★★★★★
I had never tried pu-erh before, and I decided to start with these pearls. Not only are they in a fun little shape, but the tea itself has a very nice, deep, earthy taste to it. I'll definitely be ordering more in the future.
Generously sized for teapot brewing, this extra-large pearl gives the term tea ball new meaning.
Customers use these reviews to describe their experience with Pu-Erh Pearls, including flavor, aroma, preparation preferences, strength, and how the tea fits into daily routines. Browse the full review history page by page to compare tasting notes, steeping tips, and favorite ways to enjoy this tea.
I had never tried pu-erh before, and I decided to start with these pearls. Not only are they in a fun little shape, but the tea itself has a very nice, deep, earthy taste to it. I'll definitely be ordering more in the future.
Earthy, conscious, and meditative. This tea will stop you in your tracks and make you consider life as you sip upon it. But it doesn't leave you at a stand still, but warms your engines and eases you back into action with it's caffeine and warmth. This is the tea you make when you get ready to take over the world or overcome obstacles long thought too much to surmount.
Go forth and do great things with this tea.
I love almost any Pu Erh and this is no exception. Nice for travel since no measuring is required.
A little too earthy for me. I'm new to pu-erh tea, however. I've really enjoyed the Pu-erh Dante.
Definitely very interesting concept and I can’t wait to try them.
To me, this is the best of the unflavored Pu-Erh teas. It tasts earthy, woodsy, slightly smoky and soft. It does not have the slight fishy aroma of the other Pu-Erh teas. The sample size comes with 4 balls. Each ball is sufficient for a whole tea pot. As I usually brew my tea in a large cup, I thought the whole ball would be to much, but it just made it intense and flavorful. So I would recommend not to break the ball apart for cup brewing, but instead, brewing the leaves twice.
These are my FAVORITE for traveling! I bought the tea thermos and it is so easy to grab a cup of tea on the road or in a hotel. There is no messing around with loose tea, and it is so delicious that it needs no milk or sweetener.
I love to brew a cup in the afternoon, when I dont want any added calories of milk.
I highly recommend.
I really liked this versatile tea. It has the expected body of a PU-erh and stands up to multiple brewings. The unfurled pearl reveals large delicate leaves. I like the unadulterated tea flavor and recommend this as a first Pu-erh in someone’s tasting adventures.
Love these, though the pearls are a too big for if you just want a single cup of tea.
A very earthy taste and smell. A single pearl ball is good for atlleast 2 or 3 teapots.
This is a really good pu-erh. It produces many infusions, and has a wonderfully complex flavor that evolves over time.
a beautifully simple way of getting your daily Pu-erh ...It is a delicious way to lose weight and have other health benefits. I drink it with a little lemon and rock sugar. That makes it even more refreshing.
Very fishy... I tried running it under cold water for a bit first to see if that would help, but it still came out very fishy, not for me
Pu-Erh is my favorite type of tea. Has lots of depth in flavor. I found these pearls had a slight fishy taste with the first brew. By rinsing in cool water before brewing took care of this issue for me
Love this tea. It has a great rich flavor. This is my new favorite pu erh.
I really didn't like these very much. I put one in a tea pots, and it was extremely earthy and dark smelling. I think it was just too strong for my taste.
Definitely brew a pearl with the recommended amount of water. This makes some of the strongest tea I've ever seen! You can brew at least two batches from a single pearl, and you'll want too! Not as funky as some pu-erh I've had, which I tend to like. This is a nice earthy brew any pu-erh drinker will love.
Love to watch the pearls open when the water hits the tea. Great rating tea with no bitter taste.
This Pu-Erh tea is wonderful! Unfortunately my teapot is too small for these large pearls. They each weigh 6-7 grams, so that would need 16-18 fl. oz. of water by Adagio's recommendation. Other than that, this tea is very mossy and woody like Pu-Erh tea should be, and it is distinctly rich and fruity too. I like it a bit more than the Pu-Erh Dante; if only my pot was larger :)
Earthy, mushroomy, swampy- strange taste that I can't really describe but would not drink again.
As good as what they serve in hotels in China, you can re-steep this several times, the third brew is as good or better than the first.
This was my first pu-erh tea and was not disappointed. It create an almost black coffee liquor and had a surprisingly sweet taste. However, it did have a slight musty taste that reminded me of the sea.
A great tea, light, refreshing, clears your head, Very nice.
Pu Erh is our new favorite type of tea, we are now sampling all the Pu Erh's available at Adagio as it is supposed to be a healthy tea, and has a high caffeine content; (we recently gave up coffee for tea)! /@@/
Lovely pu-erh taste! Makes a BIG pot full though so make sure you have friends over when you brew it or be prepared to drink it all day. ;)
This is both my first experience with Pu-Erh, and my first experience with a compressed-form tea. I threw two pearls (more like ping-pong balls, really) into a 48-ounce pot with boiling water while I was at my part-time day job, then wrapped it in an old stocking cap and just let it sit. I tried my first cup at 3 minutes, finished the last one at about two hours. I refilled it with boiling water twice during my eight-hour shift, and only the dregs of the last pot had even a hint of astringency. Never got bitter. It certainly has an interesting flavor profile, which I thought peaked during the second infusion. It's earthy, a bit funky with hints of fig, without much that lingered on the palate. All told, it reminded me of a Perique-heavy pipe tobacco (My day job is at a fine tobacconist, so I tend to frame my tastings like such). Makes sense, since Perique is fermented in much the same manner. The aroma from the cup does have a certain fishy aspect, but not in a way that is either off-putting or oceanic. It made me think of fresh farm-raised catfish, which I like. It doesn't carry through much into the mouth, becoming a more nebulous 'funk', like loamy soil or deer woods during a rain storm. I liked this quite a lot, and will reorder more to have on hand when the mood strikes.
I was hoping for more with these pearls. A bit limp and more fishy than I anticipated. Not much depth in the leather/tobacco finish.
These have a very potent, earthy flavor. I didn’t love it, but it wasn’t bad. I think I need to try it with more water to dilute the intensity.
I love this tea...beautiful bold hints of smoke and clean taste
This pu erh is the mildest I have tried, but it is still perfectly smooth and earthy. Every time I drink pu erh I am surprised again by the complete absence of bitterness that comes with the wonderful boost of caffeine. This one is particularly pleasant.
Great Pu-Erh for steeping a large pot and then enjoying for the rest of the day.
So strangely enough this tea smells and tastes like seaweed but not in a bad way. It actually has a bit of an umami taste, savory instead of sweet, bitter, or astringent. It was certainly unexpected but quickly becomes something you look forward to as a pleasant change from the more delicate teas. Quite comforting.
I love pu-erh in all it's forms, and these 'pearls' are perfect for a small pot of tea. They expand a lot- one pearl was the perfect size for my 18 oz teapot.
I can definitely understand people calling it 'fishy,' but it wasn't bothersome. I didn't get much flavor from this tea period, but I'm hoping that it's because of the way I steeped it. Even though I followed the directions on the bag...
I think these are my new favorite thing. They're easy, they steep multiople times, and they make yummy puer.
Love this tea! The flavor is rich and smooth! I really like this simple tea! Add a small amount of a different flavored tea to change it up a bit and enjoy.
Update:
Pu-Erh tea in general has a pleasant earthiness without any bitterness, and can be steeped several times before weakening. I do suggest a quick 'rinse' steeping to remove what some call 'fishiness'. All that really requires is to use a few tablespoons of water (same temperature as the water you steep with) and about a minute of stirring. Then strain and steep the required minutes for your brew. Strain, sweeten (or not), etc. Resteep as you wish for more later. I resteep at least once with Pu-Erh teas just to see if the flavors change. I have yet to be disappointed by a Pu-Erh tea.
I saw a comment asking about the 'generously sized for teapot brewing' mentioned in the description at the top of the page.
I have been breaking up the 'pearls' into four portions each and using one portion per my rather large teamug (about 16oz.). Then resteeping that potion once. So, in my opinion a teapot brewing can be quite large depending on how strong you want it to be.
Quite Good, a nice strong tea. However, I like it in the Morning. Not a tea I like drinking all day. But it's great in the morning to get your day started.
Ok, disclaimer, I am not that into Pu-Erh. However, I really liked the cakes that I have had. This was a standard Pu-Erh. Nothing really remarkable. But, I felt like it was wasted because I didn t/couldn t drink more that one cup and these are made for a pot or multiple steeps. If you are a big Pu-Erh person, these would be perfect. Especially for someone at work.
Very earthy and flavorful. I like it a lot. It is a good pu-erh
My first Pu-Erh. It's has a very unique taste; 'mushroomy' is a somewhat accurate description given by other reviewers. However I wouldn't say it's particular earthy or smoky. Has 'layers' of flavor.
Very rich and pungent. I rinsed the tea with hot water before the first real steep to dispel any fishy flavors. Second steep was good, third steep tasted slightly cardboard-y.
I do recommend as others have said to rinse the pearls before using it. It's got a strong scent that isn't entirely pleasant, but it tastes pretty good.
One pearl can make at least 2-3 cups of tea. A very nice flavor that I will return to.
Would love it more if the pearls were smaller! The size makes it really hard to adjust the brew to how strong/weak I may want it that day
The smell is incredible! I see people have been comparing the smell to that of a barn, and that is a very fair comparison. It smells of old hay and manure, but in a good way oddly enough. If you've ever been on a farm, the smell is quite similar. The liquor is dark, opaque, brown indicative of good pu-erh. The taste is pleasant, earthy and complex. The hay comparison would be appropriate here as well... not that I know what hay tastes like. It has an extremely complex taste that is difficult to describe otherwise, it reminds me of the smell of fireworks or lighter fluid, and it's oddly extremely enjoyable. It brings to mind a campfire oddly enough. But overall I've quite enjoyed this tea!
Very earthy and rich flavor. One pearl can make a large pot of tea.
It has a subtle taste which I found to be vary good.
Make sure to brew this tea several time for your best bang of your buck. I get 3-4 brews out of one ball.
It's a very nice tea. It's very earthy and smooth.
You'll be shocked by the size of these pearls - one pearl is literally all you need for a cup! Earthy on the first steep, but cleaner and cleaner with each subsequent steeping. However, there is a slight 'fishy' smell to the later steeps that's not in the taste - just the aroma. UPDATE: I've decided I can live with the fishy smell. The tea is that good. Get some!