I did a little local self guided tea tour the other day and Zhi Tea was my first stop. The cherry part of this tea caught my eye, so I got a sample. I love sample sizes! Dry, this tea smells like rich cherries. I can just barely smell the green tea behind it. The taste is pretty smooth and subtle compared to the loudly flavored teas I am used to and love. I can pick out some cherry on the sip, but most of what I am getting is on the after sip. There wasn’t any bitter or tart edge that needed to be balanced out, so I opted not to add sugar for most of it which is unusual for me. So far it has been equally good for two steepings and at the end of the second cup I added a little sugar which actually kinda killed the cherry. I like it, but it’s not the party in my mouth level of flavor that my favorite teas have. It feels like a more mature taste. I’m not crazy about it, but I feel like I need to explore this one some more before rating it. It has me a little puzzled.
