Cherry Pu-erh

This was a surprise in the mail from the talented GMathis! First of all, it came in this amazing card!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24998856@N06/8342846753/

Second, I really do like puerh. This is a funny thing because I dislike coffee, yet when I have a guest who says they really don’t like tea but love coffee, I serve them puerh and they love it! I was told puerh was an acquired taste, and while the smell of the first fishy Tuocha I bought scared me, I liked the taste from the get-go. Then when I found better quality puerh, I was eager to get to know more.
I like unflavored puerh just fine, but most of the flavored ones I have tried have been good.

This one is more exciting because I have loved everything I have tried from Nature’s Tea Leaf.

I steeped this in boiling water for about two minutes. I don’t mind my puerhs being inky black so that was a short steep for me! But the smell….ah, the smell. Even in the card, it smelled so good and juicy. Last night, I kept it beside me and sniffed and sniffed.

I am not a fan of weird cherry flavor. I don’t care for Cherry Coke. I don’t like rooibos because it tastes like cherry cough syrup to me. I love good cherry flavor and lay in a stash of cherry lollipops at Valentine’s.

This tastes like my Black Cherry Matcha! Well, the cherry part does anyway! And the puerh is a beautiful grounding for it and they have blended it just right. I could have sworn I even got a little natural chocolate-y flavor in the base. There is no fishiness at all – this is an nice earthy puerh. Good golly, this is tasty! I made 16 ounces and swilled it down in no time! This has great balance. If you are afraid of puerh, you should try this first!

This is great puerh and is the first real rival for position with Lupicia’s Chocolate Strawberry Puerh. I will be serving this tonight for Writers’s Group. (We really should name ourselves. Maybe it should have something to do with tea!)

I have been trying to whittle down my stash but every time I try a NTL tea I think, “Well, this has to go on the list for my first order.” Same for this one – it is definitely on the list and is probably also going to be the birthday gift for my puerh loving friend.

Contentment. Warm, full, mildly sleepy, schlepping around in sweats in the early afternoon.

This tea is as cozy as your favorite fleece blanket. The earthy pu-erh is a perfect base for the cherry flavor. Gives it a wonderful black cherry personality. Not artificial tasting at all. Another Nature’s Tea Leaf winner!

Spdown! Figured thiswould be a good one to have since I’m not well today…both the piers and the cherry being strong enough to it through any sick that might be messing with my taste buds. Haha I was right. While this is a pretty good puerile blend from natures tea leaf, I’d prefer to see if they have a flavour other than cherry since this one is a little artificial tasting as you go through the package. I love that the puerh taste doesn’t get drowned out by the cherry flavour! Over all a really nice tea from natures tea leaf, just would rather a different flavour :)

This is the final sample from the BBBB, sent by Sil.
The Badaxx B*t@hs Black Box
The Bodacious Babes Black Box
Call it what you like, LOL
Honestly, I took one look & said…“Cherry” :p
yeah, I really did stick my tongue out.
But actually, it’s not bad! The cherry is fairly laid back, so it doesn’t go all medicinal on me. The Puerh is kind of a bland one, but oh well, after it’s not bitter! So I guess it wasn’t me! Or maybe I addressed my bitterness, & the super tasting went away?
Want to know what my bitterness was? My kitchen floor was a disgusting filthy mess. I’m not a great housekeeper, & with all the gardening & cooking & tea drinking that goes on in my awesome kitchen, the floor is rarely pretty. So I steeped this tea while I swept. The I let it cool to taste while I mopped (it only took 5 minutes? Why do I always think it’s going to take so long?) Then I drank my tea while the floor dried, which actually took longer than the mopping. Go figure.

Having the flavored pu’erh of the afternoon as I’m still wondering why I have two boxes full of pu’erh that I never seem to drink! Since they don’t really go stale I guess they aren’t exactly at the top of my “must drink soon” list. I don’t like this as much as the orange blend I had yesterday, to me the cherry tastes too artificial. I wonder if I will ever finish off the bag I have of this?

I’m glad it’s Friday though ’m just feeling tired, for an unemployed person I am pretty busy with classes, volunteer work and applying for jobs. I think BF and I are going away for the weekend and it will be nice to just get away for a while. :)

I accidentally steeped this for a long time. Six minutes maybe? I’m not sure, it went way over my timer, as Mum had asked me to help her with something and it slipped my mind. Oops!
No matter, the tea was great. Really!!! I love cherry, and I love tart cherries even more! And boy was this tart. Not overwhelmingly so mind you, and I could definitely taste the puerh. Like one of those sour cherry candies. Mmmm. No sugar required.
Also, it’s a really nice change to have a flavour besides orange, chocolate, or toffee associated with puerh. Thanks TeaBrat for the sample!!