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The dry leaf aroma is potent, in a good way! Early infusions are smoky, dark, and woodsy. There’re strong tobacco and leather notes, I’m assuming from the puer. Later infusions are lighter with more caramel and chocolate. I am definitely not a fan of the early infusions. I poured infusions 2-4 into a separate cup for my husband. He likes strong, dark flavors and drinks his coffee black. I, on the other hand, prefer blond roasted coffee with milk and sugar.

These later infusions are much more my style. I’d probably rate the early ones a 45 and the later ones an 80. Averaging the two gets me a rating of 63. I feel bad giving such a harsh rating to this tea though, so I’ll up it to 69. I think if you like these dark, strong, formidable flavors, then you’ll love this! If you’re like me and prefer to avoid smoke and tobacco notes in your tea, then you’ll probably want to steer clear of this one. (Unless you want to do like I did and give the early infusions to someone else. I’d hate to recommend throwing out the early infusions because this is a high quality blend and someone should enjoy it!)

Overall, I’m glad I only bought a sample size again. And wow, what a generous sample it is! I may give the rest away to a friend of mine. Although I do like the later infusions, I’m happy with ending my experience with this tea here. There’s just too much tea in the world (and in my cupboard) to drink something you don’t love!

Note: I last tried this blend two years ago and appear to have really loved it back then, seeing as it garnered a rating of 81. Therefore, I’ll leave the rating of this tasting note unchanged. However, I would like it to be known that I rate the 2015 blend of this tea as a 69. That’s probably largely due to the fact that I wasn’t a fan of this year’s Zhu Rong Yunnan Black harvest. See my note on that tea for more details.

And now for some pictures!
https://instagram.com/p/5Cslpyl-m8/