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!
Yunnan Gongfu Fragrant Black Tea from Teavivre. . . .
It is gray and overcast with rain threatening to move in and stay a while. That’s a real tea day in my book!
But my breakfast tea caused extreme pain to my delicate esophagus, which has endured years of reflux. I have tossed out that cup and moved on to try this.
I love Teavivre’s Yunnan Dian Hong Golden Tip tea. It is a staple in this house. I am betting this one will be good, too!
First, the dry leaves live up to that title – fragrant, indeed!
Steeped western style, I have a hearty, rich cup. I used 190F water and steeped for three minutes, but this is still strong enough that if left in the cup, you would have a ring. The taste starts out almost too mild for me. The sweet potato flavor of Dian Hong Golden is there, but there is also a flavor of roasted sweet potato with a little crispy burnt edge and fruitiness as well. The fruitiness is a really a brisk tingle that lingers on and on. The flavor builds with each sip.
The best part is that my esophagus is happy and I can enjoy the view out the window as I wait for the rain to begin with my warm cuppa!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Description
Gong Fu fragrance black tea is a tasty spring tea with infusion-enduring taste. The first two infusions have soft, mellow mouthfeel with slight sugar cane sweetness in the throat and at the bottom of cup a hint of milky flavor remains. But from the third infusion it presents a flavor, reminiscent of raw pu-erh tea, helping produce saliva.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Beneath the Pines from Global Tea Hut. . . . .
I had a little bit of trouble getting to this tea. I had to use a combination of my foot and a can opener to wrench the tin open.
Packaging difficulties aside, this tea tastes a bit like what I imagine seafood tastes like. (No, I’ve never had seafood. Of any sort.) This is a flavor profile that doesn’t usually pop up in black teas.
In part, the taste probably differs from a straight black because the tea has been fermented. Fermentation is how a “black” tea becomes a “pu’erh” tea.
To make it more confusing, people in Asia think of our “black” tea as “red.” And they call pu-erh “black.” If that hurts your spirit, feel free to forget I said anything. If that intrigues you, you can read a lot more about this tea and its processing technique here.
Though this tea wasn’t my favorite, I figured you’d get a kick out of my experience of opening it. Plus, the combinations of tea & fermentation types can turn into a wide bounty of flavor options! Who knew? This tea or one like it might be for you!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Puerh
Where to Buy: Global Tea Hut
Description
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Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Edgar Allan Poe Black from Simpson and Vail. . . .
My first thought about this brew was “WHO DIED?!”
As you’re steeping, your cup’s contents very swiftly become a really disturbing dark red/black/maroon color.
Which is, of course, SO fitting for an Edgar Allan Poe blend. You’re launched headfirst into a vat of the macabre. If someone asked you what you were drinking, you could deadpan “the blood of my enemies.” IT WOULD LOOK LIKE YOU WERE RIGHT.
The flavor is tart, earthy, smoky, and rich rich rich (yes, I typed it thrice). It’s a blend of black and pu’erh with bergamot and beetroot. I couldn’t pick up any of the bergamot in my spoonful, but such is the Luck of the Flavored Tea Lotto.
I think that the smoky lapsang is the star of the show. If you want to go into a smoking parlor to torment yourself over your writing, this is the perfect thing. You can sip it between smashings on your keyboard or dips into your ink.
This isn’t a good tea for writing on your computer, unfortunately. If I were really a Method Writer, I would have written this out longhand with a dip pen. Then scanned it. And posted it as a series of .jpegs. Part of me wants to transcribe this RIGHT NOW. It’s NOT TOO LATE
Except I’m lazy, and plus, this is easier for you to read and enjoy anyway.
~Eternally yours in gothiness,
Super Starling!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Simpson and Vail
Description
This dark, earthy blend evokes the damp tombs of Poe’s stories. While it is perhaps the most well known, The Cask of Amontillado is not Poe’s only story in which his fear of being buried alive becomes a major plot point. His vivid descriptions of “utter darkness among a quantity of loose earth” that “threaten[ed] to bury [him] entirely” offered a direction for our blend. It combines the earthy tones of Puerh black with the mellow smokiness of Lapsang and the slightest citrus hint of an Earl Grey. The dried beetroot turns the brewed tea a deep blood red.
Ingredients: Black teas, puerh tea, lapsang souchong tea, beetroot and bergamot oil.
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.
