Emperor's Puerh

Mainly muddy, minimally malty. Medium ;)

I was surprised to find out from my neighbor that our Vitamin Shop carries Numi and Rishi tea. I thought I had to drive an hour and a half to get it! He gave me a box of this tea today.

The tasting conditions were not perfect. I was absolutely starving and my friend had come over to do yoga. She loves puerh, so I made a pot. So there was talking and starving going on. I used three teabags for a 22 ounce Beehouse pot and man was it ever dark! It was also very good. This was rich and leathery. I resteeped and made a second pot and it was a little milder, almost as dark, but every bit as good, maybe better.

My neighbor has never tried puerh. I am really interested in seeing his reaction since he has liked the greens I have taken him.

I graduated from college this weekend. Yay! Now to find a job.

I stole a bag of this from my fiance when I was over at his house for a little bit last night. It is very dark. It looks like coffee it is so dark. I am a little stuffed up from switching climates again, but it smells like earth. Damp earth with a slight horse-barn smell. Not enough to be off-putting, but enough to make me think of the stables at my college.

I am trying to let it cool down a bit before I taste it because it is hot! All I can think of is this taste being weird. It is smooth. Almost watery like I didn’t steep it enough. I brewed this for four minutes since I’ve never had it before. At first I kept thinking sushi, but that has passed now. Now it is just smooth and dark. There is a little bit of a bitter taste at the back of my throat.

I keep thinking latte, so I’m going to add a splash of milk because I can. And because I am at home and don’t have to be restricted by when I can drink my tea with milk. Mmm, I like it with milk. The milk adds a little more body so I’m not getting that watery taste. It is still smooth and dark. Now it tastes a little bit more like earth. Damp earth. A good taste. It does remind me slightly of coffee the more I drink it, but you can still tell a flavor difference.

I don’t think I would reach for this a lot, but I would definelty have to try it again.

I had completely forgotten about this tea until this morning. I bought this at Whole Foods on my way in to the office one morning many moons ago, before I knew what ‘puerh’ meant. Poor innocent me, at the time I just wanted a strong butt-kicking tea for my non-coffee morning. I still haven’t tried a real pu-erh, but a bag of this was enough one day to put me off and teach me that I know nothing about tea.

I still can’t stand the smell of this one, and it is a very …fragrant mug. FYI, for anyone who might be tempted by my sexy sexy review: it is a terrible idea to carry a mug around the office that smells like moldy old straw and a barn full of poo. I remember now why I hid this box of tea in the work cupboard instead of keeping it in my tea drawer in my desk. My co-workers hate me. I bet I could go home sick today with little to no explanation, though. (Trying not to torture myself with the thought that they probably think this smell is somehow coming from me!) With this one cup of tea I bet I could fertilize my whole garden. I keep eyeing the bottom of the mug to see if there’s a horse farting up at me. – Not sure yet, it’s still pretty dark in there.

That being said, I’m still drinking it. It tastes better than it smells. I am from Nebraska, and while this smells gawdawful, it tastes like the farm smells. Tobacco ash, old leather, dust, straw, black walnut. I want a scotch. Wow, I wonder if it’s possible to mix this tea and a really really peaty scotch, like a Laphroaig, in some sort of recipe? It’s the only thing I can think of that could possibly save it.

So, after all that… does anyone want some of this?

It’s Labor day, which for me is Pajama Day, & next on my agenda (of basically doing nothing) is a hot bubble bath, which must be accompanied by a hot cup of tea. I would rather my first post here be about something loose leafed, but I’m at my weekend home (that’s my boyfriend of 12 years house), & my selections here aren’t as varied. I want something bold & rich for my bath, & this one was in my wallet. (I carry a selection of bagged teas in my wallet for when I want a cup & none is available). So Emperor’s Puerh it is.

Let me mention that although I love tea in all it’s varieties & drink it often, I’m not in the habit of putting words to the flavors, images, & emotions I get while drinking it, so please be patient with me, as I’m new to writing these things down. Even more difficult is the idea of rating a tea…that will take some thought!

Of course, I’ve drank this tea before. While I was heating the water, I raised the bag to my nose & breathed in: the smell of salt & clay. Adding the water, I smell kelp as well, with an undertone of mushroom.

The taste is earthy & very smooth, the color dark & rich. I want a more malty, chocolate flavor, but it isn’t there. What is there is a mellow mineral tinged cup with an aftertaste of newly mown hay. I like it. As with other Numi teas, I feel that they tend to skimp on the amount of tea they put in the bag, but that’s the opinion of someone who likes her tea kind of strong.

Just for fun, I’m adding a little stevia to the 2nd half of the cup, and… I like it better plain. Oh darn, I’ve drank the whole cup of tea & haven’t even drawn my bathwater! I guess I’d better brew another cup!

Hehehehe Whole Foods did indeed have this in stock…along with all the other Numi puerh blends! I picked up this one and the Chocolate Puerh one, but I decided to try what I knew I would probably already like. Now, right off the bat I was skeptical about trying a puerh in a bag; I was afraid it would be very bland. Well, to my surprise it tasted great! It has that earthy/woodsy taste that was very smooth and pleasing. My only wish is that it was stronger, but I assume that it is not as strong due to have not been aged very long? But hey, that’s ok! I still get a nice bagged puerh to take to work with me and that makes me happy :-)

Well I regret to say that I was a bit scared to try this tea. Aged… Mold… next I’ll be licking my shower curtain!

But I did it, finally, and if the tea could rate me I would get half a star for trying it cold. I was on the phone with my mother and that’s my excuse.

What did I think of it? It’s dark… like WOW dark and the taste was hard to place. Is that malty? I hear malt and think beer or Whoppers candy. This was that taste you find at the end of a bowl of cereal, sort of. While its appearance was on the verge of midnight the taste was pleasing, smooth, and the perfect metaphorical almond.
It took me a while to place it, what it was that it reminded me of but it was every memory of an almond. (Growing up my family used to knock, de-husk and hull almonds. Sometimes I even miss the fuzz and pain of prising the little buggers from their homes.) The smooth texture of the drink was akin to the soft white flesh of an almond and as dark as the drink was all I could picture was perfect creamy white. The scent while hinting at its autumn leaves past was actually closer in memory composition to the smell of the blanched skins of almonds still warm and wet but lacking any form of bitterness that can sometimes be found there.
And yes, probably just like you, I am at a loss as to how one tea could return so many memories of an almond and have little to nothing to do with it than say a scented/flavored almond tea would. The memory… go figure?

Kept hearing about Pu-erh tea, so thought I would give it a try. Opened the package and smelled a bit of a musty smell. At first I wrote it off to the smell of the box. Then I opened the individual sachet and poured hot water into my mug, and stepped away. After a minute or two, while walking around the kitchen, I smelled something that made me think that my dog had had an accident (#2) in his crate — seriously. (EDIT: Now I can’t think of anything but calling it “poo-echh” tea. Because that was very nearly my first reaction.) Then I realized that the odor was coming from the tea! Smelling the tea in the mug more closely, I detected an odor that smelled like a cross between wet rawhide/wet leather and horse manure/hay bales. It really does smell like a horse barn. As for the taste, it also has a bit of a musky taste, but not nearly as strong as the odor. Can’t say that the taste is totally unpleasant, but I really can’t imagine having a craving for this tea. Tried to add some milk and sugar to it, and yes, it did stand up to the additions, but I can’t say that it really improved the flavor, and certainly didn’t improve the odor. The flavor reminds me of wet earth and moss, or at least how I imagine wet earth and moss would taste. Is it terrible? No. Drinkable? Yes, but not particularly pleasing to the nose or palate. Frankly, not sure why people rave about this stuff, but then, I didn’t like Lapsang Souchong either. Just wish I had spent my $5 on a different black tea, perhaps an Assam or English Breakfast tea.

Probably going to willingly swap this tea to anyone who likes Pu-erh tea or wants to try it. I know, I’ve done a marvelous job of selling it, haven’t I? :)

This is my first puerh. I wanted to try an unflavored one first to get a sense of the tea by itself. The bag smells a little bit fishy, but not overpowering, and it continues to smell that way as it is steeping. As the steeping progresses, it smells like dirt. It tastes like a mixture of dirt and a little bit of fish-food, even with cream and sugar. I don’t think I will finish the cup.

I’m ambivalent about the idea of puerh in a bag. Plus one for convenience, but is there something of what makes this kind of tea special lost when it’s put in a bag and available in my grocery store? I suppose it’s just tea leaves, so why not? Anyway, it’s fun to see it at the grocery store and I had to try it.

The dry tea smells like black tea; I don’t notice peaty or loamy aromas others have mentioned.

During the steep, the color was a rose-brown for about 1.5 minutes. At this time, the leaves released their magic. The liquor started turning opaque brown in a flash. There are rose red colors where the top of the liquor meets the sides of the cup.

The aroma over the steeped cup has a strong leathery note and some faint hay smell, some fainter smoke.

The first sip has a smooth mouth feel. There are dry, powdery, leathery flavors and some back of the throat bitterness. The sip goes like this: first an up-front sweetness, then soft bitters along the side of the tongue, then smoky leather flavors, then a soft back of the throat bitterness, and anything left of these giving over to a strong and long lasting sweetness. There is drying astringency.

There are no vegetal or hay flavors, which I expected from the aroma. The leathery flavors recede and the sips get sweeter as I make my way to the bottom of the cup.

This was an unexpectedly complex cup of tea from a bag. What fun! I look forward to drinking more cups of this.

I think this must be shu?

After the Chocolate Puerh experience I thought I’d give the others a try. I’m starting with this one.

I’m rather a novice at wine-tasting but I always found it amusing when I read tasting notes for wines that describe them as having a “barnyard” or “leathery” nose or taste. And yet, that describes the smell of the bags. It’s peaty, loamy, and horsey, more on the poop side than the saddle side (though this last note is not so strong as to be unpleasant). The aroma of the steeped tea, though, reverses that and has a much more leathery scent to it along with the earthiness. The liquor is indistinguishable from black coffee.

I’d describe the flavor, too, as leathery. There’s a bit of smokiness to it as well, almost like what you find in Scotch, and an afterlingering sweetness I associate with breakfast blends containing Assam. The consistency is very similar to that of the Chocolate Puerh, smooth, slightly slick, and brothy. It’s thick, and gives the illusion of chewiness.

It will be interesting to taste for this next time I drink the Chocolate, as I imagine that under the lovely chocolate and spice additives to that tea, this is pretty much the unadulterated tea flavor. I’ve also ordered some samples of loose puehrs as I think I could become a fan.

Well, THAT was gross.

I keep hearing about Pu’erh tea and feel like I should give it a shot, so I tried this one. It was, as expected, pretty darn gross. People had warned me that Pu’erh can smell very fishy and this one wasn’t VERY fishy, but it definitely had some of that vibe. People say it’s “earthy”, I think it smells like a gross fish market.

It’s funny as Numi’s Chocolate Pu’erh is so mild that it’s basically like a Rooibos and it is definitely good and doesn’t have this gross smell. I gotta try some other Pu’erh’s to be safe, but so far the traditional ones are pretty gross. The taste actually was mostly ok, but the smell was pretty bad and that didn’t sell really work out well for me.

I enjoyed the malty flavoring of this tea. I was so happy to find Puerh teabags since all I had been seeing was loose leaf or tea cakes from places like Yunnan China. I hope I have spelled it correctly. Thank you Numi Tea folks.

Not a bad puerh from a bag! :-) I think Numi isn’t bad bagged tea overall.

For a quick puerh fix in an easy-to-transport tea bag, this tea does the trick.

I am also happy to see puerh making its way into the market; one of the first puerh tea bags! The quality of this tea is good enough to help people cultivate a taste for puerh.

For me this was purchased as a 1lb bag of loose leaf pu erh.

I don’t have alot to say about it, its a very good pu erh.

You can’t go wrong with the Emperor.

I was pleasantly surprised with this tea. I usually steer away from Puerh because the few that I have had in the past tend to be strong and taste to much like dirt….for a lack of a better word. This was nice and smooth. Cocoa, earth, and some light smoke on the nose. No bitterness going down.

I’m a huge pu-erh fan and collector. I like this tea as a simple, easy to drink, easy to make, everyday shou pu-erh.

The first time I had this I was hooked, I do 2 teabags that will last me for about 4 hours. It’s a mellower black tea, not tannic at all. Added blule agave and vanilla soymilk to make a latte…yum!