Chocolate Pu-erh

I finally found another tea person at work, so I’ve been bringing her teabags of things to try, and today she brought me this, which I haven’t tried before.

I was a bit skeptical about grocery store bagged pu’erh, since that tea type is already not my favorite, but this is surprisingly pretty nice. It is very earthy and almost a little vegetal but it doesn’t taste “dirty” or “fishy.” I’m not getting the cocoa very strongly, but it does add a little richness to the base and the spices are quite lovely… the nutmeg is really popping for me which gives it a nice autumnal vibe.

I’m not sure if this is something I’d always keep in my cupboard, but I certainly wouldn’t mind a box of this around autumn when the mornings are frigid and gentle spices are so comforting.

Second tea from Devon handmade advent calendar. Thank you!

Well, my tummy is upset today, my back hurts… it seems I maybe caught something on the vacation. Hopefully it’s not Covid. But there was some fever in the train including gastric flu. Maybe that’s it… or I just jumped too hard back into work or it is something completely different.

As pu-erhs can be good for digestion, or at least it is sometimes claimed, I was happy to see it. I was ready for really robust, strong and full-flavoured tea.

However, it was somehow weak? I have steeped it for recommended 5 minutes but it was quite flat and not much chocolaty at all?

It was rooibos-y with hints of cinnamon for me. But alas, my senses are not up to par, so I won’t rate this one.

Tea box sample. The main flavor here is chocolate. It’s mild and pleasant. I don’t really notice any puerh flavor. The chocolate isn’t the richest or tastiest, but it’s nice with milk. I feel like I taste a few spices in there as well. Really, it all goes together pretty well and has a bit of depth I wasn’t expecting. The resteep was decent as well. Before this, I didn’t realize Numi made loose leaf.

Cuppa #3

This is heavy on the spice. I’m only getting a bit of chocolate, but it’s playing off nicely against the spice. There’s big cinnamon and nutmeg, and a surprisingly nice base. Wow, I wasn’t expecting this to even be drinkable. Hell, I half bought this just to see how bad it could be. But it’s actually good? Out of my three mugs so far today, this is the best.

You know what this tastes like? Pumpkin Spice Hot Chocolate. I’ve never had that before, but the flavor tastes very much like if you blended hot chocolate and pumpkin spice. It’s tasty. I can’t believe I’m recommending a bagged Pu, but this is really good. I mean, as with all these bagged teas, I will never beat out loose leaf, but I really think I could stash a few of these in my purse and enjoy them on the go. Good stuff.

Solid B.

So this is teabag #5/6 that I’m having tonight.
4min 212F
smells of cinnamon and nutmeg
tastes of cinnamon and nutmeg, maybe a hint of earth in the aftertaste
I wouldn’t call this a pu-erh. It tastes like a cinnamon tea. Their Emporer’s pu-erh is better.

The other teabags I finished today: Sakurambo (black), Darjeeling 1st flush -Lupicia; Jasmine green, Earl Grey – Rishi. #6 – will be Momo oolong Lupicia

Sipdown. After the 6th teabag, my tea count will be 251.

So, derk was going to send me a few pu-erhs to try. This turned into a sampler box with a huge variety! Thank you!

The brewed tea has a very subtle smell, possibly the pu-erh.
Ooh, subtle pu-erh flavors and subtle cocoa flavor. Of course, I prefer a stronger cocoa flavor. looks at chocolate bar on his desk with 90% cocoa solids Still, I like how the flavors are in balance, and it’s pretty amazing for a bag of tea I could pick up in a grocery store. Mmm.

Thank you Derk!

I had seen Derk’s review on this and wanted to try it but I just couldn’t pull the trigger on buying a box of it on Amazon. I admit I didn’t have too high expectations but I was really hoping it was going to be decent. I know I like Numi’s toasted rice sencha so wondered if I’d like this one too.

This is good. I really like it. Nice cinnamon, nutmeg notes, some other spices. I don’t really get chocolate per se (maybe cocoa dust) but I haven’t really found a chocolate tea that tasted like chocolate lol. I taste it more in unflavored teas, to be honest.

I’ll get a box of the teabags for traveling. :D

A not-so-guilty pleasure. Smells warm and decadent like a Mexican hot chocolate. Oh my. Not creamy. The flavors aren’t overwhelming and really complement the tea base which is fairly close to a black tea but with a shou puerh clean earth, mossy and mineral kick to it. Everything about this tea tastes very natural and inoffensive. A damn fine bagged tea and a real nice introduction for complete puerh newbies.

Another sipdown. This is from the travelling teabox and I enjoyed trying the types of puerh from Numi. I’ve been eyeing these but didn’t want to commit to an entire box. I enjoyed trying this and would consider buying a box in the future.

Lots of earthy cocoa and cinnamon, citrus, vanilla. This isn’t sweet at all, so don’t think this will be desserty. I like it, though. It reminds me of 70% cocoa dark chocolate (bittersweet chocolate). This is very chocolaty and dark, but the spices are a nice addition too.

Yum! I love having this after dinner because it tastes just like dessert without the guilt. Therefore I particularly enjoy having it with some vanilla ice cream!