Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu’erh
Where to Buy: The Persimmon Tree
Tea Description:
The Honeysuckle pu-erh tea delivers a deep red infusion with a sweet woodsy, floral aroma. The finished brew is mild and earthy, with a lingering hint of honeysuckle. This honeysuckle tea can be steeped multiple times in a sitting without becoming bitter. This particular pu-erh is cooked and has been aged for about 4-6 years.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The urge to drink Pu’erh comes and goes with me, perhaps largely because I initially found it a very acquired taste. Even though I’ve now tried a significant variety of different Pu’erhs, I still feel that I’m learning about the variety and discovering new things. This tea, for instance. I’ve never tried a floral Pu’erh before, or any variety flavoured with honeysuckle, come to that. It’s a real first! I treated this one as I would generally treat a loose-leaf Pu’erh, using 1 tsp of leaf in boiling water. I tend to vary the brew time based on the individual tea and the strength/scent/liquor colour, but went with a fairly standard (for me) 1 minute this time. The resulting liquor is a medium red-brown. The scent once brewed, and while brewing, is very evidently a Pu’erh – it has quite pungent manure notes!
To taste, this has to be one of the most unique Pu’erhs I’ve tried so far. I was expecting a fairly standard earthy/manure flavour based purely on the scent, but it’s actually nothing like that. Instead, there’s an initial almost-sharpness, which blossoms into a heavy, sweet, nectar like floral. Honeysuckle! There are virtually no earth or manure flavours to be found, which is a big surprise. The sweetness seems very natural, and isn’t at all overpowering. I think it’s helped by a sort of yogurt-like note which contributes a cool, tangy freshness to the overall cup.
I really like this one. I’m definitely the kind of person that objects to strong manure flavours in their tea, although I don’t mind earthiness at all. This one is pretty unique amongst those I’ve tried in that it has no earth or manure notes (despite the scent). The flavouring is sufficiently strong that the honeysuckle is front and centre pretty much the whole time, although as it cools this does dissipate a little to reveal just a hint of what lurks beneath. I’m pretty sure a fairly conservative brew time helped here – a longer one might herald more of a “traditional” Pu’erh flavour. I personally like the honeysuckle, though, so I’ll always err on the side of caution when brewing this one. It’s an outstandingly flavourful cup!
Assam Gold Black Tea from The Persimmon Tree
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: The Persimmon Tree
Tea Description:
This smooth, malty infusion is the perfect alternative to coffee. Assam Gold can be steeped multiple times while retaining its flavor. Golden in color, this import from Northern India is a thick, comfortable black tea brew that warms and energizes after a tough, bitter, cold day.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
When I think of “Gold” in relation to “Assam”, I’m usually thinking of “Golden Lion” varieties where the leaves really are golden-brown in colour, frequently accompanied by what I think of as “lots of golden dust”, a little like the grey/white dust that white tea sometimes exudes. This Assam clearly isn’t one of those – the leaves here are mostly a black/brown colour, with the odd golden-tipped leaf. They’re mostly fairly small – around 1/4cm in length, although some are as long as 1cm. I used 1 tsp of leaf for my cup, and gave it 3.5 minutes in boiling water. I added a splash of milk.
To taste, this one is deliciously malty. It’s sweet and almost thick-tasting, in the way of molasses. It’s also deliciously smooth and creamy, with a very mild bready note at the end of the sip. It’s slightly tannic, although not nearly as much as Assam can be. It’s a cup I’d happily drink on a morning, as it’s strong and full-bodied enough to be a good “wake-up!” tea, yet still fairly gentle.
I enjoyed this cup – it’s a classic Assam. I didn’t find it especially unique, but sometimes that’s not what’s required. It’s a good, solid example of my favourite tea variety, and would make a great introduction for the uninitiated. Lovely stuff.
Honeysuckle Pu-erh Tea from The Persimmon Tree
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh
Where to Buy: The Persimmon Tree
Tea Description:
The Honeysuckle pu-erh tea delivers a deep red infusion with a sweet woodsy, floral aroma. The finished brew is mild and earthy, with a lingering hint of honeysuckle. This honeysuckle tea can be steeped multiple times in a sitting without becoming bitter. This particular pu-erh is cooked and has been aged for about 4-6 years.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
When I first opened the tin of this Honeysuckle Pu-erh Tea from The Persimmon Tree, I got worried. The earthy aroma was STRONG and this is the kind of earthy that I find very unappealing when it comes to pu-erh tea. But, I tried to keep an open mind. So I brewed the tea.
To brew it, I grabbed my gaiwan. I measured a bamboo scoop of tea into the bowl of the gaiwan and heated the kettle to 190°F. I poured just enough of the hot water to cover the leaves and I let that steep for 15 seconds and then poured off the liquid and discarded it. (The rinse!) Then I filled the gaiwan with water and let it steep for 30 seconds. Usually, I let my first infusion steep for 45 seconds, but the tea had gotten really dark by 30 seconds, so I decided to stop at 30 seconds. I strained the tea into a teacup.
The fragrance of the brewed tea is softer than the dry leaf. It still has some of that unpleasant earthiness to it. I’m not getting a “sweet woodsy, floral aroma” as the description above suggests. I’m getting a damp wood and earth aroma. So, the worry that I felt before when I first opened the tin, it was returning.
But I took a sip and hoped for the best.
And fortunately, this tastes far less earthy than it smells. I’m getting those sweet, woodsy elements and hints of flower that I’m missing in the brewed aroma in the flavor. It’s a mellow tasting pu-erh with notes of earth but not overwhelmingly so. Mostly what I taste is a nice, sweet caramel-y undertone with a top note of flower. I don’t know if it’s honeysuckle that I taste during the sip, but I do taste a distinct floral note. And the aftertaste, yes, I do taste the honeysuckle there.
The aftertaste is my favorite part of this tea because I am really enjoying that lingering flavor of honeysuckle. It’s sweet, floral and really quite pleasant.
I only steeped my second infusion for 30 seconds as well, because it had already become even darker than the first cup was at 30 seconds. This is a tea that I recommend keeping an eye on while it’s brewing!
This infusion was deeper in flavor. The earthy qualities were a little stronger but not so strong that I found it off-putting. In this cup, I noted flavors of leather, mushroom and raw cacao. I still got that honeysuckle note in the aftertaste. I’m tasting a little less of a caramel-y taste and a little more of a molasses flavor, instead. Very deep flavor, very mellow and pleasant to sip.
Later infusions got deeper in flavor until they weren’t. When I started to realize that the flavors were becoming lighter, I stopped steeping. I lost count after six, but if I had to guess, I’d say I got nine infusions out of one measurement of leaves.
So this tea started out questionably with a rather unpleasant dry leaf aroma and even a slightly uncertain brewed tea scent, but the flavor is quite enjoyable. I’m happy that there wasn’t a briny, fishy or overpowering earthy flavor to this pu-erh. Nice.
Jasmine Passion Tea Blend from The Persimmon Tree
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black & Green Teas
Where To Buy: The Persimmon Tree
Tea Description:
Our Jasmine Passion tea is a divine blend of green and black loose-leaf teas, passion fruit essence and jasmine blossoms. Not only does it taste great hot, it also makes a killer iced tea for those warm summer evenings.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
I am finding myself in agreement with the last sentence in the above description … this Jasmine Passion Tea Blend from The Persimmon Tree makes an excellent tea served hot OR iced. I took my first few sips of this hot, but then I was distracted and my cup turned cold, and the flavor is still so good!
I generally find myself questioning why a company would combine two different leaf types as it has been done here, using both green and black teas to create the tea base. I mean, black teas are typically brewed at boiling temperatures, and green teas are typically brewed at lower temperatures (around 180°F) and are often steeped for different lengths of time. So, to appreciate fully the black tea in this blend, one would think that the tea should be brewed with boiling water for 3 minutes or so. But that temperature would – more often than not – scald the delicate green tea leaves, and three minutes? That could result in a bitter cup of green tea!
But, after tasting it, the combination works well. I brewed the tea at a lower temperature to observe the needs of the green tea leaves, and steeped it for a little longer than I would a green tea, but a little less than a typical black (2 1/2 minutes). This produced a really tasty cup of tea!
The sweet, fruity notes of the passion fruit and the exotic, floral tones of the jasmine come together in a very pleasing way. It is both fruity and floral, with the fruit notes just narrowly claiming the edge over the flower.
The black tea and the green tea play very nicely together too. The black tea is a softer taste than one might be used to with a black tea, but this is because I brewed it at a lower temperature for less time than I might normally brew a black tea. But the lighter flavor of the black allows the green tea to express itself without being overpowered by the stronger black flavors. I taste the sweet, delicate notes of the green tea, and the earthy tones of the black tea.
This tea is a really well-executed blend from The Persimmon Tree. I like it quite a bit, and I’m glad I got the opportunity to try it!
Butterscotch from The Persimmon Tree
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: The Persimmon Tree
Tea Description:
Now available as a delectable tea-time treat, our Butterscotch brew takes the buttery goodness of butterscotch and lightens it up into a white tea infusion. Taste the classic favorite of butterscotch in an fresh brew that smoothly and lightly dances down your throat.
Ingredients
Organic White Tea Leaves, Organic Cinnamon, Organic Pink Peppercorn, Organic Merigolds, Organic Flavors
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Butterscotch from The Persimmon Tree is really a good interesting tea blend. It seems to be more on the scotch side than the butter. For a candy inspired tea it really is not that sweet, or candy like. I get a strong scotch flavor in the blend, as in the alcohol.
The mouthfeel is medium heavy and the cup color is a nice clear light brown. I have also had this tea cold and it keeps its flavor profile quite nicely. A lot of teas taste different when hot versus cold, but this is the same either way.
Adding some sweetener, I used German Rock Sugar, does help bring out the candy like flavor in the tea, more like those golden yellow butterscotch candies you can get at the dime store. Even still I get a heavy scotch flavor from the tea mostly.
There is a creamy or buttery like mouthfeel to a degree, but not so much on the butter flavor. I personally would like it to be a bit more candy like but that is just a personal preference. To be honest, I think more people will appreciate this tea for its pure and direct flavor. It is not another overly sweetened, overly flavored, fake candy tea. It is absolutely a fresh and organic blend which I appreciate even if my taste buds would like it to be a bit sweeter.
Persimmon Tree Tea really does tea well when it comes to offering all natural and organic ingredients! Check out more about what The Persimmon Tree does for our world here.
