My initial experience with this tea seems to deviate from other reviewers: when I opened the package and had my first gongfu session, I got a very strong shrimp/seaweed/brine smell that seemed to overpower even the ‘shou’-ness I expected, much less the supposed orange I was supposed to be tasting. But two things reduced this: (1) I waited a few weeks before opening it up again, which helped dramatically, so there must have been something in shipping or storage that gave it that smell; and (2) I also increased my rinsing time: this brick is very tightly packed, especially if you break off a piece along the lines, so the increased time and even a double rinse helped me out.
Tasting notes after these ‘fixes’: this was actually a bit less orange than I thought, to be honest. I did get that bitter mandarin taste which I loved, but was surprised at the medicinal notes I was getting (this wasn’t a turn off, just unexpected). I think I would have preferred something called ‘Channel Orange’ with a bit more orange flavor. Overall though, I was really happy to have tried this, and it’s great for cold days – it just needed some time to get right.
Flavors: Dark Wood, Medicinal, Menthol, Orange
