I must say that the dry leaf of this tea would definitely not win in a beauty contest. It reminds me a bit of pine needles and dirt that have been stuck together by tree sap… but it seems so promising that I don’t really care. The tea smells like sweet cinnamon bread, but with a fishy background. Ugh, I wish puerh wouldn’t smell like this!
Sipping… I’m happy to not be tasting a whole lot of puerh, but a lovely & sweet cinnamon bread instead! The cinnamon is not overwhelming, thankfully, but adds such a nice layer of sweetness. There is definitely a bread character to the tea that I really enjoy. There is almost a yeasty/sourdough-like quality to the bread and it seems like it comes out at the end of the sip. I’m very impressed that such flavors can come from a tea blend! Really the only thing that I’m not too crazy about is the fishy scent that lasts throughout the whole cup.
I haven’t yet decided if I’d like to buy more of this tea, but this is the best blend I’ve tried from sTEAp Shoppe yet!
