Our family loves puerh tea, so I saved this organic offering as a special treat for our next gathering. I have had chocolate puerh, rich and dark. I have had dried orange puerh, dark tea with bright citrus notes. I expected this to be a combination of the two.
Well, it wasn’t at all what I expected, but I loved what I got! The scent was very sweet and candy-like, and the tea color and body were both light. The puerh is pretty subdued in scent and taste.
The aroma was strong, and it finally hit me. It smelled like orange-flavored baby aspirin chewables, those tiny pills I loved as a child! Seriously, they should make those for adults! The chocolate is the pure chocolate taste you get from cocoa nibs, not the cloying candy kind, and it goes great with the orange.
Everyone loved it and we were able to resteep the leaves several times with great results.
The tea is called Polka Dot Bikini and it just might help get ready for a spring and summer packed with activities all day long. Puerh is traditionally used to aid digestion, lower cholesterol, and alleviate symptoms of a hangover, and is considered a weight loss tea in China. In Asian traditional medicine, eleuthero is used for increasing chi (energy) and has been studied as an adaptogen. If it works, it will keep that beach volleyball game going all afternoon.
There is fennel in this, also used as a digestive aid, but it was very light. I wouldn’t have known it was there if I hadn’t seen the ingredient list, but I am sire it is contributing to the overall silky, sweet, bright flavor of the blend.
I loved this tea hot, and I think it is a safe bet that would make an awesome iced tea to accompany all your summertime activities.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Puerh
Where to Buy: Fraser Tea
Description
For a delicious treat that is ripe with many health benefits, try Polka Dot Bikini Organic Pu-erh Tea. Believed to help break down fat cells, organic pu-erh tea is blended with fresh cocoa nibs, orange peel, fennel, and powerful eleuthero root to bolster stamina.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Polka Dot Bikini Organic Puerh from Fraser Tea. . .
The name alone had me with this tea. . .I mean being a lover of all things polka dot and all. . .
Polka Dot Bikini Organic Puerh is a wonderful blend of puerh tea, cocoa nibs, orange peel, fennel seeds and a few other ingredients. A blend that I have had before but never with orange peels that large added in. I ordered a box of sachets of this tea and a green tea sampler. I needed to know what this tea was all about.
Since Fraser Tea is a new tea company to me, I wasn’t sure what to expect. What I received, immediately impressed me. I have already placed and received a much larger order and have plans to place another order very soon.
Each box of sachets was lovely assembled and each sachet was individually wrapped. Making the tea easier to transport and keep for those times where you need a tea asap and don’t have time to steep loose leaf. This particular tea had a lovely earthy smell with a slight citrus aroma. Really wonderful.
Brewed up my water 212F and allowed the tea to steep for about 4 minutes. Allowed the tea to cool for another 2-3 minutes and took my firsts sip. I was instantly in love. This tea has this wonderful silky smooth texture with notes of sweetness, earthiness, and herbaceous all in one tea sachet.
The puerh tea is solid-smooth, luxurious, and makes a wonderful base for the rest of the ingredients to play on. I don’t drink a lot of puerh, but from what I’ve had of the flavored variety, this is one of the best ones out there. With the dark tea base, the cocoa nibs become even more decadent adding to that silky luxurious mouth feel. Add in the citrus twist and fennel finish (not a strong fennel flavor by any means) and you have a wonderfully well balanced sweet treat.
Rich, sweet, citrus, earthy with a hit of chocolate. . and a touch of an herbal finish. . .really couldn’t ask for a better way to get you going and ready to take the day on.
I actually loved this tea so much that I took down half a box in one day and ordered 4 oz in my last order. I did notice that I was only able to get two steepings out of each sachet so I’m hoping I will be able to squeeze hopefully one more infusion out of the loose leaf.
For my first experience with Fraser Tea, I’m quite loving it and am excited to prep my tea kettle up to enjoy more teas from order!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Puerh
Where to Buy: Fraser Tea
Description
Sweet chocolate and licorice flavor with earthy citrus aroma
Puerh Tea*, Cocoa Nibs*, Orange Peel*, Fennel Seeds*, Eleuthero Root*, Organic Flavor (*) = Organic Certified.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Chocolate Earth from Story of My Tea. . . . .
I travel a lot to Texas with my kiddo, so when I saw a Houston-based tea company, I knew I had to learn more. This Kickstarter-founded company, called Story of my Tea, recently offered two of their new Hello! pre-measured iced teas for free (just pay S&H) ….. an iced teaser, if you will 😉
I’m familiar with cold brewing tea bags, but what really got me about this company was the awesome variety of blends. I chose Rhubarb Oolong and Chocolate Earth (a puerh and white tea blend) as my free samples.
First off, their packaging is really clever. The back of the sealed foil packet has clear steeping instructions for both hot and cold steeping (has anyone noticed a taste difference between these styles?). Then there’s a QR code you can just scan which shows you much, much more about using each blend with food pairings.
Inside is an enormous 5×3(ish) inch unbleached bag of cocoa-scented leaves. I can’t see clearly the percentage mix of white and fermented tea (or other flavorings).
I noticed that the wet puerh leaves didn’t expand and fill the satchel the way the oolong bag did after brewing, but I was still grateful for that extra room because 1) I am relieved there’s enough room for the leaves to expand and release all their flavor and 2) this ENORMOUS bag means I can now brew four big cups at a time instead of just one!
My first infusion was copper and the second, longer steep became a mahogany color, exactly the same colors as an aging penny. The liquor smelled of a molassesy s’more.
Sipping it… well, you know how silk invites you to run your hand along the cool, soft fabric? Chocolate Earth feels exactly like that in your mouth. Buttery smooth, it excites first as cocoa and moves to all taste buds, then lingers sweetly for just a moment with a vanilla bourbon.
I have an affirmation board near my tea cupboard that literally reminds me “I HAVE ENOUGH TEA” , but somehow it did not deter me from this purchase Ha. It also has a list of what teas I want to buy when my cupboard stops overflowing. Anyhow, on the list was Numi’s chocolate Puerh, (which I discovered in my first Zen Tea Bar box and absolutely loved), But now that line has been replaced with Story of My tea’s Hello! Chocolate Earth – – it’s THAT awesome.
Here’s the scoop!
Tea Type: Puerh
Where to Buy: Story of My Tea
Description:
This tea has the milky and caramel notes of the white tea, is extremely smooth and very aromatic. Is great iced as a dessert or after a summer BBQ.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
English Toffee from DAVIDs Tea. . . . . . .
I love toffee. When I was younger I used to not even want them to be coated in chocolate, I just wanted that salty, sweet, and nutty toffee. As an adult, I appreciate the creamy chocolate coating much more, and when I think of an English Toffee tea, cocoa definitely comes to mind. So does caramel, nuts, and that buttery toffee taste. I have been eating toffee my entire life, I am a self proclaimed expert! So when I try any kind of toffee tea it is going to take a lot to knock my socks off.
I actually delayed trying this one for a while….it came in my Advent calendar over Christmastime from DAVID’s. (It’s May) I don’t really know why I delayed trying it, I guess I was just so busy trying other teas that I didn’t have the strongest interest. But today is a rainy and stormy day, and i’m in the mood for something comforting and chocolatey. My first thought when I took my first sip of this blend was that it would be an amazing latte. Some frothed milk and a caramel drizzle? Holy yum. My next thought was that I wish I had tried this over the winter because this tea would have been my favorite! I don’t usually drink pu’erh like at all…but I don’t mind it one bit! It is very smooth and holds up well to the rich and creamy flavors of cocoa, caramel, and browned butter. This tea is sweet and satisfying. A great dessert blend that would even go well in the morning as a latte with a shot of espresso. A delicious caffeine boost!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Puerh
Where to Buy: DAVIDs Tea
Description
This decadent, all-natural blend of pu’erh, cocoa and caramel is the perfect sweet treat.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Energy Pu-Erh from Komo Tea
The dry leaves are colorful with a strong berry fragrance. The look and smell make me feel very confident in the health value of this tea. A lot of the Chinese ingredients, I hadn’t tried before.
Naturally Pu-Erh has caffeine, then there’s an herbal boost from being hand blended with adaptagen herbs (which I totally googled, I’m not THAT granola. They’re good for stress).
This cold brewed up to be a deep maroon but the mouthfeel was very smooth. At first sniff I thought I couldn’t handle the flavor, but the cinnamon balances the fruit really well, like Dean from Supernatural eating a cherry pie. Very doable.
Overall, I believe this is a great tea, at the same time, one of the ingredients is more of an acquired taste… that I just haven’t acquired yet.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Pu-Erh
Where to Buy: Komo Tea
Organic pu-erh tea from Yunnan Province, China is hand blended with adaptogen herbs – nature’s miracle anti-stress and fatigue fighters – producing fruity and spicy flavors that invigorate body and mind. Whether you’re looking for a mid-morning pick me up or a power boost before a workout, Energy gives you the endurance to power through when it counts.