Tenth tea for March Mad(Hatter)ness! This is for the pu’erh tea round, going against Tea Chai Te’s Menghai Tuo Cha.
I don’t normally leave a note for a tea more than once, and I have reviewed this before (here: https://steepster.com/mastressalita/posts/386918 ), but for the sake of proper comparison I’m going to give it a second look. At least my last note was two years ago…
Purchased at Snake River Tea in Boise, a local teashop that wholesales their brews from multiple different sources. They don’t carry this particular blend anymore, but they did back in 2018 when I purchased this… and I think that purchase was a “top up” after I’d finished off a bag the previous year and really enjoyed it. I certainly have memories of this being a tea I quite enjoyed, but it sort of fell off the radar as all my pu’erh got sorted into its own cubie in the tea cupboard, and that isn’t a section I dig in very often.
Brewed one perfect teaspoon in 350ml 205F water for 5 minutes. The aroma wasn’t quite an enticing as I remember, but I also didn’t have time to deep clean my thermos on my lunch break from the last pu’erh, which may be why the aroma I was getting was coming off more on the earthy side than I remember. Still, it is a richly earthy shou base, and there are some cocoa and sweeter berry notes that appear on the nose. A strong earthy/mineral note hits the tongue first, but midsip a dark, bittersweet sort of cocoa becomes present, followed by a sweeter, jammy strawberry note that is most noticable at the end of the sip as the stronger earthiness starts to dissipate.
I do like how the flavors work together here; I don’t think I like it as highly as I rated it before (I just don’t jive that strongly with pu’s, even pu’s I enjoy), and while it doesn’t particularly bother me, the liquor can tend towards being a bit oily from the melted chocolate and strawberry curls in the leaf, which may be a downpoint for others.
While I was pleasantly surprised by the Menghai Tuo Cha this morning, it really is hard for it to beat out something with a similar earthy/dirty flavor, but the addition of cocoa and strawberry notes, which, for someone who isn’t that into pu like me, makes it a lot more pleasant of a cup. Chocolate Covered Strawberry Pu’erh moves on!
Flavors: Alcohol, Cocoa, Dark Bittersweet, Dark Chocolate, Earth, Fruity, Jam, Mineral, Strawberry
