Forest Fruit - Pu-Erh Tea 100 g - Café du Jour loose tea

Forest fruit tea is usually a plain herbal infusion. This one is built on pu-erh, a fermented tea with an earthy, full-bodied character, which gives the blend a base deep enough to carry the fruit instead of being pushed aside by it.

What is in it

• Pu-erh tea - the earthy, full-bodied base
• Apple - gentle, sweet fruitiness
• Hibiscus - a tart edge and a deep red colour in the cup
• Orange peel - a hint of citrus
• Blackberry leaf - a mild, woodland note
• Raspberry and strawberry - soft berry sweetness
• Stevia and natural flavouring

The stevia does the sweetening, so most people drink this one as it comes rather than reaching for the sugar bowl.

Brewing

Give the leaves and fruit pieces room to open: a roomy infuser, a strainer or a loose-leaf teapot rather than a cramped little ball. Use 2 to 3 g per cup, about one heaped teaspoon, with water just off the boil at 90 to 95°C, and steep for three to four minutes. Pu-erh stands up well to a second infusion, so the same spoonful will usually give you another cup. At that dose a 100 g pack comes to somewhere between 33 and 50 cups. It also works cold: brew it stronger than usual, let it cool and pour it over ice.

At a glance

• Type: flavoured loose-leaf pu-erh blend
• Character: fruity, gently sweet, earthy underneath
• Net weight: 100 g
• Brewing: 90-95°C, 2-3 g per cup, 3-4 minutes, re-steeps once
• Yield: around 33-50 cups per pack
• Packed: at our own tea packing house in the Maasland countryside, the Netherlands