Strawberry Slender Pu-Erh Tea

Did you know you can get sick of banana bread? Yep. It happens. Something about 5-6 loaves of banana bread over 3 weeks does that. I’ve been seeking out over-ripe banana recipes and wound up making banana honey whoopie pies last night and they were amazing. Anybody else have recipes they love that aren’t banana bread?

Yay! Sipdown on this one.

I don’t think I’ll miss it, but I did end up enjoying the last cups of this more than I remembered I did, and more than I thought I would.

This time around I thought there must be a way to bring out the more pronounced tone of the puerh. I certainly was not going to steep for 15+ mins as suggested as from the SA., however I found steeping it for 2 mins really gave this tea more life and character!

The strawberry peices taste a little artificial, but this is countered by the even stronger tea leaves when they are steeped a bit longer. I found that there is some nice tea here, if you are willing to break away from a traditional shorter brew.

I must reassess my original rating after this experience, of which I do gratefully. It’s always hard having to give up on a tea, because of perceived quality. I’m glad I gave it another chance!

Hmmm, this is a hard one. I got a very nice earthy pu erh taste, but little in the way of strawberry. I did have a tartness in my mouth and a juicy feel after sipping, that made me think I had eaten strawberries. I still have that taste in my mouth and I finished the tea an hour or more ago, so I am not 100% sure it is from the strawberry part of the tea, to be totally honest. It could be some artificial flavouring that’s just taken to my buds or something.

I don’t hate this tea, but I don’t love it. It could be the preparation of it. It deems revisiting for further tastings, but for now I will look at trying the others.

On a side note, you can really tell the difference in the Teaopia to Teavana changeover. And not necessarily for the better. Every tea I look at seems to be (most) everyone’s favourites, or they love that one, which honestly makes me begin to feel that their declarations are not genuine. I work in sales too, but I don’t tell everyone that this or that is perfect for them or that it is my favourite. They seem to have a new set up where there is one person at the Tea Bar, one person working cash, and another one or two working the floor. This has made a huge difference in the amount of time it takes to order and receive my drinks to go. Before, anyone free would get it started…there might be two or three going simultaneously. You’d think with just one person, they’d get the order right too. It was taken correctly, but not made to order. I had asked for room to be left for milk and also for some sugar (light). It was made straight, and adding the rock sugar post steep is not good. I had to get both milk and sugar from Timmies on the way back to my store. I understand that there are big changes, and there are growing pains with that. I may have to look at calling in my order (once I know which ones I like) before crossing the mall to get there in order to save some time. But already, I miss Teaopia, and I am very fearful for the new conversion. I’m already seeing and hearing things that make me think back to all those horrible reviews and stories I’ve read. Also, I have noticed a few things about them…

A lot of their teas are extra fruity, like more tea than fruit. I think there is a name for this I have read somewhere on a tasting. Now, they claim that their teas are higher quality, which justifies the price increases, but when you have half fruit or more, how can you even taste the quality of the tea? What are they hiding or covering up? Secondly, there are so many blends that it is truly dizzying trying to get through the complexity. Lastly, and back to the fruit, with all that dried fruit in there, surely that’s gotta weigh something, so less tea for more money, eh? What a scam! Now, I know other companies add things, but it seems like Teavana teas are disproportionately fruit and extras to the actual tea.

Just some of my initial feelings. I may continue to order things from the old store just to show my support for what made it through the conversion.

Whew! this weekend was quite the whirlwind. Visited my friend H and her two girls up in Cambridge, went to the TUFF awards last night and met some interesting peeps! and had two Teavana teas that didn’t quite float my boat. Well, the first one sank it outright actually! But this Strawberry Pu-Erh only had a slow leak.
Compared to the Spice Exchange version, it was a little too astringent and not very deep. Overall, kinda meh, but then I have high standards since the other one is SO good!!
I added milk n sugar, but that barely saved the day.
Rating: 78

Picked this one up yesterday, needed a lil change up between my other pu-erhs.
This smells like those strawberry marshmallows.
This is a very light pu-erh & has a very thin mouth feel. Not exactly what I’m used to in regards to pu-erh. It doesn’t have much strawberry flavour & it ended up bitter, I’ve never had that happen with pu-erh.
This feels/tastes like a regular black. Every other pu-erh is thick, full & earthy.

I think I may pick up an unflavoured pu-erh & add some of my favourite herbals.

I love flavored pu-ehrs, but I keep going back and forth on this one. Slenderness aside, the dark musty taste of the pu-ehr is an interesting pairing with the tart sweetness of strawberry. I’m currently drinking this in a tea travel mug, so it’s getting the longest steeping of its life, and this is magnifying both tastes to an intensity that I’m not sure I find appealing. The pu-ehr in this blend also verges on tasting a bit darker than most I’ve tried.

I’ve decided that the strawberry in here tastes strongly like freeze-dried strawberries usually taste; have you ever tried those “Just Strawberries” in the plastic containers, sold at many grocery stores? Or, Trader Joe’s used to have freeze-dried strawberries. It’s a little tarter and less sweet than a fresh strawberry.

Pu-ehr is a relaxing taste to me in general, but the strawberry almost turns it into a dessert tea. I think I’d like to try this at a Teavana store, brewed freshly and fresh from the bin so I could really decide whether I think this combo works. I’d consider buying this one, as I got it in a swap.

I woke up this morning and couldn’t decide what tea to take to work with me today. There are a few teas that I am trying to drink down because I need to make more room and also just need to get rid of. I decided that I would go with Strawberry Pu Erh. No particular reason, mostly just the fact that I hadn’t in a while.

The smell is surprisingly creamy. I smell strawberries and cream with pu erh as a prominent background. The leaves are dark and ominous with little pieces of strawberries poking through to make it less monotonous looking.

I brewed 2 tsp to 16oz of water. The smell continued to be creamy with strawberries. I like creamy! There was an earthy undertone which I am sure was contributed by the pu erh.

The brew was a nice brown color that was exactly the color of my dogs spots! : ) It made me smile to realize this (my dog is actually called Sencha, I don’t think Pu Erh would make a very good dog name…).

The taste wasn’t quite as good as I was hoping for. I still got a creamy strawberry flavor with a nice earthy pu erh flavor to accompany it, but something wasn’t quite right. The transition from strawberry to pu erh wasn’t smooth enough. Almost as if you got one, pause, and then the other. I added a bit of sweetener to see if it got better, and thankfully it did! The sweetness made the strawberry and cream play in nicely with the earthy pu erh.

I actually ended up enjoying this tea, it just wasn’t something spectacular or that I would order again. I will enjoy what I have left with sweetener or sugar.

After seeing the reviews on this tea, I’m actually pretty surprised how much I like it. It is absolutely delicious with sweetener – black tea with a delicious sweet strawberry taste. Is it like biting into a big red juicy strawberry in the summertime? Eh, no. More like a Special K Red Berries strawberry taste – floral and slightly chemical. Which I’m fine with. And considering the reviews I’ve been reading, a lot better than I expected!

I wish there was more of a strawberry taste, though. It IS a little faint.

I liked this one quite a bit! Shared it with my dad, who doesn’t really go for fruity/flowery teas. He took his plain, and I added a bit of suger/creamer to mine.
His review was that it had a good essence flavor of strawberry, but it wasn’t overpowering the tea. The fruit left a nice aftertaste and he enjoyed it greatly.
My review is that with my add-ins, it tasted more like strawberries and cream, and I liked it a lot. I agree that it isn’t an overpowering strawberry, but thats what lets it stand out from other fruity teas. It’s very laid back and calming, a sweet dessert.
Not for someone looking to get knocked on their bum by strawberry flavor.