When Teavivre sends me samples to try, I like to space them out over time and not sip them all at once. That gives me something to look forward to, and I learn a little restraint in the process. This little sample packet had a nice fat bulge in the middle, so I had assumed the puerh inside would be one of those balls of tea I'd have to break apart with my puerh knife. This week, I decided it was time to give it a try.
The wrapped ball looked like this, and since this tea was their Xinhui Green Mandarin Orange Ripened Pu-erh Tea, I assume the graphics were of an orange, and maybe I'd see some orange peel mixed in with the loose tea. Is that what you would have assumed?
Well, you would have been wrong. When it says "Mandarin Orange Ripened," it means it was ripened *in* a mandarin orange. HOW COOL IS THAT? (Sorry, don't mean to shout, but I thought this was absolutely amazing!) I detected the citrusy scent as soon as I opened the silver foil packet, and the citrus scent was quite pronounced when I opened this dried orange with the puerh tea inside.
Here's what some of the tea leaf looks like. I liked puerh already, but I loved this orange-scented puerh. It had a great softening effect on the tea, resulting in an exceptionally smooth and less "earthy" tasting puerh. Simply brilliant! Later, I went online and learned that I can also infuse the entire orange full of tea and "the tea texture will be soaked out of the peel." I think I want to enjoy another cup or two of the loose tea first, but when I soak the whole orange in hot water, I'll be sure to post photos of the result. It ought to be interesting!
That is beyond cool. Oh, you are right, it deserves an exclaimed shout:
ReplyDeleteSO SO SO COOL! I have never seen anything it. I appreciate your exuberance!
You could even put plain puerh tea in it and make it go further, too, perhaps?
Thanks for sharing this neat discovery, Angela!
That is fascinating! I wonder who first thought to do that.
ReplyDeleteWeird! But yes, very cool!
ReplyDeleteIt is a fascinating tea concept, isn't it. I enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteOh how fun! Tea never ceases to amaze me!
ReplyDeleteWow! I want one but don't know what to order, your package says one piece but the website has it in grams so I'm not sure, guess I will keep checking their website. Thank you for posting! I'll explore the site.
ReplyDeleteWow, that is an interesting way to package tea.
ReplyDeleteNow this looks like fun! and sounds like delicious!
ReplyDelete