Coconut Cacao

Full Review on http://sororiteasisters.com/ on the 22nd but here are my snippits:

Coconut Cacao from The Persimmon Tree is a lovely way to experience your daily pu erh intake! I love pu erh for its health benefits but I also simply love the deep flavors of pu erh itself. Some however do not care for pu erh let alone unadulterated pu erh so they may tend toward something like this to get their health benefits.

I will say that I am not too fond of the initial aroma of this tea in its dry form or its steeped form. I personally find the aroma a bit off putting however in talking to others, I seem to be the only one who is put off by the aroma. Its probably just me. I just thought it only fair to state this in my review. As for the taste however, its lovely!

The combination of chocolate and coconut into a pu erh base is genius! One reviewer on The Persimmon Tree website, and fellow Steepster, calls it their tea latte without milk! I have to agree, it is quite creamy, full, earthy without being too earthy, and just sinfully delicious. I don’t even find it too sweet either which shows what a masterful blend it is!

Another thing I respect about The Persimmon Tree is their committment to our environment. On their “About” page you will find the following:

We, at The Persimmon Tree®, contribute to the sustainability of our planet. Where possible, we use recycled and recyclable materials in our shipping supplies and printed materials. Using recycled products increases the demand for recycled material, which increases the rate of recyclability. Our passion is to instigate and experience positive change through the simple things, and we encourage our customers to do the same.

Cold steeped Coconut Cacao! One of my more weirder cold steeps so far!

Very very coconutty, like real coconut taste. Chocolate is in the after taste. Not sure if I like it cold, has a weird taste at the end like I chewed on the fuzzy brown skin of the coconut.

I forced my tea-hating husband to try this. He always says when he tries my teas that “it tastes like tea” meaning “it tastes bad”.
For Coconut Cacao he said “It tastes like cold tea. And ice cream”

hmm… I guess it’s sort of ice creamy.

Thank you Dhart1214 for this sample tea

La la la la la….

What does one do when one does not care for a tea? One has to look for something that is good about the tea like a detective!

I’ll become… Miss Marple …The BBC Detective!

Miss Marple is in the kitchen with her pot of tea, flowery rose china cup (totally not me) which she takes on a tray (along with cream and castor sugar) to a table by the garden window.

The first pour is a nose scrunching audible, “Really, oh no! Something has to be done about this!” (The black thick tea was so strong and bitter it could have disintegrated a discarded murder weapon!)
“I’ll add some cream and castor sugar. Surely that will make this tea drinkable.” But alas, the tea was still sour and without a chocolate, coconut flavor at all.
“Drat it all! Whatever is the matter with this tea? Has it been meddled with?” Looking into the cup for a bit, you could see the process of deduction…the sleuth at work.
“I’ll dilute the tea!”
This proved to be the best answer to drinkability but just barely.

Miss Marple’s deduction was as follows:

Either there was something that went terribly wrong with the Puerh base which made the tea have an odd taste. Or,the flavoring went berserk taking on a persona that has nothing to do with coconut or cocoa. (It could also be a sinister plot.)

The case had to go into the file of unsolved mysteries!

I like a good mystery, and I’ll assume that I am the only one that had an off packet of this tea and leave it at that.

Coconut and chocolate is the flavor combination of the gods. Chocolate coconut pudding, chocolate coconut cheesecake, coconut cream pie with chocolate crust, and of course coconut & chocolate tea! I can’t believe that I passed up a sample of this on my first order, so I threw it in this time. I got a coupon for a free ounce of White Guava, but I felt guilty getting a free tea with free shipping and not actually, you know, buying anything, so I threw a handful of samples into my cart. Of course I just got ANOTHER coupon so now I want more samples… it’s an endless cycle.

This is a lovely, earthy tea that reminds me of a coffee latte. Then again, most flavored pu-erhs remind me of coffee if they have a “mocha” aspect. Or more accurately, chicory coffee, it’s got that same earthy acidity. Which this tea certainly does! Though it’s not a sweet and thick chocolate taste but the bittersweet richness you expect from cacao nibs. The coconut is warm and toasty, but less pronounced than I expected it to be. I think I like the coconut notes in their White Coconut Cream better but I like how the coconut melds with the flavors better in this blend. In either case, Persimmon Tree definitely knows how to do coconut right!

Azzrian Thanks, girl!

The Pu-erh is quite pleasant flavored this way! I do like that! The Coconut is a bit sweet, a little smooth, a little tropical – not over powering but decent. I do like that! The cacao…well, not too shabby but not awesome. It’s ok. The more I drink it – the more I think the level of flavor is pretty good…and not meant to be much more powerful than it is so it’s growing on me. Overall I DO like this flavor especially for a flavored pu-erh. I really think the coconut is the highlight for me, personally, tho!

Uh-oh. This smelled a bit soapy before I steeped it. I’ve heard stories about coconut going bad, and now I’m worried to drink this! Of course, I just showered, so it could also be that..
After steeping, it still smells of that delicious bakey coconuty smell that I was expecting. Maybe it hasn’t gone bad!
Hmm, so there’s definitely not as much taste, most likely because I’ve had this for a while, but it doesn’t taste bad. I’ll have to finish the rest of this off quickly just in case!

First impression: this smells like vomit. Oh no. Rancid coconut? Why does coconut seem to go rancid so easily in some teas and not others?

Anyhow, going to give it a shot anyways…

Brewed up, nasty aroma is gone. WHEW. (Ok, the tea has totally cooled, so I can’t speak for when it’s hot.) And the flavour…. is actually better than I was expecting! Creamy, sweet-ish coconut on a pu’erh base. Unfortunately, I’m getting a hint of soapiness, which I’d attribute to the coconut perhaps going off. Seems to be a pretty big trend with coconut (i.e. soapiness, off-flavours).

If the slightly weird flavour/soapiness was not present, I’d have to say that this would pretty much rocket into first place in terms of coconutty blacks (counting pu’erh as a black here, obviously), as it’s not at all astringent/bitter and the base is quite nice and earthy, while the coconut is deliciously creamy. I just am having trouble getting past those off flavours :( Hopefully not all batches of this tea are like that (and I suspect not, which is why some people like this tea while others really don’t). Mediocre rating due to this issue, otherwise it would be in the 80s.

Backlog:

A really tasty tea! I was very happy with the way the chocolate and coconut were represented in this cup. Sweet, creamy and delicious, with a nice earthy undertone. A really good chocolate tea.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/04/11/coconut-cacao-tea-from-the-persimmon-tree/

So it looks like I am the only person who doesnt like this tea. The dry notes smell terrible, and as they steep it smells like vomit (literally). Once it has steeped I do get a hint of a coconut and chocolate smell, but mostly just a really gross pukey smell. And once you sip it I get more of the same. I just can’t drink this. YUCK! Maybe there was something that happened to this sample but wow.
I won’t give this a numerical rating because it seems that something went wring with this one.

I am reviewing this tea thanks to a lovely sample sent to me from Awkward Soul! Thank you! When I first smelled the dry leaves, I thought they smelled a little soapy. But I love coconut, chocolate, and tea, and the thought of all three together made my head explode, so I thought I’d steep it anyway.

I’m glad I did! In the cup, this tea is very dark. The taste is smooth and rich and there is a creamy mouthfeel. You can definitely detect the chocolate; the coconut is more muted. I finished my cup several minutes ago and I still have a creamy aftertaste on my tongue.

I’m not experienced enough to figure out how pu-erh tea differs from regular black tea in taste, especially because I usually drink flavored teas and sweeten them. But I’m pretty sure that this would be a good introduction to pu-erh tea because it’s so smooth.