Pu Erh & Cacao - Pu-Erh Tea 100 g - Café du Jour loose tea

Pu Erh & Cacao is a loose-leaf pu-erh tea with cocoa: aged pu-erh leaves, cocoa nibs and chicory root, and nothing else. Pu-erh is matured before it is packed, and that ageing gives it the dark, earthy depth that sets it apart from an everyday black tea. The nibs and the chicory lift that earthiness with a rounded, naturally sweet chocolate note instead of burying it.

There are no flavourings and no artificial additives in the blend. We put it together and pack it at our own tea house in the Maasland countryside in the Netherlands, and it is sold as loose leaves in a 100 g pack.

Brewing it

Use a teaspoon of loose-leaf tea per cup with water just off the boil. Two to three minutes gives a lighter cup; leave it up to five for something darker and more intense. Pu-erh takes a second and a third infusion well, and each steep shifts the balance a little, so it is worth keeping the leaves rather than tipping them out after one cup.

Drink it black, or with a splash of milk. If you already drink aged or dark teas this will feel familiar; if pu-erh is new to you, the cocoa takes the edge off the earthiness and makes it an easy place to start. A square of dark chocolate on the side picks up the same note in the cup.

At a glance

• Type: loose-leaf pu-erh tea blend
• Ingredients: pu-erh tea, cocoa nibs, chicory root
• Flavour: deep and earthy with a natural chocolate note
• Brewing: one teaspoon per cup, water just off the boil, two to five minutes
• Net weight: 100 g
• Blended and packed by Café du Jour, Maasland, the Netherlands