Welcome to day number three of Pu Erh week! You know I am kinda liking these themed weeks, it makes my love of organization and sorting very happy. Speaking of sorting I am almost done sorting my bucket of 11,000 perler beads, it would probably be really tedious if I didn’t enjoy it.
On this frigidly cold day I am pulling from my notebook for a neat Pu Erh blend. Bolder Breakfast by The Tea Spot is a blend of Pu Erh, Chocolate, Black Tea, and Sunflower Petals. It is a tea with loads of caffeine and perfect for a morning boost (and help people who want to make the switch from coffee to tea) with a robust flavor. The aroma is rich, very rich blending chocolate, malt and earthy notes with a mild sweetness. The aroma reminds me of milk chocolate rather than dark chocolate, with a slight hint of nuttiness.
Once I steep the tea the leaves take on a brightness that reminds me of Ceylon tea with malt and earthy notes. There is still the aroma of chocolate but it is not as strong, taking a backseat to the aroma of the tea leaves. The liquid is very rich mixing earthy and loamy notes with a faint ‘market aroma’ from the Pu Erh. As an aftersmell there are notes of sweetness and maltiness.
The taste is very intense and sweet, an extremely robust, rich tea. They were not wrong when they said it could be a good ‘switchover’ tea because I can certainly see a similarity with coffee. The taste is a great blend of robust tea and rich chocolate, still more of a milk chocolate. There is a slightly metallic mouthfeel that gives the tea an added brightness. It manages to be creamy and rich which still being earthy, there is also a touch of astringency which is very pleasant. As the tea cools it becomes a bit more astringent and also a little more earthy. I also tried this tea with a bit of cream, there was no need for sugar because it is already pretty sweet, the cream takes away any of the astringency and gives it a bit of a chocolate milk feel. This tea is certainly a good breakfast tea, making me feel very awake and alert.
For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-tea-spot-bolder-breakfast-tea-review.html
