Recently, I went to León (north of Spain) and I had some time to spare, so I wandered a bit off the busy streets of the city centre, and so, I discovered a wonderful tea shop. The person in charge is very knowledgeable about tea, and when looking through her loose tea inventory, I saw quite a lot of pu erh fruit blends (which I see more and more often in Spanish tea shops…it must be the hottest thing in tea around here!). BTW, in Spain pu erh is called “red tea (té rojo)” while I associate the – falsely named – red tea label to rooibos teas. I recently bought a mango pu erh, which I like but nothing in comparison to some pu erh tea cake I tried out some time ago, so was more intrigued by a pu erh blend with Belgian caramel, especially because I´m Belgian and more so because Belgium is more associated with chocolate than it is with caramel, I thought.
As soon as the loose leaf tin was opened, I knew I needed to get this tea : the caramel is coming through strongly, but in a “salty butter” way (more than an overly sweet way, if you know what I mean). As soon as I got home (after some holidays), I tried out the tea and was even more impressed : it´s intense, both in aroma´s as in taste, and it reminds me of one of my favourite teas, one they call “marco polo” in France, a black tea with caramel…but even better. Steeping time is short, and it could be steeped a second time, I was told, but it was great the way it was now. So glad I tried it, and certain to get a new bag next time I´m in León.
Flavors: Caramel
