The dry leaf smells a bit like coconut and death. Maybe some weird cough syrup – not cherry but some sort of medicinal fruit. I wasn’t too up on the idea of a fig tea and now I’m downright apprehensive. However, I am feeling bold today. (Or stupid. Sometimes I get the two confused.)
Post-steeping it smells more of coconut and a hay-like cookie. Better. A little scary, but still. Better.
The taste is faintly pu-erh-ish (earth, hay, barn) but it’s not too heavy or thick (which is the issue I seem to have with most cooked pu-erhs). Instead, in the middle of the sip (where the syrupy thickness would start to come in) the coconut kicks in and lightens things up, turning them sweet-but-not-cloying. The finish is still sweet but almost… jaunty. I’m not a huge fan of licorice/anise tasting things so I worried about the fennel in this, but I can’t really pick it out other than a hint of tingle in the back of my throat at the end of the sip. It’s been ages since I’ve had fig so I can’t say if this is appropriately figgy or not. Mostly, I get pu-erh and coconut.
All in all, not a bad tea – definitely not as bad as I feared. For those that like the flavor of pu-erh, this would probably be more successful, but for me, the aroma of pu-erh makes me unconsciously brace myself. Even though the too-heavy syrup I am braced for doesn’t kick in, just the subconscious anticipation of it makes drinking this tea not so relaxing for me.
This does make me want to try a coconut tea from ATR because the coconut aspect to this is nicely sweet, light and creamy. I’d like more of that, please.
