Organic Japanese Puerh

Mmmm, having a cup right now. Recently, I have been on this kick looking for probiotics and fermented foods. I have a few food intolerances (sorbitol & fructose and maybe a few others too that I haven’t been tested for yet) and have been reading about adding good bacteria to help get rid of those intolerances. I plan on doing a fast at some point as well. I took this puerh course that talked about all the positive bacteria in puerh and showed us what it looked like and the breakdown of the bacteria. A study done in China had claimed that these bacteria could survive the hot water and stomach acid. Whether this is true or not, I’ll take any good bacteria I can get.

The smell of this tea is a strong sweet chestnut. There is also something almost sour in the aroma of the tea. When I sip it the first thing I notice is roasted chestnuts. I’m also getting some sour dough, tabaco, and toasted rice notes. The taste remains long after the sip and becomes drying though in a different way than most teas that are astringent and almost sticks to your mouth. This tea is different than any other tea I have tried but its so delicious. It reminds me a little bit of coffee, though I am certainly no expert on coffee, but it is much gentler.

I was very excited when I first tasted this puerh. I had never seen a Japanese puerh before. After a bit of research, I found out that this is a relatively new type of tea. There are other Japanese fermented teas but I have not been able to find anything that is made in a similar way.

Wow! This is crazy good Puerh. If you’re someone who loves coffee but can’t drink it for whatever reason – this is the tea you need to try. It TASTES like coffee. That was my initial reaction … I took a nervous sip (like I do for all pu-erh because of residual bad puerh experiences in the past), and I expected some earthiness, maybe some brine-y taste, but none of that. Instead, I get coffee. Sweet, roasted flavor, nutty, like chestnuts. Deep, toasty flavor, somewhat like tobacco, and a distinct overture of coffee.

This is the weirdest puerh I’ve ever tried. But … weird is not bad. In this case, weird is REALLY really good.

Thank you Stacy at Butiki Teas for this wonderful sample!

Where do I start here? There are so many thoughts concerning this tea and it’s uniqueness. Let me state as we see with this tea, like many other things, it’s possible for other cultural groups to adapt and adjust it to their own region.

Wikipedia voices the following http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pu-erh_tea:

Please note, I consolidated the main parts from this article to illustrate the theme of processing provinces.

“Pu’erh tea is a variety of post-fermented tea, specifically Dark tea, produced in Yunnan province, China… There are a few different provinces, each with a few regions, producing dark teas of different varieties… Those produced in Yunnan are generally named Pu’er, referring to the name of Pu’er county which used to be a trading post for dark tea during imperial China. While Yunnan produces the majority of pu’er, other regions of China, including Hunan and Guangdong, have also produced the tea… In addition to China, border regions touching Yunnan in Vietnam, Laos, and Burma are also known to produce pu’er tea, though little of this makes its way to the Chinese or international markets.”

As one can see, this tea doesn’t necessarily follow these normal sources for production and in my opinion, makes this tea even more intriguing!

Using the full portion of the sample in my gaiwan with boiling water, allowing for 7 seconds steeps, I found a sweet fermented sourness to the sip. Yeah, I thought that too – sounds weird, tastes GREAT! You can smell and taste a soy likeness with sauteed onions and roasted corn. Definitely reminds me of some teriyaki dishes that I’ve had from time to time, of which this makes the tea a very nice mid-afternoon or early evening. I could see this being a “dinner tea” in contrast to a “desert tea”. The difference is you could bypass a meal and easily substitute this tea for a soup of some kind.

After the 2nd or 3rd infusion (sorry, lost track), I started letting the leaves steep a tad longer – somewhere around 30 secs. This brought out a bitterness and taste that resembles acorns (yes, as a child I was curious:), then turned to a good astringency. With the longer steeping, it is certainly a full bodied tea, with a lingering tangerine/grapefruit citrusy.

Overall, I must say I’m pleasantly pleased with this tea. Very nice! Thanks again, Stacy for this wonderful addition to your offerings.

SO MUCH GOING ON IN THIS TEA!!!
Err sorry for the caps. I’m just excited. Man I need to order more of this. So good!
Now, as for what I’m tasting… so far it’s leathery, and there is some tobacco, or what I assume is, seeing as I’ve never had any before.
Then… well, at first I thought there was chocolate, like that dark bitter chocolate sensation, the dry mouth kind, only with no real bitterness, just the feel of it. I can understand the comparison to coffee. Very similar in feel!
Anyhow. Then I thought I tasted rice, only I sipped again and it was gone.
Finally… yep, definitely breadiness in there. I haven’t yet decided on what kind of bread but it’s there!
Thank you so much to Stacy at Butiki Teas for the sample.

So i think I’ve had maybe one puerh to date and it wasn’t that impressive. I ordered this one on a whim to give it a try and see if i could get into it or if it was a type of tea to cross off my list.

The aroma off this tea while steeping is one i can’t quite place.If my other half was here tonight i’m sure he could tell me but I can’t figure it out. It’s an aroma that left me a bit worried as to the taste. I should know by now that Stacy hasn’t steered me wrong yet- even if i don’t LOVE it, i won’t hate it.

I’m going to have to have more of this… There’s a bit of fruitiness but it’s almost like the taste of the texture prunes have. yeah this doesn’t taste like prunes..but like dried prune’s textures…when they’re all mushy in your mouth. It’s…really good but it’s different. there will be more tastings to come, perhaps on the weekend when i can give this it’s full attention. :)

Buttery sourdough notes, a roasted chestnut and toasted rice nuttiness, and something sweet. I love holding up the bag of dry leaves to my nose; it smells like sourdough or pickled plums (umeboshi). Sweet & sour and, oh, so very good.

Butiki’s introductory note on steepster for this “puerh” spurred me on to make my first purchase. Yeah, that’s right.. it wasn’t the Cantaloupe & Cream but this! It sounded so intriguingly unique and, even though my experience with puerh style tea is limited, I always get a mouth-watering sensation when I see posts for them. Weird, yet it worked out for me here!

Brother to the coffee??? Wow!!!!! um yummy I think I’m awake now. I’ll post more later.

I got a super nice surprise with my recent order this tea! Funny story I’ve tried this tea before with Stacy at World Tea East! So happy to see she liked it enough to carry it! I’m really getting the scent of brown rice with this tea (yum)! Even dry it did not smell as earthy as puerh’s tend to smell. It does have a hint of an earthy taste to it. But again I’m getting notes of brown rice and a little bit of a nutty flavor to this one.

I really enjoy that it reminds me of coffee without having to drink coffee! This one is super smooth and I’m noticing a little hint of sweet on the finish. I think this one is going in the must have collection! Thanks again Stacy!!

Recovering from minor surgery and what showed up at my door?! My latest package from Stacy at Butiki. I placed my order 10/30 and am so impressed with how quickly it came, considering the hurricane and all. This is a very intriguing tea-it tastes nothing like any tea or pu-erh I have ever had. It certainly reminds me of coffee in some ways, but I can’t stand black coffee, yet this is not bad straight, and that’s from someone who always sweetens my tea to bring out the flavor. I wish I had the poetic and tasting skills that some of our reviewers have on Steepster, so that I could do it justice. I can’t wait to hear what some of them have to say. My guess is that some folks will love it and others, not so much. It is in your face bold for a tea, that’s for sure. Try it straight first. Then, if you’re not sold, add some milk and/or sweetener. I made lattes with the 2nd and 3rd steeps using an oz of frothed 1/2 and 1/2 and that was my favorite way to drink it. It is strong enough to stand up very well to milk or cream. Would I order it again? Yes, I would, to see how the coffee drinkers in the family like it, and to make lattes for myself. Thanks Stacy!

Wow, this puerh is really different! There’s no fishyness! It’s not pitch black and strong for the first few steeps – even following the recommended steeping of boiling water for 4 minutes! Butiki’s japanese puerh has some good barley, nutty, brown rice syrup, and coffee. What I found interesting was there was a slight dryness in the first few cups, but it went away with further infusions.
And this tea can resteep very well!

Full review on my blog, the Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.wordpress.com/2013/04/17/organic-japanese-puerh-from-butiki-teas-tea-review/

Stacy over at Butiki Teas is on my mental wavelength.

She should probably have that checked.

Her flare for the unusual rivals even my own. And, boy, was this unusual. I mean that in all the best possible ways I can muster. While it technically shouldn’t be called a pu-erh in the traditional (read: Yunnan-produced) sense, it meets all the character criteria I care about. That being, it actually tastes good. Cocoa was at war with coffee, and chestnuts were the jury and arbiter…er…as far as flavor goes.

Whatever it’s called, I want more of it.

My full feature on it (and other tea/writing adventures) can be found here: http://steepstories.com/2012/11/12/writing-epiphanies-and-japanese-pu-erh/

Thank you Stacy for this sample: I like it enough to purchase in the future for sure.
It’s buttery and smooth, absolutely no musty/funky taste. I detect some notes of roasted rice and slight fruitiness. Vey nice indeed!