Oh pu’er, what am I to do with you? Hold my nose and drink, apparently.
One whiff of this tea in my cup and I’m reminded of why I don’t like pu’ers. I smell the notorious earthy scent of the pu’er, along with a decent amount of sweetness. I can almost smell the chocolate, but not quite, and I don’t think I can get any strawberry or fruitiness at all. It all mixes to a generic sweet attempting to balance out the pu’er. But the taste, the taste is all strawberry! chocolate covered strawberries! in a heavy, earthy base. Pu’er tea never really tastes as bad as it smells (in my opinion, obviously). In fact, this tastes quite good. I like the strawberry and chocolate, and I like the way the flavor lingers in your mouth after you take a sip. The strawberry isn’t the candied sweet variety, it’s a slightly tart real strawberry flavor, which I really like. That in itself might having me reaching for this tea more often.
Thanks go to Crystal for this sample! ETA: The undertones come out a lot more on the second and third steeping, changing the flavor quite a bit. It’s less fruity, more earthy.
