Just Puerh is a tea company based in Toronto, Canada that focuses on…just pu’erh tea. They want to bring quality pu’erhs to consumers at affordable prices to help new people discover the joys that a good cup of tea can bring. They sent me their Jing Mai Pu’erh, Tangerine Pu’erh, and their unreleased 2016 Sheng Pu’erh. Here are my full thoughts:
Jing Mai Puerh: I used my gaiwan for this lovely experience, trying to savor the entire experience. The dry leaves had a earthy sweet aroma to them, but the tea changed to a mossy, wet earth aroma upon brewing. The brewed tea was a ruby coloring with brownish tones to it. As I sipped on the tea, I noticed a few earthy notes with some wet forest and moss feels to it. It was quite mild and not super tannic, but had a bit of a malt to it. Further going into the tea, I concluded that the tea was medium-bodied that had little finish on the taste buds. I had about 7 steeps of this tea before getting quite caffienated and tea-happy. I really enjoyed the slightly sweet, malt to this tea.
Source: Jing Mai Mountian, Yunnan, China
Tangerine Puerh: I love these kinds of teas. It is my absolute favorite way of consuming pu’erh. Some people chip off bits of the tangerine but I always go for the entire fruit pu’erh. The aroma of the brewed tea instantly hit my nose with fruits, spices, and just a tinge of earthiness. I greedily gulped down the tea and immediately noticed how light the entire feel of it was. Light with orange citrus and spices notes. With each steep the tea went a bit darker in its golden hue. But the taste remained quite similar throughout the tasting, a lovely citrus spice with little hints of earthiness intensifying as steeps progress. I absolutely adored this one.
Source: Xinhui District, Guangdong, China
Sheng Puerh: This is a tea they are debating putting on their site and I say wholeheartedly, please put this up! It is a 2016 Sheng Pu’erh and is described to have a smooth and silky finish. When getting into my own experience, I noticed there was a slightly grassy aroma and my fiancè described it as falling on grass and having dirt ans grass on your hands. Quite specific, but it paints quite a picture. The taste of this tea was quite sweet and reminded me a bit of honeysuckle. It had a lighter body but got a bit more medium-bodied and astringent as it steeped. I noticed near the end that there was also some light floral notes hidden in the brew, among the slightly vegetal ans grassy ones.
Sourcing: Menghai County, Yunnan, China (more specifically Bulang and Nannuo Mountians)
Price: The Jing Mai Puerh is priced at $7.95 CAD ($6.10 USD) for 25 grams of loose leaf tea and the Tangerine Pu’erh is priced at $3.95 CAD ($3.05 USD) per piece. I think these prices are extremely reasonable for the quality of tea.
Packaging: The Jing Mai comes in a tea pouch that does well to keep in the aroma of the tea. The Tangerine Pu’erh and the Sheng Pu’erh both came wrapped in a paper which I believe is very typical of these kinds of products.
Sourcing: All of these teas came with excellent information about sourcing and background information about the tea. See the lines below each individual review paragraph for sourcing details.
So, to pu’erh or not to pu’erh? Does pu’erh exist in your normal tea routine and if so, what kind or brand do you prefer? Let me know in thecomments, Happy Brewing!
-Danielle
Pu’erh isn’t a regular part of my tea routine yet, but I do enjoy it when I pull it from the cabinet to sip. My introduction to raw pu’erh was from Masters Teas, and it was such an interesting experience! Until that point, I had never experienced tea drunkeness before (ha!), nor had I experienced the sensation of sucking on a sugar cube well after I had finished a sip of tea.
I have a fair amount of pu’erh from White2tea, also. I really enjoyed their 2019 Waffles, which is a ripe pu’erh. And, I snagged a few more pu’erh goodies during a recent purchase, but I haven’t tried them yet.
It took me so long to get into pu’erh, and by so long, I mean a year. Raw always was a lovely treat but I did not have much of it. Raw took quite some time to filly appreciate the feel to it. I have always wanted to try tea ans puerh from White2tea.