Chocolate & Strawberry Puer

This tea is awesome! It has a great balance of flavors of the chocolate/strawberry and puer. I love how this tea doesnt have that distinct puer flavor and that additional flavors can come through. I like the deep chocolate flavor and the sweet strawberry finish to it. This is a great tea :)

National strawberry day and my mind immediately goes to this tea. It’s been a staple in my cupboard for years and I don’t see that changing. I cut open a fresh pack of this and was greeted by the familiar comforting scent of chocolate and strawberries. The puer adds a really nice depth and malt to the strawberry choco combo. Another great cup!

Lupicia had this one in-store this week when I went to buy more stuff from them. You know I was a little nervous to try Pu’erh given the “it tastes fishy” comments I’ve heard from people. But actually this one was quite nice. Someone else on here mentioned, it’s like “Pu’erh with training wheels” – which I think is a good comment. It was quite nice, the blend of chocolate and strawberries was mild and it’s holding back any sort of intense gross flavour – so I think it was a good intro :) I’m gonna try a more “true” pu’erh soon and see if I like it or if I think it’s gross. I’m nervous about it for some reason. I think because I smelled one at Lupicia and it smelled like a fish market! This one certainly didn’t and seems to be holding back the crazy well. A good intro.

This is one of my favorite flavored teas out of any brand, especially for milk tea. I would never have thought that puer would be this good as a flavored tea, but this is delicious. The earthiness of the puer compliments the chocolate so well, and the strawberry isn’t overwhelming, but just strong enough to cut through the other strong scents to round out the taste.

Chocolate and Strawberry Puer 5577. Lupicia
Lot no. 605155H1 (?). BB: 03/2027.

[Ingredients: China Puer tea, India Black tea, Roasted cacao, Rose petal, Heath flower, Flavourings.]

GONGFU:
2.5 g leaf prepared Gongfu style wih 8 serial infusions of 3 oz. boiling alpine spring water (without wash), for 30s, 30s, 30s, 30s, (pause), 20s, 40s, 80s, 3m.

Like drinking a chocolate bar! Dry leaf strong aroma of milk chocolate, ripe strawberry. 1st–4th infusions with aroma and flavor of strawberry & chocolate dominating; notes of geosmin, malt and black tea, silky smooth and sweet in the mouth; no compost or fishy or seaweed or astringent or sour or bitter notes at all. Just smooth, sweet, sips with a long-lasting finish. Primary flavors began tailing off by 4th, with a note of assamic varietal slipping through now and then. In 5th, a petrichor aroma burst through the declining strawberry while the primary flavors remained balanced, if reduced. Trends continued in 6th, which had a lighter amber liquor despite the lengthened steeping. In 7th & 8th the infusions were notably weaker, though still sweet and having notes of chocolate and strawberry, so I concluded the series here.

WESTERN:
2.5 g leaf prepared Western style wih 3 serial infusions of 8 oz. boiling alpine spring water (without wash), for 1 min., 2 min., and 4 min.

The first and second were combined and tasted: delicious liquor, tasting the same as the 1st–3rd gongfu infusions above. The remaining combined tea was allowed to cool, sweetened with sugar, and iced (see below). The third infusion was sipped as-is. In the 3rd, the ripe puer nature asserted itself, among the strawberry and chocolate notes, contributing an earthy base note that rounded out the entire experience. Very satisfying, with a long pleasant finish.

ICED:
The iced preparation was outstanding, and is right up there with my favorite peach or blackcurrant iced teas. Very refreshing and the sweetness worked well with the chocolate and strawberry flavors. Unfortunately, splashing milk into the sweet iced tea seemed to quench the cocoa and berry flavors, leaving a rather dirty or earthy impression. Maybe there was just too much going on. Nevertheless, the hot-sweetened and sweet-iced preparations were wonderful and will be my choice of method for this tea, going forward.

Overall, I recommend with emphasis, no matter your choice of prep method, and rate this as 92. I guess that aligns with the notes of many others here, so I’m running with the crowd! Thanks Lupicia, for broadening my flavored-puer palate!

I’m jealous of all of you that are already getting fall weather… it is still decidedly summer here, though it has finally cooled down a bit first thing in the morning, at least enough so that I’ve been craving a hot cuppa tea to start the day, before then switching to whatever I have coldbrewing in the fridge (lately that has been Lupicia’s “Happiness” and “Kotobuki”).

I’m not a big pu’erh fan, but I do tend to like most flavored offerings, and this is no exception. The pu’erh base is quite earthy but tastes a lot “cleaner” than I tend to find pu’erh, which often tastes a bit dirt/mud-like to me. Steeped strongly, the black tea in the blend comes out more and smooths the flavor a bit more by adding some subtle smokiness, but that also gives the tea a slight astringency. As far as the flavor, it isn’t really strong in typical Lupicia fashion, but it is present; the chocolate doesn’t have that weird liquor note and is more of a fudgy/nutty flavor that blends nicely with the base notes, and the strawberry is that light candy-esque strawberry flavor found in Lupicia’s other strawberry teas. It’s really satisfying (especially during a rare summer rainstorm) and gives me a lot more alert energy than I typically get from caffeinated teas.

I don’t love chocolate teas, but this was a free sample, so not going to turn that down. If you ARE a fan of chocolate-strawberry flavored things, I think you will adore this, because it’s beautifully handled, very smooth and with both the chocolate and strawberry notes present and well-balanced. I could not tell this was puer at all though, and if it hadn’t been labeled as such I would have assumed it had a black tea base.

I must start off by saying I re-discovered this in my tea drawer. I have no recollection of when I actually purchased it (last month? This year? 2016?) so it’s not the freshest version imaginable. It’s unopened but at least a couple years old, by my best reckoning.

The puer is very smooth and easy to drink. It’s like the puer version of bicycle training wheels. Not fishy or dirt-like or tricky to brew. It’s very mild and hardly rates as puer, which may be good news for a lot of people. I rather like a good earthy puer, so I was a bit disappointed.

The strawberry is quite candy-like vs authentic, and I’m not getting much chocolate. A whiff, but not a defining note. The overall effect is not bad, but if you’re expecting a hearty dessert-type tea with a puer base, I’d say this might come up short. It’s more of a mild, pleasant blend you wouldn’t mind drinking at a random cafe while traveling to a new place. It won’t make you want to get more, but it’s a perfectly pleasant sip in the moment.

Note: I don’t know if it’s fair to rate the tea, given it’s likely past its sell-by date. So my impression here might not be fully accurate. However, I didn’t like it enough to consider buying a fresh bag.

Shae’s ADVENT CALENDAR, December 22

Another Lupicia. I am indeed spoiled. Oh wow. Puerh. And smells like candy-like strawberries.

We decided to meet up with my best friend, though it was with all the safety measures needed. We give each other gifts and… as we both don’t like wrapping gifts, we both use gift bags. And that means, I know what I know what I got. It was two bottles of beers and chocolate (see below).

And well, it’s past 7 pm already and I needed to try today Advent tea, of course! So, took two teaspoons (quite heaped they seem to me!) and steeped them western for 1.5-2 minutes. Short? Yep, seems so. But it is chocolate dark now, with lots of candy-creamy-strawberry aroma that fills all the room. Seems great to me, honestly! In the aroma, I think I notice both… chocolate and candy strawberries.

Taste is bit more choco forward, which I don’t mind at all, but again, strawberries are present with creamy aftertaste. If you are afraid being strong as it is puerh, worry not. Little shorter steeping could be better. But tasty nonetheless.

Chocolate pairing: Thorntons Mint Crunch. Yummy chocolate with just right menthol. Izzy, I hope it’s some good brand :D as it is from the UK.

Photo: https://flic.kr/p/2kjqiUm

It’s been a very productive day thankfully. Made a Banana Cake for the fam with some ingredients that needed to be used up. Did a ton of organizing sorting things to donate. Planned a hike with a friend for tomorrow and finished some classwork.
Also, I just finished bingeing The Stranger on Netflix. It’s really good! Highly recommend it.
On To the tea, this tea is pure chocolate-covered strawberry deliciousness. The puerh base for this one and use of cacao was smart. A lot of teas that use chocolate chips for the chocolate flavoring end up being oily. So it’s nice that the flavors come through so well without any weirdness. I drank this while making the cake. I’m getting close to running out of this one and wish I had ordered some of this in the group order.