Upon hearing me talk about how much I like pu erhs, my boss recently gave me a handful of her flavored pu erh teas from Adagio. Among such selections as Pu Erh Chorange (which I really like) and Pu Erh Spice was this little gem, Pu Erh Tahiti. Which is apparently a pu erh with tropical fruit flavors.
Uh huh, this tea is every bit as weird as it sounds. When I smelled the bag, I thought, “Well, maybe it’ll taste better in liquid form.” Aaaaaand it doesn’t. I don’t know how to describe it. Let’s just say that earthy/fishy and mango/pineapple/citrus/tropical do not go well together – the final result is somewhere between burnt rubber and something going bad. It’s even worse when it cools. (…Which I accidentally let it do. Whoops.) I’ll try to finish the cup, but I make no guarantees.
Actually, this is part of what I love about talking tea. I love telling stories about the weird-ass, disgusting teas almost as much as I love spouting poetry about the really good ones. Another weird-ass tea tasting for the win!
(Side note: speaking of coworkers and weird teas, I offered to let one of our part-timers – who is not a tea drinker at all – try one of my favorite shus recently, just for the experience of having a tea that I kept describing as tasting like dirt. He was like, “This does taste like dirt. … It’s really good. Like, I would drink a whole pot of this!” I have created a new convert! SCORE!)
