Dirty never tasted so good
November 3, 2011
Ok, I had no idea what to expect when I ordered this tea. I had never tasted, or even heard of, pu-erh tea before. When I opened the bag I was surprised to smell..... dirt. Yes, the tea smells just like freshly dug up garden soil. I steeped it for three minutes and ended up with a DARK brown brew, which still smelled like soil, lol. Anyway the taste is slightly different from the smell, but the taste is definitely earthy. In case you are having trouble with the term 'earthy' when referring to taste picture how a beet tastes. A beet is sweet, but its overall and lingering taste is earthy. This tea is the same.
Personally I love this tea, especially since I can get 3-4 steeps out of each teaspoon. There is also a lot of evidence that points to this tea having a profound effect on lowering cholesterol levels. Even though it has a very earthy taste it has a clean finish, which means it was fermented properly.
This tea is not for people who need to dump loads of sugar in their tea in order to enjoy it because, quite frankly, sugar doesn't change the overall flavor. If you haven't tried pu-erh before split the cost with another adventurous tea drinker so that you don't feel so bad if you don't like it.