize that Bohea became almost a synonym for tea, so perhaps it was applied to Indian tea as well. I prefer the Chinese base.

Thank you, Mark. Now I don’t have to send this packet packing!

My daughter and son-in-law came to celebrate Mother’s Day early with me today. My gift was this tea plus one other from Colonial Williamsburg, and a sugar cone! Our local German grocery sells them as Zucker Huts, which is really fun to say.

My eldest daughter doesn’t really care for black tea, but she loves green tea, white tea, and matcha, as well as some puerh tea. She likes coffee, so I thought this one might appeal to her. I liked it – it is a mild black tea with light smoke flavor though heavier smoke aroma. There is a clear, light, sweetness to the base which seems very like – if not the same as – the base for their Lapsang. Her husband does like smoky tea at all, but she liked it and had two cups with me. This was good, and was definitely a lighter Bohea than the other two I have tried.

I tried both teas, but I don’t know if I can bring myself to unwrap that lovely sugar cone in the blue paper!

My eldest daughter and her husband just went to Williamsburg, Virginia and when they saw this tea they thought of their “little” traveling companion from last fall….her youngest sister. Youngest daughter loves hearty teas like Assams, Irish Breakfast, and Lapsang Souchongs….the stronger the better. They brought home a packet as a souvenir for her.

It is reasonably priced at 10.95 for four ounces. The dry leaf smell reminds me of smoked bacon.

Steeped, the clarity made me wonder if we should have given it a little more time, but the taste says we did it perfectly. This is light and sweet, with a clear, fresh water taste, like filtered cold water when you are thirsty. The smoke is present but not very strong. The base is sweet. It reminds a bit of Upton’s Black Dragon. I dare say this could be a favorite Lapsang for me.

Nice lightly smoky tea. I got this from Colonial Williamsburg’s online store, which sold teas in 1/4 lb amounts only ($10.95). I really enjoyed this cup, which had a delicious woodsmoke scent and a medium body, with a clear sweetness like the taste of real spring water. I drank this neat, without milk or sugar.