Tea: Premium Pu-erh Tea - Black
A Ripened (Shou) Pu-erh from My Zen Tea - Organic
Brand: | My Zen Tea |
Style: | Ripened (Shou) Pu-erh |
Region: | Yunnan, China |
Caffeine: | Caffeinated |
Loose? | Loose |
# Ratings: | 2 View All |
Product page: | Premium Pu-erh Tea - Black |
Reviewer: Alex Zorach
✓ 1453 teas reviewed
✓ 9 of Ripened (Shou) Pu-erh
✓ 25 of Pu-erh Tea
✓ 2 of My Zen Tea
✓ 81 from Yunnan, China
✓ 382 from China
Review of Premium Pu-erh Tea - Black
March 9th, 2015
Aroma | Flavor | Value | Total |
5 of 10 | 4 of 5 | 2 of 5 | 57 of 100 |
Fair | Good | Overpriced |
I tend not to be a fan of Shu Pu-erh at all, and my expectations for a tea bag were pretty low, but I was happy to say this greatly exceeding my expectations.
Brews up a very dark liquor, almost jet black, with a smooth mouthfeel, mild flavor, and mellow aroma. The aroma reminds me a little bit of clean, wet stone in a forest, as well as earth and moss. This tea creates a pleasant warming sensation; it's much more warming than most Shu Pu-erh I've tried.
The aroma isn't very complex, but overall, this was more enjoyable than most Shu Pu-erh. There is a noticeable lack of "off" aromas, what I describe as the "damp basement" smell that dominates a lot of low-quality Shu Pu-erh.
The tea bag also resteeps very well. With a first steep of 1 minute, a second infusion was easy and tasted similar to the first. I suspect you could probably steep this tea more, but I lost interest. I still strongly prefer the green (Sheng) tea bag from the same brand, and of course, I always would prefer actually buying a Sheng cake. This stuff is pricey, especially given that you can get whole Pu-erh cakes for around the price of this box of 20 tea bags. So, while I can appreciate this making Pu-erh more accessible to the audience of tea drinkers who use tea bags, I can't see myself buying this over an actual Pu-erh cake.