Aged Chenpi Ripened Tangerine Pu-erh

There’s a break in the impeachment trial. Such disturbing, horrifying, sad unseen footage shown. Thought I’d write a quick review during the break.

It’s been two years and these improve with age so thought I’d try another today. I put the dried tangerine stuffed with Pu-er in my little gaiwan and rinsed it with boiling water. It barely fit lol. The liquor is a really dark reddish/brown color, tangerine scent. Afterward, I did like 5 to 10-second infusions. So many times that I lost count. It’s fallen completely apart now lol. I can not emphasize enough just how mellow this pu-erh is compared to many. I am reluctant to even put “earth” in the taste profile because it’s that mellow. I haven’t been in the mood for any pu-erh tea for months but this was just wonderful and warm.

It’s a really nice, mellow pu-erh with no leather, fishiness, or strong overbearing notes. Tangerine, citrusy notes and aroma, filling the room.

So time did, in fact, make this even better. I have a couple more. I just ordered from TeaVivre and I am looking forward to trying Quanzi green mandarin pu’er. I added that as a sample. If it is as good as this, I’ll be a happy camper.

I love pu-erh tea and thought that tangerine pu-erh tea sounded fascinating! I wasn’t quite brave enough to buy it sight unseen and taste untasted, but I selected a sample of it with my last Teavivre purchase.

When I opened the silver sample package, I found short brown leaves inside and something I hadn’t expected- big hunks of tangerine peel! Since the package stated that the tea was produced in 2012, I wondered if I was looking at five-year-old fruit remnants. The peel chunks were quite dry and looked almost mummified.

There also was a pleasant tangerine scent inside the package. This smell cancelled out any earthy and leathery pu-erh odor that might have existed.

I followed the instructions and brewed the tea at 212 degrees for eight minutes (the maximum recommended time). The brewed color was a deep golden brown. The aroma was fruity but nondescript.

The taste of this tea was dominated, but not overwhelmed, by delicious fruity tangerine attributes. The leathery and earthy pu-erh flavor was surprisingly subdued in the background but still quite present. This taste partnership was beautifully harmonious.

This is the first pu-erh tea I’ve ever had that I would describe as having a BRIGHT flavor. The entire blend was also surprisingly smooth with an equally amiable aftertaste.

The folks at Teavivre have produced another terrific pu-erh tea. If you enjoy fruity teas AND pu-erh teas, you should be satisfied on both fronts with this one.

This is a nice, smooth, creamy, mellow ripe pu-erh. It was received as a free sample with my tea order, so thank you Teavivre. The sample included two generous pieces of tangerine skin. I brewed this gong fu style with an initial quick rinse, then a first infusion of 10 seconds. That produced a light, sweet, mild and mildly earthy liquor, light in color, and containing no detectable traces of citrus to my palate. The second infusion, I went for 30 secs, and this time the liquor is much darker. It is still very smooth and only very slightly bitter at the longer infusion time. I do get a very subtle hint of citrus in this second infusion, but I really do mean subtle. If I didn’t know it had tangerine and wasn’t looking for it, I probably would not have noticed it. The second infusion finishes sweet and leaves a somewhat thick coating in the mouth and on the lips. Only after 5 minutes does a small amount of astringency appear. I wonder if the tangerine was more present when it was younger. I can imagine a bit of fresh tangerine zest in this tea would be delicious, but alas, I have none on hand. Third infusion, I’m letting it steep for a minute with just off the boil water that was poured high directly onto the tangerine skin. Can you tell I’m wanting that tangerine note? :-) This pu-erh doesn’t mind being steeped longer. The third infusion is mellow. No bitterness at all, which surprised me. Caffeine content must be pretty high. It’s producing a nice feeling. Fourth infusion I pushed to 3 mins. Still smooth and mellow, no bitterness. I checked the fridge once more, and found a mandarin orange. I added a squeeze to my cup to see how it would change the tea. Interesting— it was readily absorbed into the overall tea flavor and did not stand out prominently, so perhaps the tangerine has been present all along, influencing the overall flavor, providing a touch of sweetness, but never becoming a prominent note. For anyone wanting to a try a ripe shou pu-erh, but is put off by mustiness, this one is a good one to try. If you were to do a couple of rinses first, you’d bypass the old library book found in some shou pu-erh.

Drinking up a sample of this. I really enjoyed the tangerine white tea, so I’m hoping this will be a good twist on ripe puer.

The dry leaf smells sweet and lightly citrusy, as well as lightly spiced. The first rinse is pretty standard for ripe puer—creamy, earthy, smooth, but it also has the hint of an orange note behind it, as well as that same sort of spice that I can’t quite pin down.

The second steep and beyond somewhat loses out on the orange flavor. It might be because I’m flash steeping this ripe puer, meaning the orange doesn’t have time to really diffuse any flavor, or maybe the ripe puer is just a little stronger than the orange. Either way, the further I steep, the further the orange somewhat fades away. With longer steeps, it becomes a little more apparently in a mellow sweetness, but overall it’s a very subtle addition to a pretty standard ripe puer.

There were lots of tea samples included with my birthday order, and this was the first one I chose to make because I knew that everyone present loved puerh. I used the entire sample because we had two great pieces of orange peel and I was using a large pot. I wanted to stretch the tea since we generally put away a lot of puerh when we get together so I kept the steeps a little on the short side to give us lots of resteeps.

The citrus is more an aroma than a taste. It is only lightly orange flavored. The puerh was earthy, not horsey, and never ever have I gotten a fishy puerh from Teavivre so I feel like I don’t even need to mention that it isn’t fishy!

I made two short steeps and then someone else made the third and steeped it a very long time in comparison. It was still perfectly good and not bitter at all, just a little heartier than my short steeps. I like myshu puerh a little on the strong side and we all enjoyed it.

As we drank it, ChelseaR remembered that she had ordered a sample of this once, and I notice that she has a review on here for it as well! I think being reminded of it and having it again has made her want to order more! She and my son usually drink unflavored shu.

Delicious tea, and thank you to Superanna for the gift and Mary Bao at Teavivre for the recommendations!

I bought a sample of this last time I ordered from Teavivre (which was far too long ago, by the way). Finally got around to trying it yesterday at work, now that I have set up a tea station by my desk. New job, new office, new tea station; it’s almost like a new start! :)

So, the dry leaf was woody with a light citrus component. You can tell it’s shu pu with your eyes closed. There was one honking great huge piece of citrus peel in there with the leaf, like about half a tangerine’s worth! The steeped tea smelt earthy with a hint of citrus. I have a pu with grapefruit that I unconsciously expected it to be like, but this one is way more subtle than the grapefruit pu. The liquor was dark, earthy and woody with the tangerine notes coming through to make it a light refreshing drink. It made a nice change from the usual run of teas that I have been making in the office.

Thank you Angel for this sample.

The mood struck me for some Pu Erh steeped western style which I almost never do, usually because I enjoy the ceremony in making tea traditionally. Today however I am making Christmas decorations as the craft bug has bitten and I have no time for tea traditions at the moment. Still need tea though!

As I open the sample pack I am impressed by the large pieces of tangerine peel, hopefully that will mean it’s got a lot of orange flavour.

Once steeped this has a mild yet sweet orange scent with some dry earth undertones.

Flavour is rich and dark with earth, dry wood, sweet orange and a light, creamy after taste. It is very orange in comparison to the actual strength which is about average thickness. The sweetness is a nice contrast to the dry earth tones and the melody lingers nicely in the after taste.

I shall keep re-steeping this until it’s completely spent, but at least it’s a comforting and delicious aid to my crafting.

Water: 8oz

Leaves: medium w/ tangerine pieces

Steep: 6m

Aroma: Sweet/Earthy

Color: reddish brown

Taste: Due to my previous brewing i decided to let this cup go for 6 minutes instead of the longer steep of 8m. what surprised me was the large pieces of the tangerine peel that was in the sample packet i received. The aroma of the dry leaf was sweet & earthy while on the other hand the brewed cup had a bit of a burnt/earthy smell to it. The color was lighter in comparison to the previous pu-erh & i could see the bottom of my tea cup. I should also mention before brewing i also gave this tea a bit of a rinse. As for the taste i really didn’t get much of anything in terms of flavor.

I enjoyed drinking this- I have never had anything like it before. The tangerine flavor was pronounced, but not overwhelming. Earthy with the citrus zest. I imagine it wouldn’t be a bad iced tea, even though I don’t typically use pu for icing.

I was very interested in trying this Pu-erh and received it as a sample to try out. I was surprised at how large the tangerine peel chunks were in this blend, and it smelled very sweet and full of citrus. I used half the sample packet and steeped for 8 minutes. The color was a smooth brown with a tint of blood orange. The tea was smooth and hints of cocoa with a very faint citrus aftertaste. The overall flavor was weak and i think I ended up with much more citrus peel than tea in my first steep so I decided to add the rest of the sample for the second steep for a stronger flavor. The second steep had a much stronger earthy cocoa flavor with a smooth citrus flavor coming through at the end. I should have started out with the full sample, or at least more than my original steep. I enjoyed the unique flavor this tea had it was a nice change to the everyday non flavored pu-er choices available. Yum Yum