Always Summer Herbs

Background: Recently, I have been trying Pu’erh teas. I am still relatively new to them, however.

Leaves: This appears to be a ripe Pu’erh with slightly green leaves, looking mostly like a typical Pu’erh tea. The leaves are not compressed. There is a mix of large-leaves and small-leaves.

Flavors: Black-tea, Cocoa, Smokey, Autumn leaves

Bitterness: This tea was borderline astringent — just beginning to turn a little bitter.

Brewing method: 1.5 tablespoon in 100 ml gaiwan, ~5 second rinse, 1st steep 20 seconds, 2cnd steep 30 seconds, 3rd steep 40 seconds.

Mouth-feel/Aftertaste: Slightly coated, almost like drinking water but not quite — and it has a pleasant aftertaste of black tea and cocoa.

Review:
This tea is very complex. What immediately jumps out at me is a black-tea type taste, almost like a Darjeeling.

I am glad that I found this tea — I recently prepared another Pu’erh, and it wasn’t my favorite, but now I am excited to try more! I am still thinking about some of the complex flavors, and it is a lot of fun.

While on vacation, I happened across a small store selling locally-made goods, including a few small bags of Always Summer Herbs’ teas. The others were things I expected to dislike, but I did pick up this one due to the cheap price.

The dry leaf smells very much like a Laffy Taffy: sweet, fake banana. Not a bad scent, but definitely not something that I particularly want to have as a tea. Oddly, however, the liquor has no such smell, instead just reminding me of a generic, dull black tea.

As I sip it, I wish that it had captured that Laffy Taffy smell in the taste, because what it turned out to be is much more disappointing. For the most part, it just tastes metallic, although there’s a very light touch of raspberry and banana, in both the sipping and the aftertaste. Very disappointing, I’m glad this was only an ounce.

3rd steep – fairly weak – I will miss it!

2nd steep YAY

I’m on my last of this…I was dreading the day…sigh…I really LOVE this tea. I am going to see how many steeps I can get out of it. There is a tad more loose leaf steeping and for longer. I however, didn’t get the water hot enough this time around…still a great cup tho!

Had to have another cup. Ok on 2nd Steep. Doable.

I was looking for something to sip on during and after my lunch (I had a vegan Dr. McDougall’s Soup Bowl – The Curry Lentil kind) and this worked well!!!

Hello ’ol friend. Nice to see you again!

I drank this yesterday too and it’s been teasing me again ever since. I really like this tea. Now I must REALLY order more…I am very low…only a few more table spoons left. I did want to add that this one is good for multiple infusions. I am on my 3rd at the moment…

This is the last of my tea from Always Summer Herbs in Slippery Rock, PA, and I must order more!!! Pronto! It says a floral scent with hint of watermelon. After steeping a little longer than suggested I DO smell it. It’s slight but nice. This is a very pure tea. Most people could handle this blend because it’s not bitter or too much of a deep tea taste. Great spring/summer sip.