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The girls and I had tea lunch today, not to be confused with rat lunch which is grilled cheese sandwich and tea! Tea lunch is when we have a fancy lunch together at the tea table!

Since we always did Ceylons with such a meal because that was the one tea that everyone in the family liked, I revisited this one. Unfortunately, I lost track of the steep time amidst all the cooking, but it still came out fairly well. The dry leaves are much smaller than the leaves of Ceylon Extra Fancy from the same company.

The aroma is lemony, very lemony. The cup has all the roundness of a Ceylon but this is also very malty. With food when it was piping hot, it was perfect, but as it cooled and I was sipping it by itself the maltiness took on a bitter edge. I added milk to combat that effect.

This pot of tea was less than stellar, but next time I will not only set a timer but perhaps cut back on the steep time a little, due to the small size of the broken leaves. It can be a very good tea when made properly!

Perhaps it isn’t very fair for me to review this tea. I am drinking it because someone gave it to me and I will give it a try, but I don’t like rooibos. It tastes like cough syrup to me.

The aroma had me hopeful. This really did smell good! Very citrusy. But the sip let me down. There is a peppery taste to this, as in black pepper. If I needed to drink tis as medicine, I could. Drink it for pleasure? I think not.

If you like rooibos, citrus, and pepper, buy it!

At one in the a.m. I was still awake and heard rain, and since I had a bit of a dry and scratchy throat I thought it would be nice to get up, make a pot of tea, and write letters while listening to the rain falling. While my tea steeped, I stepped out back to enjoy the sound of the rain. Lovely! And hardly chilly at all.

The dry leaves are beautiful…so fluffy and light. The aroma is outstanding, I would even say it is arresting. There was a bare hint of smoke, lots of grain, and buttery but somehow slightly spicy veggies, and for the first time I thought I caught a whiff of fine pipe tobacco.

I steeped for just over one minute and immediately started a resteep, because I don’t want to waste this and I knew I could reheat it in the morning.

The flavor is very light, almost like a white tea. There is a tiny touch of astringency, the good kind!
The warmth is soothing my throat, and the tea is soothing my soul. I think when I finish writing this letter to my friend, I will sleep very well indeed.

Next, I want to try steeping this in my gong fu set. I find sometimes the flavors unfold and pop out more brilliantly when the tea is prepared that way. I can hardly wait to try it!

Thank you to Angel Chen and Travivre for this sample!

This puerh really goes a long way. My friend who loves puerh came over again today and we took out one mini tuo cha for my gong fu set. I rinsed to allow the cake to start breaking up. Then we steeped about six times. I thought the first steep might be too mild for her, but she said it was strong enough to be enjoyable. (As a former coffee drinker she usually likes strong but smooth teas.). The last steep, which may actually have been number seven as I wasn’t counting carefully, was a bit weak.

This is good tea, good puerh. I look forward to trying the rose puerh which should be here soon. Thank you, Angel and Teavivre!

Another thing has happened that I never thought would happen. A long time ago, when I only had fishy-smelling puerh tea, I liked the taste though not the aroma. I liked puerh tea and especially found it soothing when my tummy was angry. But I said I never woke up in the morning thinking, “Gee, I sure would love a cup of puerh tea right now.” Keemuns or black tea blends always had that honor.

Having now tried Teavivre and Purepuer.com puerh teas, I couldn’t get it off my mind this morning. Since today is tea party day, after all, I wasn’t going to make any tea this morning, but my girls each had a pot in front of them at the table as they did their schoolwork and I caved. This is so good, and this is a resteep, making it such a bargain as well. Warm earth aromas with clean yet horsey leather and the scent of osmanthus peeking through, I think I am becoming a puerh….addict? Snob?Aficionado maybe! I can’t wait to try even more puerhs!

Sob!. It happened. It finally happened! I have been hoping my two oldest kids would start drinking tea. Tonight my son made baked Brie in puff pastry and said, “Mom, maybe you better make some of that tea like we had last night. This is pretty rich and fatty.” I am so happy!

Last night we had Puer from Teavivre. Tonight I thought I would shake things up since it seems I am on a roll getting them to drink tea and I made this one just to expose him to more tea. Dare I hope that soon he will be asking for his own teapot and bag of tuochas to take to school?

Once upon a time, I thought Paris by Harney was the way to convert people to tea, but it didn’t work on my older kids. Of all things, puer was the key! Oldest daughter is drinking mostly green teas, but likes puer more. I shall have to get her some of her own as well!

Oh happy day! And what a great start to the New Year!

I have been enjoying different teas this holiday season, especially white tea and puerh tea. I am finishing this sample from LittleMewBrew today, armed with having read the entire section on white teas in Michael Harney’s Guide to Tea this morning. The first time I had white tea, and the first cheap green tea for that matter, all I tasted was hot water. I am really glad I kept trying different ones and studied the tea so I can enjoy more and more.

This has nice flavor, a tiny bit of nuttiness like lightly toasted walnuts, and a bit of hay.

Thank you, C, for the tea!

I felt terrible for not loving this right away like other reviewers seemed to do. The first pot I made was so strong that I was certain there was Assam in the base. I looked at the review and saw that it is Keemun instead. Ah, that explains it. Though I love Fujian province teas, I have not yet developed a taste for the stronger Keemuns, and this is one of them. I love Harney’s English Breakfast which is 100% Keemun, but I take it with milk and sugar. I didn’t care for their Hao Ya A or B, though I liked Mao Feng. Hao Ya A from Southern Season is very mild compared to Harney’s, and youngest and I like it better, though a Keemun lover would be disappointed in it I expect.

I decided to reduce my steeping temp just a bit to around 205 degrees and reduce the time to 3 1/2 minutes. Now I have something I can drink even plain! It has less body, but is still quite bracing.
I have a good friend who comes over for tea who is probably going to love this one. It reminds me of coffee, and she is a former coffee drinker.

Youngest found it too sweet, but then she has never had a chocolate tea that she liked, and drinks very little flavored tea at all, preferring lapsangs and Assams.

I have been going about this all the wrong way. I had been trying to lure my two eldest kids into tea drinking with the teas I considered mainstream. I should have known better. Of all the teas I have managed to get them to try, this has been the one they like best.

This is one of the mildest puerh teas I have ever had. The tuo cha took a little time to open up, but oh, was it ever worth it! Leather, horse tack, good earth, it is all here. It is naturally sweet and smooth, and I drink all puerh tea with no additions.

And the best part was that my son drank cup after cup after tiny little cup with me! Hooray! Now ALL my kids drink tea with me, each of them a different kind, but that is okay! I like many kinds!

Thank you, Angel and Teavivre! I am excited about that rose puerh that is on its way.

I am celebrating the New Year by bringing out a tea I adore, but alas, don’t know another source for right now. Once upon a time, I could get this by the ounce from Southern Season, but now you have to order a whole pound, and that would be hard to justify with about 100 teas in the kitchen. Sandy mentioned that perhaps we should split a pound. I may have to look into that, because this tea is just as amazing as I remembered it.

This is a medium bodied tea with full dark flavor. Like JacquelineM, I find hints of ancient pines and resin, but an amazing follow up of flowers…deep, forest wildflowers the memory of which stays with you. This is a treasure. I used my new little Yixing pot that just completed three whole days of seasoning. I hope I get to see what it looks like after decades of use!