Beginner level Pu'er tea aroma, where the fragrance is superficial and floating, can be smelled but not tasted. Its characteristic is that during brewing, the aroma wafts in the air and can be detected on the lid of the teacup, but once the tea enters the mouth, the aroma greatly diminishes or even disappears.

Aroma Entering Water

Intermediate level Pu'er tea aroma, where most of the fragrance dissipates while a small part merges into the tea liquor. The experience is: it smells fragrant and tastes fragrant, but not as fragrant as it smells.

Aroma Carried by Water

Medium level Pu'er tea aroma, where a small part of the fragrance dissipates while most merges into the tea liquor. The aroma in the tea liquor sinks, partly dispersing from the mouth and teeth, and partly from the throat. To experience this, hold your breath when the tea enters the mouth, close your mouth after swallowing, and exhale slowly through the nose, paying attention to the origin of the aroma.

Water-Born Aroma

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

Water Is Aroma

The highest level Pu'er tea, where the tea must be aged with high-quality raw materials and processing. Its rich and complex aged fragrance completely merges with the tea liquor. Wherever the tea liquor flows, the aged fragrance follows. As the tea aroma volatilizes, the tea soup exhibits a wonderful "transforming sensation", giving the drinker a marvelous feeling that "the soup is the aroma, and the aroma is the soup".

For beginners, experiencing different levels of Pu'er tea aroma mainly relies on repeated comparison, with emphasis on attention allocation. To experience 'Aroma Entering Water', the key is to compare the aroma emitted during brewing with the aroma when drinking. If the tea tastes relatively fragrant, shift attention to the throat and mouth to experience the degree of 'Aroma Carried by Water'. If the tea is more fragrant after swallowing than when held in the mouth, focus attention on the throat for a longer time to experience 'Water-Born Aroma', paying close attention to the characteristics, persistence, and intensity of aroma release in the throat after the tea is swallowed.