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.

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.

James has been drinking this one a lot this week, so it’s been tempting me. Decided to have a cup today and it is strawberry candy deliciousness. Mmm.

This was a sample in my last Lupicia order. I got a pretty good handful of them, actually. It’s sad in a way. I get to try all these once, then never again.

From the moment I opened the foil, I got the feeling this was one of the teas I’d miss. The strawberry aroma was mouthwatering. Like strawberry shortcake. The chocolate smell was more subtle, but there. Sort of like milk chocolate. Now, I’m not really a fan of puerh these days. It was interesting to explore, but I never found myself thinking “oh, a cup of puerh sounds good” when browsing my tea collection. Something about the mustiness. I should note that I don’t smell any of the more off-putting puerh notes.

At three and a half minutes, it is very dark. And bitter. Should have looked at the directions. I tried to just deal with it for a few sips, then gave up and added a splash of 2% milk. That improved the bitterness a lot, and sort of played up the chocolate flavor, which is still mild. I’m also tasting a good amount of vanilla, which I hadn’t expected, but I love. But strawberry is still the star of this tea. Realistic, happy strawberry. It’s a real shame I won’t be able to order it.

I think this has awakened something in me. I want to find a good replacement for this now.

Sipdown no. 14 of February 2019 (no. 32 of 2019 total, no. 520 grand total). A sample teabag.

If I was going to drink flavored pu erh, I think this would be a top contender. I didn’t order it with my last Lupicia order, though, and I don’t really need more tea anyway.

But Lupicia’s flavoring magic extends to pu erh in a very wonderful way.

Some of the Numi bagged pu erhs were also enjoyable, but I like this better. There’s nothing at all fishy about the pu erh in the bag — or at least if there is, it doesn’t come out in the smell or taste because mostly what I smell and taste is chocolate dipped strawberries. Maybe just the slightest earthiness to give it some substance, maybe just the tiniest tobacco-like note.

But mostly chocolate dipped strawberries. Which is a good thing.