Aged Chenpi Ripened Tangerine Pu-erh

I haven’t had any tangerine-stuffed Pu Erh since 2013 New Year’s Eve. I remember getting questions by my friends in a “what in earth is that” fashion but as I explained them how the tea got inside the tangerine they gladly accepted to try it. Some expected full flavour of tangerine, but in the end everyone was at least glad to have tried it.

About two months ago I saw this tea introduced at Teavivre and I didn’t wait long to order a sample along with some other recently introduced teas. I got this Pu Erh with some broken tangerine peel and it was quite unusual to me that the label said ‘steep 6 to 8 minutes’. My guess was that it’s meant for western-style steeping, in a large tea pot. I used one sample bag (10 gr) with my 250ml borosilicate glass teapot and set timer for 6 minutes.

First steep had a really deep black tone to it (due to 6-minute steep) with red-brown rim in my white porcelain cup. At the top there was a certain herbaceous, thyme-like note. With first sip I got a mild sweetness head on, which soon dissipated and morphed into very thick and mouthful molassy sensation with tad bitter end. Not long after swallowing the sweetness reemerge and sits for a short period. After a few sips the senses get acquainted with the bitter element which blends in with the rest and gets almost unnoticeable. Tangerine element is present, blends in very nice but can’t catch up with the rest when it comes to intensity.

As the brew cooled down I noticed more of freshness along with minty aftertaste, and what makes this tea uncommon when it comes to Pu Erh is that it didn’t had any elements associated to earth or dirt, but wood.
Second infusion (8 minutes) came out a bit weaker but with more balanced elements – tangerine was more prominent and minty aftertaste was ever-present.

In conclusion, a very good tea for it’s type (Tangerine-stuffed Pu Erh), which can get pricey and fishy in taste depending of where you get it (this one wasn’t).

My first tea of the day. It smelly like I’m having citrus fruit salad in the forest. I liked the dark orange colour of the .liquor. The flavour is woody, with the tang of tangerine.

TheTeaFairy was kind enough to send me a sample of this.
I was quite intrigued by this one. It looks good – pu’erh with huge chunks of tangerine skin – it smells good. Steep instructions on the package says 6-8 minutes (hmmmm that seems like a long time for a pu’erh). I choose to ignore that recommendation, gave it a quick rinse and steeped about two minutes. Hmmmm maybe I should have listened to the steep instructions. I don’t like this – the pu’erh is nice enough, but the citrus is really acidic (almost bitter), not balanced with the pu’erh. OK I can admit I was wrong, added more leaf and steeped for 7 minutes. This is better, there is more pu’erh to cover the citrus – the citrus isn’t so “in your face offensive”, but I still don’t like it.
I don’t think this is a BAD tea, I just think the flavor profile doesn’t work for me. It was interesting – I would recommend anyone that is interested to try it – really happy to have had the chance to try it, but It’s just not for me.

The earthiness some puerhs have is light in this one on first steeping, not deep or strong. The tangerine aspect doesn’t come across as fruit at all, that sweetness the is still in the rings usually… Instead it gives a pure rind hint to it where the fact that it’s tangerine is in no way clear. It’s just that hint of rind that very vaguely comes from them.

It’s a light and subtle puerh on first steep. Nifty but nothing special to me.

Second steep, much earthier. There’s no clear tangerine influence of any kind detectable unless that bit of bitterness in the back of the throat is it….

I’ve been obsessed with ripe puerh aged in citrus rinds for months now. I was so excited to see that TeaVivre was offering one!

My sample packet came in the mail yesterday, and I eagerly opened it this morning. The dry leaf is mixed with lots of large tangerine peel chunks, and smells sweetly of citrus!

I did an extra long steep after a brief rinse, which resulted in a dark and RICH creamy brew with cocoa notes and a subtle citrus aftertaste. This definitely has an earthy flavor, and may not appeal to puerh newbies. I would recommend something more mellow for people just starting out in the world of puerh. But for seasoned shu puerh fanatics, this is a welcome and unique taste experience!

Thank you Angel from Teavivre for sending so many samples, you truly are an angel!

I like things that are unusual. I could not wait to get my hands on this tea, and I see I’m the first one to log it, so I’ll try to do a good job at it…

It came in one of those little sample pouches Teavivre uses. I’m having the full sample, I really want to get lots of flavour. There are several large pieces of orange peel mixed with the pu’erh leaf, it’s really pretty to look at.

It is recommended to brew 6 to 8 minutes! That scares me a little but I go for it.

The liquor is coffee dark. Surprisingly, that much leaf and such a long seep time did not produce an overly strong infusion, it is just perfect!

«Meet this creative pu-erh tea: it is made of ripened pu-erh tea leaves with Chenpi. Dig out the pulp in the orange, then fill in the empty space with aged ripened pu-erh tea leaves. After drying and shaping, the Chenpi tea was made in the appearance of tangerine, with unique taste».

Honestly, I’m not tasting much of the orange, it’s there but very distant. It does have a unique taste though, very unusual. It’s not “fishy” at all, very smooth and chocolaty. There’s a molasses feel to it. It’s bready, in a rye bread kind of way.

I think this would please a lot of coffee lovers, it is such a rich flavourful cup it could easily become a favourite of the morning.

As it cools down, I can now taste a lot more of the orange, a light and fresh astringency is emerging, nothing unpleasant, on the contrary.

The leaves have a lot more to give and I will sip on this tea for the rest of the evening…

I’m so grateful I got to try this very special tea, thanks again Angel!