Cardamom Pu-erh

This was discovered on a recent trip to Whole Foods, I am not a big fan of Numi’s Chocolate Chai but I thought I would give this a whirl since I really like cardamom.

I’m glad I got this and I think it’s really yummy. The cardamom is really strong here and it goes so well with the earthy pu-erh, I am glad I got it. I’m drinking it plain but it would also be really good with sugar or soymilk. Thankfully I am finding I don’t really need either. I’ll have to keep this around at work as a digestif. It’s true that the cardamom is really strong but it works (for me).

Meditation for this evening: I deserve to be treated with kindness and respect, not rage and profanity.

A review of 100% Organic & Pure Green Tea by Organic & Pure, Inc.

Company: Numi Organic Tea
Tea Name: Cardamom Pu-erh
Tea Type/Varietal: pu-erh
Region: Yunnan, China
Steeping Vessel/Amt. Leaf:
Liquor Color: Dark Red, very dark like rich chocolate
Leaf Characteristics:

1st Steeping:
Water temperature: 200 Fahrenheit
Time: 5 minutes

As I have been having many pu-erh teas of late, I notice each time when pouring the tea water into my cup with the tea bag already in it that the teas’ color right away, first a light orange/cantaloupe color to the dark red resulting at end of steep time.

The tea’s aroma is pungently of moisture with hints of spice when I am sipping the tea. The mustiness is what I am met with when first trying the tea and with each sip and allowing the tea settle in my palate I note the spices.

2nd Steeping:
Water temperature: 200 Fahrenheit
Time: 3 minutes

The tea is steep for less time using the same tea bag and color is very much the same dark red and the pungent moisture/dampness is not as strong but still remains and this time more of the spice of cardamom is coming through.

As I have been sampling many spice teas of late for this season and the one spice seeming a stranger to me is Cardamom. So I thought to give a proper look up of it. I have read of this prior but had forgotten.

Cardamom is a peppery ginger lemon flavor—small black seeds from a tropical shrub are used to flavor herbal tea blends.

Cardamom was one of the first spices brought to Egypt along the trade routes from Eastern India. It grows only in rain forests with at least 150 inches of amount rain fall and seeds from cardamom can be used to sweeten the breadth.

In all this tea is a sweetly aromatic and spicy.

I think I’ve found another purse tea. Earthy pu-erh and cardamom are a perfect blend for a cold winter afternoon. A great bagged tea.

Tea Sparrow was sampling this out at the Victoria Tea Festival. I was a little skeptical at first since pu-erh and I don’t exactly get along, but I was ultimately sold on the cardamom.

Wow, cardamom pairs really well with the earthy pu-erh. By the way, when I say cardamom, I mean, crazy cardamom on steroids. I barely tasted the tea base. I actually felt very cleansed drinking this tea. But at the same time, it made me just think, gee, I could just steep a bunch of green cardamom pods with a regular tea at home and get similar results.

Bagged Tea.
Aroma when Dry: Bright, spicy, warm, fresh, uplifting.
After water is first poured: warm, smooth spice,
as brewing: mellow earthy spice
Tea liquor: first color: light earthy red
At end of steep even earthy red.
Staple? Yes, will look into loose leaf next
Time of day preferred: Morning, or if I need a pick me up.
Taste: first notes: cardamom, peppery bite. fresh, bodied.
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No.
Lingers? Yes, with almost a lemony, or Chamomile texture, but spicier. can feel it warming entire body.
As it cools? Still warm, spice fades a bit, mellows and then deepens to general earthy notes

Delicious! Love the strength of the cardamom in this tea. It also has a sweet creaminess that reminds me of kheer.

Thanks to the Travelling Tea Box, I’m trying some of Numi’s flavoured puerhs that have been on my wishlist for a long time (years!)

The pu’erh is from Yunnan, but tastes like poorly stored ripe tea. I get lots of the typical mushroom and Earthy tones, but I also get some fishy smell from the brewed tea. Hints of wood and mineals. The cardamom is delightful and there is also some metallic liquorice taste from the green cardamom. This is actually a really tasty tea, but I wish they had used a less fishy puerh.

After a long time, I have decided to get away from coffee and soda to get back into tea with thanks to my fiance for insisting on picking up two boxes of Numi pu-erh tea.

I have discovered that I like the Numi pu-erhs brewed with one bag for 8 oz of water and have them brewed for at least five minutes. I like taking them to work because I can overbrew them and they don’t turn bitter or gross on me. In fact, I like them brewed stronger because they have more flavor.

This one has to be drunk when it is still hot or else it has a bit of an aftertaste. It isn’t my favorite, but it is quite tasty when it is hot.

I like Numi as a company for their fair trade practices and support of organic farmers. Fortunately, I also like their teas. As I wrote in a prior review, I have tried to enjoy loose-leaf puerh many times but generally have a distaste for it. I do, however, love Numi chocolate puerh and I was anxious to try this one. The cardamom is very intense. I have to say, iI really don’t taste the puerh at all. I like cardamom a lot, so this is okay with me, but it’s not as balanced as their other blends.

Hm, well, it’s an odd one. I like Pu-erh teas, not my all time favorites but I can appreciate the nuance and the savory, earthy taste they sometimes carry. This one is pretty good, and the cardamom certainly makes the pu-erh more palatable, but it’s quite disorienting in some ways.

Specifically, it smells like fish when it’s brewing. Fish with a subtle hint of cardamom…sounds like a pretty nice dish, but not necessarily what I imagine when I’m brewing tea. So once it’s finished brewing (I followed Numi’s suggestion of about 4 minutes) it doesn’t taste like fish at all to me.

It’s got the earthiness I’ve come to expect with pu-erhs, and a nice thick body to it. There is a lot of cardamom, and over all it just tastes…okay. I like it, but I don’t think it will sway chai fans, for example, into the world of pu-erh based off of scent alone. And pu-erh connoisseurs may not appreciate the presence of cardamom. It’s not bad, but I just almost don’t know who it’s for…Well, as a fan of cardamom and pu-erh I think it’s pretty good. If you are in that venn diagram, you may like it as well.