The aroma of the dry leaf smells just like cherry cheesecake to me. I can even smell the graham cracker crust! The brewed tea offers very little fragrance, only hints of what I smelled before steeping.
I like this, but, it is a bit different than what I expected. This doesn’t really taste like cherry cheesecake. I mean, I taste the elements: I taste the cherry, I taste the tangy cheese, I even taste a buttery note that unifies with the toasty rice flavor of the genmaicha to form a crust-like flavor. And, then, of course, I taste the fresh, light notes of the green tea. But, somehow, these flavors don’t come together in a way that my palate identifies it as cherry cheesecake.
It is a very enjoyable tea – delicious even. But, just a little different than I’d thought it would be.
This one yields two infusions, with the second one tasting just as good as (if not better than) the first.
I’m looking forward to this one!