Cherry Pie Fujian Tea

And it’s a belatedly posted sipdown!

#long time ago internet hiatus sipdown

Sipdown (308)

My first sip of this was cherry pie deliciousness. Now it has settled to a malty base that is a little bit brisk and has a touch of cherry flavor. Unfortunately the combination of the two can tend towards cough syrup. Then notes of graham and pie crust pops up. Then it gives way to the cough syrup again. When it’s good, its good but unfortunately even just in the mug its inconsistent. Still, I am grateful to have tried it so thank you Arby for the share.

Very bold black base with a tendency towards bitterness. I coldbrewed this 10 minutes, 1 tsp leaf and the base was still not very good. I think teas like this are best suited for those who like breakfast blends/bold blacks. Still, that satisfied my cherry/fruit iced tea need. Lots of cherry, maybe a bit of malt and some cocoa.

Sipdown. Dry – cherry vanilla, strong candied cherry smell
200F, 2tsp, 6oz
w/o milk tart cherry and vanilla
w/milk more pastry with cherry and vanilla tasting softer
but distinct. Milk helped smooth out flavors. Nice. 81

Taste and smells like a mega syrupy cherry pie. Dy leaf scent is like finely cooked crust drizzled in sugared up cherry glaze. Or that’s the graham cracker I’m perceiving.

In terms of taste, it is incredibly similar to the Chocolate Cherry Latte Oolong. Strong cherry with a smoother tea base. The Fujian is pretty chocolaty for a black tea base, but I kinda expected that from the description and my experience with this particular tea. I also taste the vanilla, but it goes back and forth from the cherry. Unlike the Cherry Latte, there is a little bit of a tartness similar to cherry cough syrup which I’m a little bit hesitant about. Some might consider the cherry syrup aspect to be more like pancake cherry syrup or the thick cherry sugar syrup that you cook in the pies. That tartness is really coming from the rosehip and the raspberry leaves, which is good and realistic, but an ingredient that I hesitate about personally. Sometimes, they overtake the vanilla but that could be just me.

I’m really glad that I sampled this tea and again I’m impressed with the Fujian tea base and the cherry flavoring. The thing that I wasn’t a huge fan of was the aftertaste from the rosehip which is just a personal preference. Rosehip IS basically the border of fruity too fruity for me despite my affiliation for fruity teas. It is also really close to cranberry, which I usually prefer in a cold drink…until I find a tea that makes me change my mind. I guess I like tropical fruit and stone fruit more in my tea. It also has the same occasional flatness that the Cherry Chocolate Latte can have if over or under steeped. I’m losing the flavor too much in those moments. Hence me having a heftier sample to experiment with.

I’ll be writing more about this tea since all I know that I like it but not in love with it as I have been with some of Lauren’s other teas. So I’m not making a full judgement yet.