Experience the five levels of Pu'er tea aroma (floating fragrance, fragrance entering water, water-containing fragrance, water-born fragrance, water-is-fragrance). When first learning, experiencing different levels of tea aroma mainly relies on repeated comparison, with the focus being on the allocation of attention.

Floating Fragrance

The primary level of Pu'er tea aroma, floating fragrance, is superficial and airy. You can smell it but cannot taste it. Its characteristic is that during brewing, the aroma emitted into the air and on the tea cup lid smells very fragrant, but once you drink the tea, the aroma drops significantly, or even has little to no aroma.

Fragrance Entering Water

The secondary level of Pu'er tea aroma, fragrance entering water, where most of the tea aroma disperses and only a small part integrates into the tea soup. The experience of this type of tea aroma is: it smells very fragrant, and it also tastes fragrant, but not as fragrant as it smells.

        Water-Containing Fragrance

The intermediate level of Pu'er tea aroma, water-containing fragrance, where a small part of the tea aroma disperses and most integrates into the tea soup. The aroma integrated into the tea soup sinks, partly emitting from the mouth and teeth, and partly from the throat. The method to experience this tea aroma is: hold your breath when the tea soup enters the mouth, let the tea soup go down the throat, close your mouth, and slowly exhale through the nose, paying attention to the source of the aroma.

The advanced level of Pu'er tea aroma, water-born fragrance, where the tea aroma and tea soup are extremely well integrated. It hardly smells fragrant, but after drinking, the aroma slowly returns from deep in the throat, exceptionally long-lasting. The soup texture of such tea is usually more oily and smooth.

The top level of Pu'er tea aroma, water-is-fragrance. This kind of tea must be aged tea with excellent raw materials, processing, and storage. Its aged aroma is rich and complex, completely merging with the tea soup. Wherever the tea soup flows, the aged aroma follows. The tea soup exhibits a wonderful "transformation sensation" as the tea aroma volatilizes, giving a marvelous feeling of "the soup is the fragrance, and the fragrance is the soup" when drinking.

When first learning, experiencing different levels of Pu'er tea aroma mainly relies on repeated comparison, with the focus on the allocation of attention. To experience fragrance entering water, the most important thing is to compare the aroma emitted during brewing with the aroma when drinking. If it tastes relatively fragrant, you should shift your attention to the throat and mouth to experience the degree of water-containing fragrance. If the tea soup is still fragrant after drinking, focus your attention on the throat area for a longer time to experience water-born fragrance, paying close attention to the characteristics of the aroma's release from the throat after swallowing, as well as its persistence and intensity.