I wasn’t going to have another cup today, but then someone dangled a delicious-sounding tasting note in front of me and splat.
This smells insane. Going by the dry tea alone I understand all the hype when it comes to the famed Dammann Frères caramel notes, because this is all lush caramel and vanilla… and pu-erh. This particular pu-erh really is like drinking an exquisite, wooden box, polished to perfection.
Steeped, its flavour mimics what a room in my house in the country smells like on certain days – down to the very last nuance. It used to be my grandmother’s room, and her fine, carved wooden box from India is still there. She always had caramel toffees, so I keep some in there for her ghost… and that’s what’s in this cup exactly.
It’s almost a little too freaky – a little too close to home, a little too intimate.
But still absolutely wonderful.
[From my epic Instant-Thé order to Rome, October 2013.]
90 C, 4 min