Friday, January 2, 2009

Tarte Au Poire

Tea: Tarte Au Poire - 8521
Vendor: Lupicia USA
Vendor Description: This sweetly scented Japanese green tea will remind you of a freshly baked pear tart.

About This Tea: This tea is one of the seasonal Christmas teas offered by Lupicia. It is no longer available from the website.

Leaf: The leaf for this tea is a sencha/bancha looking leaf mixed with some radiant blue flowers. The aroma to this tea is quite amazing, it reminds me of a freshly baked pie crust. There is a combination of a sweet and starchy aroma. The sweetness portion of the aroma reminds me greatly of canned pears.

1st Infusion Parameters: 5g, 5 oz, 208F, 2 min

1st Infusion: The infused tea does not have quite the fruity aroma as the dry leaf does. The infusion has a yellow-brown hue to it. The front end has a very strong and noticeable pear flavor. In the middle it transitions into a medium bitterness paired with a starchy flavor. The bitterness is a very characteristic bancha tanginess. There is not much of a pear flavor like I was expecting, I was imagining something akin to canned pears. The end of the tea finishes with a light astringency.

Rating: 4/10

Conclusion: While the flavor was moderately enjoyable, it felt like a bit of a letdown from the aroma of the leaf before infusion. While the pear offered a strong sweetness at the beginning of the flavor, the pear and tea flavors failed to pair well together and each represented their own sides. The starchiness in the aroma also seemed to disappear.

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