Organic Japanese Puerh

Totally forgot to log this last night. I had some with dinner and it was fantastic. That perfect contrast to the amazing steak my other half made with a wine sauce and roasted potatoes and beans. We opted for bike ride Monday instead of Sunday given the holiday so yesterday was liquor store and food store lol so that today we can go for a long ride and enjoy 4-6 hours of outdoors….and have lunch while doing it! Anyway this tea? Love it…. More to write later but I’m glad I picked up a little more again.

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.

This cup contains a lot of plums tonight. First steep was darker with something that was flirting with coffee (don’t do it, tea! Coffee’s a jerk). Wet leaves smelled a bit fishy although that did not transfer over to the taste.

Second steep is where the plums are- pruned, pickled, jammed, sort of plums. There’s a little bit of a roasted flavour but it’s mostly fruit. If I take bigger gulps I get some dry, burnt tobacco and a crusty roasted starchiness. The finish is sweet while the aftertaste is crusty, sour, and buttery sourdough-like! So many crazy things happening in this second cup; Depending on what I focus on I get a different impression. Definitely on my keeper’s list.

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.

Another almost sipdown on a favorite Butiki tea? Looks like my next tea order I save up for will have to be Butiki…

I can’t get over how good this one is! Roasty toasty ricey sweet shu goodness. NOM!

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

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.

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!

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!!