Blood Orange Pu-erh

Received this as part of Samovar’s Pu-Erh sampler. I’m already sold on Pu-Erh, it’s among my very favorites, but had not really tried it blended with other flavorings before (just the strawberry Teavana variety, which is sort of a Pu-Erh junior, more flavoring than tea).

Wow. Surprising from start to finish.

The aroma upon opening the storage packet is a citrusy, earthy ginger ale. Sweet, not tart. Followed the directions on the packet for the first steep.

Flavor – just wow. A brothy, woodsy sweet orange. Woodsy as in you’re passing over a patch of mushrooms after a rainfall. Not strong or even musty, but earthy. The ginger kicks in at the finish and is unexpectedly piquante. It tickles the throat. The mouthfeel is much heavier than I’m accustomed to. I keep thinking of broth and stew as a texture comparison.

Pleasantly surprised and will be purchasing for my cupboard again soon. I appreciate Pu-Erh, but I feel like my palate’s been educated and tweaked a notch or two to know that Pu-Erh can be blended so well and retain its own charaacter.

One of the first things I did when I last was in San Francisco was make a beeline to Samovar. Their Blood Orange Pu-erh was the first tea that I tried there. I spent a good hour or so at the counter, sipping this tea and losing myself in the surreal debauchery that is Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk. [GREAT read, by the way.]

When I got back home, I wanted to get a tin of that tea because I had enjoyed it so much, but it wasn’t for sale online. Months later, when it became available, I snatched it up.

It’s always been funny to me, that the sense of smell is more closely tied into memory than anything else because I most often associate music with memories. However, when I smell something that my brain has tethered to a remembrance, it always come back super vividly. For me, the purchase of this tea didn’t just arrive with something fantastic to drink, it arrived with a quick way to transport myself 2500-odd miles to the opposite side of the country. All it takes is a whiff of this to whisk myself back to that counter, book in hand, stress dissipated, in the midst of some pretty perfect weather. [I also spent each and every morning that week on my brother’s deck, reading in a chair, and brewing cup after cup of tea until I felt like getting up and actually doing something. Even I’M jealous, and I’m the one who did that. Man, what I wouldn’t give right now to be past me.]

Needless to say, I pull this one out when the stress levels are reaching critical.

Of course, I couldn’t fully enjoy this tea if I didn’t like how it tastes, but I’m happy to be able to say that this is one of the teas that eased me into pu-erh, and I continue to enjoy it immensely. It’s definitely a pu-erh, meaning that you get the same soil-like scent and taste that comes with the territory [I like it, but it’s not for everyone]. The ginger adds a spiciness and warmth, and the blood orange gives it a slight edge. The overall effect is a little stronger than most teas [you might have been able to guess that due to the flavors involved], but it makes the earthiness of the tea not quite so overwhelming. I’ve brewed this for a few friends who are looking to try a pu-erh out, with good results.

I have a feeling that this is going to be an EXCELLENT winter tea.

Grr! Steepster ate my tasting note. :( I knew I should have copied it before I hit save.

Anyway, I got a box full of awesome today, from the lovely Miss Claire. I smelled all the unsealed teas and had a really hard time picking one to try first. I ended up with this pu’erh…my very first. (OMG, PU’ERH VIRGIN.)

Dry: Orange! Yum yum. Hubby said “YES! Make this!”

Rinsed, then made a 15-second 1st steep, which I gave to the husband.

Then I made a 2nd 15-second steep for myself.

Aroma: Musky earth and an undertone of sweet orange. This will sound unflattering, but there’s a brand of pump soap I’ve used in public restrooms that has a very similar scent profile, only this is cleaner, organic, calm.

Sip: Complex earth & good antiques, compelling orange flavor. Amazing balance. I’m actually shocked at how mellow and pleasant this is, considering my first impression of the steep smell.

Finish: Slight cooling effect that lingers on the palate for a long time. Also, I feel effing fantastic. What is this? Is my tea spiked? :O

In summary: Great first pu’erh! I’m intrigued and very satisfied. Teas like this are the reason for tea ceremonies. I can’t even imagine just tossing back a cup of this without a thought, like I would a coffee or breakfast black.

Here we are again.. finishing up my round of samples from Samovar. Of all the teas I was most excited to try it was this one, although I did find some new favorites this week as well. Blood Orange Pu-erh.. hmm. What to say.. or rather what not to say.

Opening the package is an experience all in it’s own, as I was smacked with the aroma of oranges instantly. And yes, I did like it. The pu-erh-y smell was masked in the dry leaves but really came out after I rinsed them the first time. I’m honestly not the biggest fan of the smell; too fishy for me. Like.. really. Too. Fishy.

I ended up doing two steeps with about 8oz of water, one for 6 minutes and another at 7. There wasn’t too much of a difference between the two, although there was less pu-erh taste in the 7 minute steep. This tea certainly looks like a pu-erh.. very, very dark and bold looking flavor. Now lets talk about the flavor itself..

This tea is interesting. Pu-erh in my opinion is very interesting in general and something perhaps I need to get used to, or rather we all need to get used to. I will say I enjoyed this a bit more than the Maiden’s Ecstasy and I’ll have to contribute this to the strong blood orange flavor. In describing this tea, I think the best way is to say it’s predominately orange in taste, with ginger that tends to bite your tongue a little, while sitting on a pu-erh base. You can certainly tell that this is a pu-erh tea, although the orange tends to mask that very bold earth flavor you get with plain ol’ pu-erh. However, without the pu-erh, I can’t see how the orange flavor could be as dark as it is. You certainly get a dark citrus taste, as I would assume would happen when adding any kind of flavor to Pu-erh. It seems to darken up everything a bit and give it that earthy quality.

I’m not sure what to think of this tea just yet. I’m questioning my rating as I’m not to sure how accurate I’m really being. It’s really subjective. However, I am glad I tried this tea as I do like spicing up my palette with some new flavors. Right now, this isn’t one I can see myself drinking on a daily basis, or perhaps even one I can see myself craving, but it does have it’s place. And… I’m open to pu-erh now. It’s definitely.. different.

This tea finally arrived the other day, and so I figured I would take some to work and give it a try for the day. The first impression I got when I smelt the leaves was that it was going to be a very unique and interesting citrus oriented tea. That was a pretty accurate first impression.

Honestly, for the first few sips I was wondering if I was going to like it enough to finish the tin I got. Luckily, those thoughts were washed away fairly rapidly once I got more into it. As teaplz perfectly explains, this is much more of a “dark citrus” as opposed to the “sunny Florida orange” citrus. As such, I would be comfortable in saying that this is a good tea for the winter. How appropriate, given that this morning we have a nice and crisp -16 degrees Celsius outside, with a “feels like” factor of -22. Perfect for this tea. ;)

Pu-erh on wheels. Delicious, juicy, multi-note bittersweet orange marmalade tempered by the perfect touch of ginger are riding shotgun. This tea has great complementarity of flavors and is a fun changeup from the more serious straight-forward pu-erhs that I love. Might be a good intro to pu-erh, especially for folks who like flavored teas; I didn’t pick up much of the usual fishy/seaweed but it still had decent depth. The hint of ginger leaves a bit of a tingle on the tongue.

I’ve been drinking this all week—this makes my favorite iced tea ever. I’m not particularly fond of it hot, but when it’s iced—yum!
I usually just add a little liquid stevia to sweeten it up a bit (not enough to be called ‘sweet tea’, but just enough to take the edge off) and it’s fabulous. Yum.
For the record, I made this as sun tea, so I let it steep in the sun for probably five hours or so. Very delicious.

Back to this tasty pu-erh… subtle citrus and total goodness!

When I ordered, I ordered just off of the name. Blood Orange Pu-Erh. Was not expecting the ginger at all, which might be why I am quite so critical.

This tea ended up tasting like a Chai. Maybe I got the end of the can where all of the ginger had settled, but I could not taste any of the other ingredients.

A great summer tea, light and citrusy.