Pu-erh Ginger Tea Blend

The packaging of the Rishi Pu-erh Ginger is absolutely beautiful. There’s no doubt that the natural brown and black ink print of a flower garden seems to reflect and project its degradable quality and eco-friendliness. The ingredients are also all organic, which just somehow feels good. The flavour… Despite boasting strong spiced ginger, which I find an absolute delight, this blend also contains quite a distinct lemon note, which becomes particularly strong when combined with honey. I’m really not a fan. On the upside, I can totally imagine this being perfect if you had a really snotty head cold. The ginger would open your sinuses, the lemon (and honey should you add it) would sooth your throat and the deep earthy tea serving to relax.

For more www.TastetheTea.co.uk

Hello Steepster, haven’t been posting in a while! I’ve still been drinking tea, but nothing noteworthy until now. I’m trying yet another new tea from Rishi, a company that is quickly garnering more and more of my appreciation with their quality teas. This time it is dun, dun, duuuuun a pu-erh blend. I was, for obvious reasons, wary of trying this one, but because Rishi has convinced me that their teas are usually really good, I decided to give it a go.

The first time I opened the bag, I got a hefty waft of ginger (and a subtle earthy smell of the pu-erh). It felt like a kick in the nostrils, so I was expecting the ginger to be quite strong in this blend. And it is, as we will get to in a bit. The instructions said to brew this with boiling water for 4 minutes, adding a minute per each additional steep. I was doubtful, because 4 minutes for a pu-erh seems to be quite a long time. And I think I was right, because after just 1.5-2 minutes the tea was already dark and has a strong aroma. These two signs I usually take to mean that the tea is strong enough for me to drink, and I decided to pull the plug on the steeper.

The tea was just right in strength: not over-brewed but strong enough for me to be satisfied with enough flavour. The ginger is quite strong in the blend – in fact it is the dominant flavour note – but the pu-erh also comes through, though rather sneakily, almost as if it knows I am waiting for it like an intruder in the night and it doesn’t want to get caught. It’s not bad though. To be honest, it is a bit hard to separate from the powerful ginger flavour and aroma, but I do get the slight earthiness (?) in the background. I think this was a good way to ease into becoming acquainted with the taste of pu-erh, but because this tea is predominantly ginger-flavoured (which is not bad, I like ginger), I will have to try some of LP’s sample pu-erh packets to really delve into the pu-erh world.

Earlier in the day, I decided to make a pit stop at one of the few places in my hometown that serves halfway decent loose leaf teas and avoid weekend work for a couple of hours. Noticing that this was on the menu, I was immediately intrigued. It had been awhile since I’d had a pu-erh of note, so I decided to make this one my first tea of the day.

The tea shows a lovely dark brownish amber with subtle ruby highlights in the glass. On the nose, the ginger is immediately evident and does not smell artificial in the least. It is obvious that this is the real deal and not ginger flavoring. I also detect subtler aromas of earth, toast, pungent herbs, and a rather heavy, almost caramel maltiness lurking beneath the ginger. In the mouth, the earthy spiciness of the ginger immediately pops, while subtle notes of herbs, toast, earth, and caramel malt develop around mid-palate. There is just a trace of a light smokiness too on which I cannot quite put my finger. The finish is relatively smooth and long with hints of earth, toast, and of course, ginger.

In the end, I rather like this tea-I tend to be something of a fan of most Rishi products. I am, however, going to grade it rather conservatively. First, I tend to like my pu-erh teas without additional flavoring agents natural or otherwise. I guess I just prefer to experience the complexity and earthiness of pu-erh on its own. Secondly, I find the aroma and flavor of ginger to be just a little too heavy in this tea. While it is pleasant and provides a little bit of a kick, the heaviness of the ginger obscures the actual aromas and flavors of the tea. So all of this being said, this tea is enjoyable, but to me, it seems a little one-dimensional. Still, I would not really hesitate to recommend it to fans of spicy and/or herbal blends.

Recently reformed, check out the new image and ingredient list!

Thank you, Veronica, for including a sample of this in the Christmas card! I did not follow the directions and only dumped half into the teapot (directions call for 1 tbs – yipes).

I never would have thought to try this on my own. Not much of a ginger fan unless it’s in tea with plenty of other ingredients, and I’m hesitant about shou in blends.

Here, the shou is earthy and smooth – not much else going on. The ginger adds a good kick. It’s an odd combo but works. A very nice winter tea! Especially when it’s overcast booooooooooo.

HHTTB #14/18

Here is another one from the traveling tea box. I grabbed this one because I tend to enjoy ginger teas. This did not disappoint. It was a think mouth feel with a base that had the deep coco flavor mixed with the ginger. I am still not used to ripe pu-erh and so the earthy/mushroom smell the tea was really enjoyable.

SSTTB #16.

Still not feeling so great, and while I had a ginger tea at work, I wanted something less sweet at home. Enter this.

I steeped somewhere around 5 minutes, as I was baking toast and didn’t feel like setting the timer twice. It’s really nice! Earthy mineral puerh, lots of ginger. I added 1/2 tsp honey just to punch it up a little, but although it tastes good like this, I’m not sure it really needs it.

Definitely a decent tea. Not something I need to stock, but I’m glad I had it around this evening.

Not sure about this one. I like the ginger. It’s got a nice kick, which I enjoy, but the overall taste is a little weak. I brewed according to the directions, and steeped at the high end of the time range,

If I have enough left, I’ll try using 1.5x to 2x the tea per 8 oz next time. I want to like this a little more because I love ginger so much.

’Here’s Hoping’ traveling teabox Round #2 // Tea #26
Steep #1 // just boiled // 4-5 min
Steep#2 // just boiled // 4 min
Oh I like this one, even though I don’t usually like ginger unless it’s in a chai. I think the ripened pu-erh overpowers the ginger anyway… it’s either the ginger or the pu-erh itself that is very sweet. I love the deep duskiness of the pu-erh… it kind of tastes like raisins. The second steep of any pu-erh is always just a little bit better, deeper yet sweeter. There is a lot of this in the teabox, so I’m taking a couple teaspoons out for later!

I love ginger, I love pu-erh, so I thought I’d love these two together. Having said that, I probably should have steeped this correctly when popping this tea’s cherry, as it’s heady, earthy, very pungent and strong – I could tell this as soon as I opened the bag. However like my normal state-of-affairs the past day, I steeped it for about 20 minutes.

Yes, it’s good. Yes, it’s very ginger-y. it is also way too strong for my morning, yet that’s my own damn fault. I would only recommend this to folks who LOVE pu-erh (and strong ones at that, with an earthy, mineral taste to them) as well as folks who LOVE ginger (biting, heady, adventurous).