Numi Organic Tea Emperor's Pu-erh (16 Count Box)

This tea smells and tastes like fish food. Disgusting!

I will admit, I sniffed the tea after it was steeping for about 15 seconds and got a slightly fishy smell. I waited for 2 to 3 minutes and sniffed again and received a nice wholesome tea scent. Then I began to sip as I left the teabag in the cup to continue to steep. This tea is wonderful. I normally drink 5 or more cups of black tea a day to which I add milk to soften the harsh edge. This tea needs no milk. It has a nice rich flavor like black tea but with a very smooth aftertaste. This is truly a five star tea.

NUMI Organic tea is organic and fair trade. This is the best Emperor's PU-ERH tea that I've found. It's a fermented aged tea from the Yunnan region of China. That's where PU-ERH tea originated. The taste is bold and earthy. The strength of these bags is strong. It does contain a fair amount of caffeine. I try to confine myself to drinking this tea earlier in the day. The price for a 16 bag box is worth the money spent for authentic PU-ERH tea. I don't have any issues with my digestion when I drink this tea. It brews up a beautiful golden color.

I think this particular version of this tea has been changed to appease westerners. It should be more stringent and just a bit bitter. This is so bland I had to use two to taste anything similar to I had before growing up in Southeast Asia.

Oh. My. God. Rarely do i write reviews, but this tea is so good, I had to drop 5 more stars in their bucket. Ive never had Pu-erh tea, and I expected it to be heavy and a little bitter, but I was very wrong. Its light and flavorful, very mellow and smooth. Sooo good.

I wasn't sure what to expect with this tea. Many years ago, while waiting for my order in a Chinese takeout place, a cashier gave me a glass of tea that supposedly cost $100 a pound. It was delicious, but I can't say if it was Pu-erh. Recently, I learned about Pu-erh on the "Stuff You Should Know" podcast, and decided to look into it. It was described as originating only in Yunnan province, and prepared through a unique fermentation process, then compressed into disks . However, Numi Pu-erh is sold in bags, like ordinary grocery store tea. Other reviews describe it as "earthy," "malty," or smelling like fish. I found it to be strong, turning the water very dark after only a few minutes. The aroma is nothing unusual, and the flavor is surprisingly smooth and balanced, with no bitter undertones, and a pleasant lingering aftertaste. The caffeine level is off the charts. Supposedly the bags can be dried out and reused, which I've done with gunpowder tea , prepared in the African style by boiling for 20 minutes, adding an equal volume of sugar, then pouring back and forth several times from a two to three foot height to develop a head of foam in the glass, then repeating the process two more times. So maybe that would work with Pu-erh as well. I can't compare this to any other Pu-erh, but on its own, Numi's version is delicious even if you don't know what kind of tea it is. It's a great addition to the variety of beverages that is tea.