The Persimmon Tree Tea Company

This is tea like tea is supposed to be- when you say to yourself Lychee Peach tea, this tastes so right on the money it is surprising! It has a rich mouth feel without the acidic negative tea possibility, it is a satisfying golden brown clear liquid(and I accidentally let it steep 5 minutes,) and smells wonderfully warmly tealike with hints of flavors- the peach is delicate here, not club you over the head fake, and the lychee comes shining in with further glimmers of flavor, but again, does not club you over the head in an artificial way! No sweetener needed for fresh flavor, and no bitter aftertaste whatsoever. A new top ten favorite especially for Spring!

This was a very interesting tea which demanded attention to steeping details to avoid bitterness while retaining the more pleasant and ephemeral fruit flavors and aromas. The dry tea which to me brought memories of sweet hard candies which seemed to be the sum of pomegranate and raspberry scents. After steeping the tea the ephemeral fruit scents had vanished entirely from the mixture of torn/cut tea leaves, stems and pomegranate pieces.

Now, for the important part – the liquor. I steeped the tea at the recommended temperature of 175degF (thermometer) and sampled the liqid in 30sec intervals over the recommended steeping time of 1-3mins. At times greater than 1.5 minutes the tea became too bitter for my taste without any increase in fruit flavor – I also tested the effects of a higher temperature steep at a mere 7deg increase – ie 182degF – where as expected the unacceptable bitterness appear earlier but, also, the delicate and apparently volatile fruit flavors could no longer be appreciated well in either liquid or aroma.

Moral of the story – as others have also noted – this is a very nice delicately flavored green tea where all the flavor and scent components can be appreciated at their best if attention to preparation details are carefully followed. I enoyed both the taste (uniqueness of pomegranate with hint of raspberry) and aromas – and the challenge – of selecting the brewing conditions which were optimal for my preferences.

Worth the effort!

Thank you Sil for the sample of this!

I quite liked it. Made some tonight, was impressed with the color of it and that the flavours successfully camouflaged the rooibos taste. I didn’t feel like I was drinking rooibos!

Interestingly enough, I found the chocolate really jumped out at me with this one, and it was a nice chocolate taste. The mint was not overly powerful, just right.

Verdict: Yummy! Would consider buying a small amount to have around as a caffeine free option. Makes me want to try the Davidstea version to compare!

I’ve drank so much tea today. I was trying to have some smaller cups but didn’t really succeed. Also, only one was caffeine free and two were matchas. The other 4 were not caffeine free. heeeeeh.

thank you again Amanda for the super generous tea package! I really appreciate it! I knew this one would be tasty when I saw it! I think I need flavors in my white teas to like them more anyway. Coconut cream sounds good! And it is. You can still taste the flavor of the white tea behind the flavors, so it’s a nice balance. The white tea here is delicious anyway, so it doesn’t really need the flavors to be enjoyable. But I really like the coconut cream too. The coconut isn’t one of those odd chemical flavors — it’s sweet! Very yum! The flowers are pretty too. Probably a favorite white tea… I said I didn’t have many flavored oolongs the other day but I don’t think I have many flavored white teas either!

This tea was definitely minty! I saw plenty of rose petals in the sample, but I really couldn’t detect any rose flavor at all, which was a bit disappointing. Rose Mojito sounded like it would be a really intriguing blend, but it failed to wow me. It’s a decent minty tea, but nothing more. After reading through the reviews, I wish I would have made this as an iced tea. But alas, I only had enough for one mug.

Thanks to Lariel for including a sample of this in our swap.

I just received a 2oz tin of this tea – my initial cellpohane wrapped sample came in the same box as a lychee flavored sample (delicious and described elsewhere) which shared its heady scent “promiscuously” with the box, the tape, the packing material, and every sample that wasn’t packed in a tin. Since few benefited from the addition of lychee flavoring – I had to reorder all of my samples.

I had had high hopes for the Coconut Chocolate Puehr – and on the whole, when I finally got to try it, I was not disappointed. I prepared my tea in a mug using my usual bottled water. I briefly rinsed the tea to its benefit as it was very dusty. The first steep and second steeps were for 4 and 5 minutes (recommended 3-5min.) respectively using water just off the boiling point(recommended). Both steeps gave similar results (providing the dust was decanted) so a third steep may have been possible but I had no more time.

Neither cup gave even a hint of bitterness and the cocunut was “gently” evident throughout and seemed to lend a smooth, well “lubricated” mouthfeel to the liquid. The chocolate, while detectable, could have expressed more presence. Overall, I think those who like coconut with a bit of chocolate in a firm but smooth pu ehr might enjoy investigating this tea.

ADDED NOTE: i’ve now had this tea several more times over the last few days and I’ve become more sensitive to the chocolate flavor. I predict it will become a constant feature in my tea collection!

Another Note: The above prediction was correct – I have already reordered – 4oz this time! Definitely hooked on this puerh. For me the sweet coconut and mellow chocolate play perfect counterpoint to the puehr’s quiet strength.

Thank you Emilie for a sample of this!

I enjoyed this one. It was light and fresh, mild tasting but very obviously coconutty.
I admit I don’t know what white tea really tastes like because I’ve never had it straight up, but it seems like a good base for this blend.

I’ve never heard of this company before so I’m glad I got the chance to try this tea, might just order some one day!

My temperature was all screwed up because I’m at work and I thought the kettle was almost boiled (I was trying to guesstimate 82 degrees) but turns out it wasn’t plugged in properly so it was more like 49 degrees, haha. I added more almost boiling hot water to it in an attempt to compensate but I do have enough left for a properly brewed cup at home so I will do that!

edit I wanted to buy this so bad but they charge $28 to ship one oz of tea to Canada :(

I ordered this as a sample and I’m likely to order more as I found it to be much to my liking. The scent of the leaves were very enticing as was the aroma of the brew. Both spoke well of the floral nature of the lychee. The taste was very reminiscent of the berry itself which could be tasted throughout and seemed strongest in the after taste – but pleasantly so. I’m not faniliar with the taste of osmanthus, but I didn’t detect any flavor inconsistent with the lychee. The second steep was a bit weak, but overall a very pleasant libation!

Added Note: I have since chosen to add this tea to my “standing collection”. Happily the sample was representative of my larger purchase and I continue to enjoy Lychee Burst frequently.

Perfumey. Very floral, very jasmine. But dark. Not a black jasmine, but stronger than a green or white jasmine. So, yeah. Oolong jasmine – yup, that’s what this is, alright. :)

I like it. It is a bold jasmine.

Trying a slightly less caffeinated tea tonight. Also limiting this to 16 ounces tonight so no resteep. :)

Sipdown tea #2!
I can’t remember who sent this to me but thank you!!
The aroma is lovely. It’s creamy and has nice flavor to it. I think I like earl grey with vanilla and cream flavors rather than earl grey alone. It adds an extra little something. Thanks again!

Got this one as a sample from my order from The Persimmon Tree. Made it up this morning to drink, although I would much rather still be in bed sleeping than drinking tea this morning, but work awaits.

I actually find this one to be pretty strong. Possibly this is a function of putting less sweetener in than usual, but it seems quite bold to me. Peppery and smooth, it is a nice tea, nice flavour. I have too many other wicked high end plain black teas to buy this, but it’s nice.

Well, this is very much like fruit juice. Truly, if I hadn’t had fruit juice in a while, which I haven’t, I would think it was fruit juice. Very fruity tisane. A bit too much hibiscus.

I received this in a swap a little while ago. I forgot who sent this to me but thank you!!
The aroma of this one is sooo nice. I over steeped it a little bit.. but the vanilla flavor is still there and it’s nice. I enjoyed this.

Full Review on March 17th but here are snippts:

As a lover of oolong teas I can see how some people could be disappointed in this tea if they go into with expectations of it tasting like any other oolong they have ever had before.

Or if you are one who loves jasmine teas, I could see some disappointment there as well as this is not your typical jasmine tea either.
Honestly, if no one told me, or I had not read the label before hand, I would have thought this to be a puerh. The leaves do come from a tree that is over a thousand years old according to The Persimmon Tree’s description and I believe it as this tea does have an aged flavor to it for sure.

Other notes I pick up on aside from honey, berry, jasmine, and oolong, are mushroom, earth, woods, brown sugar, toasted oat bread, to name a few. You really need to discover this tea for yourself.

This truly is an amazing blend. I believe this tea is now called Banana Coconut. Instead of doing a typical tea review expressing my obsession with this blend I decided to get my thinking hat on and use this blend to create a Banana Bread recipe infused with tea.

Here is the recipe you can check out & try yourself: http://theteacupoflife.blogspot.ca/2013/03/banana-bread-infused-with-banana-dulce.html

Please let me know if you try it & how it turned out for you. Also, if you made any adjustments be sure to fill me in!! :)

Started my tea day with this one again today. On the second cup the fruit flavors withdraw a bit allowing the white tea to stand out. Really digging this cup.

I saw Kittena’s review this morning and I have been planning to get to this one for the blog anyway, so…. The dry aroma almost scared me off. It is strong and prickly. Once brewed the taste is not nearly so intense. My first experience with guava. I like it. The ginger adds just a touch of peppery zing – always welcome. The strawberry comes in late and very lightly in the sip. I could not single out the white tea base but could sense it all around the other flavors adding support. I am not the biggest flavored tea fan but this was pretty nice.

Thank you Yappychappy! This one is pretty good. Hints of caramel and green tea. Nice flavor :] Thanks again!!!

Thank you Yappychappy! I was craving a genmaicha and I looked in my sample drawer and BAM! there was a genmaicha sample. I steeped this in my little robot strainer. It’s my favorite :D But doesn’t really get the job done.. So it’ll go back to being part of the decor on the tea desk. ANYWAYS.. this is a nice genmaicha. Green and toasty.
Thanks again!

Upon opening the package to examine the leaves, I noticed this round tan color thing. Looked like a small chickpea. Since I didn’t know what it was, I bit it. Mmmm…chewy caramel. I ate the whole thing. :D How much would it have added, really? hehe

This tea smells decadent. But the fresh greenness of the base makes it light. It’s just a sweet little something, not a full blown dessert. Very nice. Often caramel flavored teas are so heavy and rich. This is rich but not heavy. I’m so glad I got to try this! Thanks AlphaKitty!

That said, it does have, what I’ve come to recognize as, a Chinese sencha base. Probably my least favorite tea. Yet, it’s a common tea to use in green blends, probably due to affordability. But this blend was made with such skill that I could overlook the base. :) Tasty! I’d be happy to finish the rest of my sample.