Name: Puerh with Lavender
Range: Single Estate
Form: Tea Cubed
Origin: Yunnan
Appearance before brewing: The cube contains loose Imperial Court No1 Puerh tea with a scattering of lavender. The Puerh is brown and looks quite pretty with the purple lavender mixed in with it. There is a lot of space inside the teabag which will allow the tea to brew properly.
How I brewed the tea: I placed the Tea Cubed bag into a glass Hexagonal teapot (I had previously removed the infuser) and added about 100ml of boiled water cooled to approx 85-90 degrees C. I swilled the teapot so as to rinse the Puerh tea. I then poured this brewed tea away.
Using the cleaned Puerh with Lavender Tea Cubed I filled the teapot with water from the same kettle and allowed to brew for about 50 seconds. I then removed the Tea Cubed bag and poured my tea.
Appearance during and after brewing: While brewing the tea expands and can clearly be seen in the photo to be utilising the space inside the bag to allow the tea to brew properly. This is something that is either lost when conventional teabags are used or they not filled with whole leaf tea.
The brewed bag is now completely full where there was previously space before as demonstrated below!
See the difference of before and after!Taste: This tea really has got a wow factor. If you are used to Puerh this will be a refreshing change for your palate and if you are new to Puerh it is a nice transitional tea. The lavender hits you first as the smell is quite strong but on your first sip the lavender seems to slide you in to the Puerh taste very smoothly. Quite often with Puerh teas you can be overwhelmed with the ripeness of the tea but the lavender acts to mask that and creates a very pleasant brew indeed!
There is a real balance between the two strong tastes that seems to work in perfect harmony here.
I drank this tea straight after I had had my lunch so I chose it to cleanse my palate and aid with my digestion as Puerh is said to have digestive and metabolic rising properties. This is not something you can gleam from the taste but after having quite a heavy lunch I definitely don’t feel quite as sluggish as I did before I drank my Puerh with Lavender.
Summary: There is an equilibrium in this tea that is hard to explain – often with Puerhs you will hear “you either love it or you hate it” but I think this tea has something for everyone. It is strong and subtle at the same time and the flavours seem to work in synchronisation so you get a lot going on for your taste buds to enjoy!
Additional Brews: The great thing about this “teabag” is that it does contain whole leaf tea so you can rebrew it just like you would the loose stuff.
I find that the Puerh taste came through a lot stronger in my subsequent brews of this tea which is great because I am a Puerh fan!
Have you tried this tea? What do you think of it? Do you ever blend your Puerh with anything else? If so, please share your stories and ideas!
Thanks for reading,
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