Pu Erh Poe

Awhile back I ordered some teas from Adagio, including several sample size teas, this being one of them. I’ve been drinking a lot of Puerh lately, which doesn’t make me any kind of expert, mind you.

The dry leaf doesn’t really have much of a scent, compared to some of the Pu’s I’ve been drinking, but my nose detected that faint saltiness, more as a sensation. There’s enough in the package to steep this a couple of different ways, so that’s what I’ll do. The first steeping was as directed on the package: 1 tsp in an 8 oz cup for 3 minutes.

It’s really not bad! It’s not as heavily nuanced as some of the Puerhs I’ve tried, but it isn’t overtly fishy or barnyard-like either. I re-steeped, & it was just ok. This would be good for someone wanting to try puerh out without having too intense of an experience the first time around. It’s dark, mellow, and a little tingly.

Let me start by saying this; Very interesting….

Dry Smell: Like fresh horse poop.

Wet: when water was first added it smelled like rancid fish, after it finished steeping it smelled similar to musty cucumber water.

It tastes like cucumber water. Very strong cucumber water that also happens to have a little bit of a bit in it. I don’t really like cucumber or cucumber water at all, so this is… Well interesting. Could have been worse though, but it could have been a lot better. Might steep it again later and see how it is though.

One of the samples from my recent Adagio order. I don’t have a lot of experience with pu’erh, but I’d like to try more. I went gong fu with this one, although I didn’t time the infusions.

I did a quick rinse of the leaves, then steeped for around 15-seconds or so. I found the taste to be very light and sweet, without much of the earthiness I’ve come to associate with pu’erh. I wonder if it’s because I didn’t steep long enough; I’ll try Western style next time.

This isn’t a remarkable tea, but it’s light and naturally sweet. I don’t think I’d reorder it though.

Another sample bites the dust!
Soon, soon my cupboard will be ready for moar samples! (I’m thinking of Harney & Sons for my next sample buying spree – but they are out of the Florence samples! ;_;)

I rather like Pu Erh Poe, which makes me suspicious that it is a baby Pu Erh – a Pu Erh for people who do not know any better or who cannot handle Real Pu Erh, like people who drink Bud (or, god forbid, Lone Star) instead of Real Beer. I don’t like it enough to buy more, mind you, but it’s nice, it brews up fast, and it doesn’t smell (as much) like dirt as other Pu Erh I’ve had. It does have a smoky, earthy taste to it, but what is important (at least to me) is that the smell isn’t overpowering. I pretty much cannot get over things that smell weird. (Like durian. or natto – although to be fair natto also tastes pretty awful)

Reading the other tea notes, I see (not for the first time mind you) that apparently the proper preparation of Pu Erh is a multi step process. That kind of effort is definitely not for me! Pu Erh goes with Oolong into “category of tea that I am probably just not that into” (Note: Oolong will be taken out of this category when I got to Japan this summer and am once again subjected to its iced form all the time)

2nd unflavored cooked Pu Erh properly prepared. I’m amazed at the lack of scent the raw leaves have, it’s even lighter than Pu Erh Dante… which makes me hope I’ll like this even more.

Parameters and Preparation:
1g per 1oz water (I made a 4oz cuppa), rinsing the leaves in just below boiling water for 15sec, then doing a 20sec 1st steep.

I’m shocked at how dark the rinsing liquid gets… I almost cry as I dump it. But if adding this step is necessary for authentic preparation and a better cuppa, then that’s what I’ll do.

The 1st infusion is reeeaaalllyyy dark. I’ve used the term “coffeeish” to discribe the liquor of tea before, but I don’t even think that would do it justice. I have to go w/ cola-ish this time.

The aroma is light. While it was faint, there was a fecal note to Pu Erh Dante’s aroma that isn’t there w/ this one.

Taste matches the aroma. Very strong, complex, a little earthy, and the lack of a fecal note almost makes it a tad sweet.

First review. I’ve learned my lesson with Pu erh’s and did a very quick rinse when I smelled the tell-tale fishy smell on the dry fine bark-like minced tea. Glad I did too…because even though the smell was faintly there the taste was not present on a 3 minute steep. As I do with Pu erh, I took a sip without anything added which was just dull and then added cream and sugar. Mocha and nice but still too weak for me. Let it go another minute and a half…ah…better…dark and rich like coffee and oh my word! You know that fishy taste…well it did present itself for a split second and then it morphed into a tea leaf flavor like it’s supposed to do. Leafy tea with some acid and no heavy vegital flavor and mocha as a bonus. A Pu erh hat trick! No flavor added or needed. I think people who gag on Pu erh could handle this and it might be the right introduction. Do have as a latte and add cookies or a bagel!

The first thing I noticed was that the dry leaves smelled like a bag of fresh peat moss – earthy and tannic – which as a gardener isn’t something I find unpleasent. I gave the leaves the standard 30 second rinse to hopefully get rid of any dust or debris and then I brewed it for three mins – the lower end of Adagio’s steeping reccs but I know how dark pu’erhs brew up so I wasn’t worried that it would turn out weak. Unfortunately the brewing tea took on less of a peaty scent and more of fishy scent, which didn’t exactly thrill me.

Thankfully it didn’t taste like fish but it was very earthy, almost like a mouthful of dirt. At first I couldn’t decide whether to gag or enjoy it but as I drank more I found that the flavour became smoother and less jarring to my tastebuds.

I’m still not entirely sure if I like pu’erh or not – it definiatly falls in the category of being an aquired taste but it’s interesting and I enjoy having variety in my teas.

Steep Method: Tea Pot
Steep Time: 5:00 Minutes
Temperature: 212F

Whenever I drink this tea I think of two things: Oatmeal and wheat. It almost smells some kind of organic building material (maybe bamboo?). For a pu-erh it’s not incredibly “dark” tasting, rather it is relatively light. It almost tastes like the old smell of my grandparents’ house (I kid you not!).

It gives me a bit of a surprise on my tongue, as it is kind of dull for a second, and then springs to (somewhat) of a life. Overall a pretty mild tea. I think I could have steeped it longer. Maybe I’ll try another infusion for 7-8 minutes. Thoughts?

One of the reviewers said that this was like a beginner’s pu erh for people who can’t take the real thing, or some such. Yeesh- that makes me a tad nervous.

So, I leaned into my cup nose first, and – ooo hoo! Mushrooms? No- hay or straw.

An old bog.

The wet guinea pig cage from Mr. Padva’s 3rd grade classroom.

This stuff is dark as coffee in the cup. On the spoon, its a pretty, darkish/reddish liquid. Not nasty tasting, as I feared. It’s almost like when you taste limburger and are pleasantly surprised- although this is nowhere as strong or off-putting as limburger. It’s got a strong flavor that is unsweet in the manner of unsweetened cocoa. I don’t really want to say bitter, though.

I may one day try it sweetened, though that would seem to defeat the purpose of pu erh- it’s supposed to taste like…this (my tea vocabulary is lacking). Until I get accustomed to it, I won’t add anything.

I can definitely come to appreciate THIS pu erh – but it’ll take a few brewings.

It had much less of a noticeable scent to it than I was expecting. It smelled rather like hay that had been used and damp – in a good way!
After brewing, it had a very musty fishy/manure kind of scent. Again, not unpleasant, just very different.
I almost forgot to rinse this and poured a whole cup, so technically my first cup was a full second infusion.
The scent of it on my first actual brewing was much smoother than the rinse scent. It was far less fishy and much more appealing.
It had an incredibly wonderfully full mouth feel, but the flavour seemed really lacking to me. It was ever so slightly astringent and I didn’t taste much of anything like what I smelled. That was kind of disappointing.
I really wanted to like this from the scent, but it really just had very little taste. I ended up adding some creamer just to finish it.

hmm. what can I say about puerhs – it seems like you either love them or hate them.

I am fairly new to the puerh scene but discovered they make a great substitute for coffee. This tea is low in tannins and not very acidic to the stomach.

The first infusion is indeed very dark, as several others have commented. The flavor is mildly malty and earthy. I added So Delicious coconut milk creamer to this because I prefer my black tea with some creaminess. This reminds me of a shiitake mushroom broth and made a nice breakfast drink.

Overall I was very pleased but I’m not sure it’s something I would go out of my way to find again.

This is my first pu-erh and I’m not sure how I feel yet. The smell is reminiscent of week old salmon wrapped in hay, but the taste is like pure soil with a hint of sweetness. I don’t dislike it and I’m curious what another steeping would do. I would like to try older cake pu-erh to compare. Interesting…

What a strong earthy taste this tea has. I feel as though I’m living in the forest among all the woodland creatures when I drink this tea. But don’t let that earthy aroma scare you away because it has a gorgeous taste that is unlike anything that I have tried until this point. Pu erh teas have this distinct taste and I am looking forward to trying more delicate and aged ones.

When I first opened the bag it smelled like a combination of fish and horse stables. Very earthy/peaty. While some may think of the aroma as unpleasant, I thought it was quite lovely and knew that the tea would have a wonderful earthiness to it. I rinsed the tea first as was recommended & then steeped my tea at 4min with boiling water. The “fishy” smell was lightened quite a bit, and a kind of mossy foresty smell took the forefront.

Drinking this tea was a dream. It was rich, earthy, smooth. With a light addition of milk and honey I found myself quite smitten with this tea. I infused the leaves a couple more times and each infusion was lovely as well. I will definitely be buying more of this tea in a larger quantity.

I am quite new to rating teas but I am an experienced hand in rating and describing wine. I did not do a multi-step brewing process here; steeped it about 3-4 minutes. The first whiff here is terrifically earthy, almost potting soil. Looking further I find notes of mushroom and leather. There is also a sly sweetness from hay and something I can’t differentiate between cola nuttiness and date nut bread. I am not sure that I know all the elements that make up a “good” or “great” tea but this certainly piqued my imagination and kept me coming back for more and “looking” deeper into those complex flavors.

I was surprised by the lightness of this pu erh. Being a huge fan of pu erh in general I was expecting something a lot heavier and darker in taste. Despite that, it still gave me the same calm, mellow feeling that allows accompanies drinking pu erh for me. So it’s different, but not bad at all.

The scent is mildly earthy and only noticeable at all in the midst of sipping.

The color is incredibly dark, especially since I tend to steep my pu erhs for 7-8 minutes. Like someone else has already said, the first steeping struck me as very ‘coffeeish.’

Once again, the taste was a bit too light for my expectations. It still has the hints of earth and dirt, but not enough for me to grab if I want a true pu erh.

It’s a great tea if I want something lighter on the palate with the same smooth, mellow affect.

Velvety texture and earthy, this one has some nice herbal complexity to it. The flavor profile is similar to coffee from Sumatra with a lingering and somewhat juicy finish. The aroma recalls afternoons spent exploring the storage rooms in the barns back on the farm. There an odd dusty component as well.

Saw Cofftea trying this out so I bought a sample. 1st steep 15sec. Real mild not strong like the few others i have tried. Will follow his timing for others. Great stuff

Pu Erh teas in general can be pretty daunting. I bought this tea as part of a set from Adaigo and knew that it was going one of the harder ones to understand/get. I brewed the tea in a few different methods, but tossing out the instructions on the bag gave the most success. This tea needs to be rinsed the first time through, it’s only on the 2nd and 3rd infusion that the flavors comes out. What a color! It was almost completely black, like coffee. This is a very earthy, hay like, musky, garden like tea.

It was my least liked tea in the Adaigo pack but is more of a function of how it is a different type tea compared to the other ones. I look forward to trying others and learning to brew it in a more gentle manner.

absolutely awful. this tea smelled like dirt and fish when dry; when brewed the smell was lessened but still there. I am not afraid of smoky and earthy flavors, as I enjoy lapsang souchong and scotch whisky, but I just could not enjoy this tea