I purchased this at the Aroma Tea Shop in San Francisco. This is just such a cute presentation, pu-erh tea cooked in a tangerine. I had to try it!
I let this steep for 3 minutes with boiling water. In hindsight, that may have been a bit too much so I will need to do more experiments. I saw on another website people had broken up parts of the peel to brew with the tea so that would also be fun to try. I also forgot to rinse this off before brewing.
I got a very dark liquor but it is very smooth and rich with no hint of astringency. A tiny bit of shiitake mushroom with some chocolate notes. I’m getting a bit of tangerine in the finish nothing like a flavored tea, this is very subtle. There is some smoke in the finish. Even with the stronger steeping this is a very mellow and easygoing tea.
One tangerine yields about 2 small or one large pot of tea. I don’t know if I have time this morning for multiple infusions which is a bit sad. Pu-erh is a tea best left for the weekends!
I did manage to get a second infusion. This time I tried for one minute with boiling water with a tiny bit of the peel thrown in for good measure. This produced a milder but still flavorful version of the first steep. Now I am getting a bit of spice in the cup as well. It’s hard to say which one I prefer more!
