Gong Ting Pu-erh in Tangerine "Golden Horse 8685" Ripe Tea

These are back at Yunnan Sourcing and were on sale the other day, so I bought 10 of them for a total of 250 grams. I had never bought these from YS, but have had them in the past from other vendors and enjoyed them. The ripe pu’er was straightforward, mellow, and good. I had placed half the tangerine rind in with half the pu’er and had broken the rind into smaller pieces, so that when it rehydrated, it would hopefully release more oils. I did a rinse and a 15-20 second first infusion with boiling water. The citrus usually takes a little while to get going, so I enjoyed the first infusion slowly while leaving the lid on the clay pot. I don’t normally do that, but I tend to break all the rules with these stuffed tangerines. Next, I went for 30 seconds. It was fine, but I still wasn’t getting what I was after. The third infusion, I did not fill the pot fully with water, but instead went about 75%. The leaves were completely covered, but I wanted to concentrate this round. I let it steep for 2 minutes. Ahhh, that;‘s what I was after. It was rich and smooth with chocolatey malty notes , sweet and a hint of citrus. Pushing this hard had no ill effects on the pu’er. There was barely a hint of bitterness, but it could have been the rind of the tangerine. Whatever the cause, it was barely noticeable and worked with the hint of citrus. Everyone’s taste is a little different, but I would suggest trying at least one infusion pushed very hard with boiling hot water to see what you think. If you tried it in the past and thought it was weak or watery, give it a long hot soak and see if it works better for you. I had this after dinner, and there was no noticable caffeine hit for me. I think the stuffed oranges/tangerines are fun, and while I don’t normally go for flavored teas, herbal teas, etc., I do like these stuffed tangerpurines. :)

Nope.

I don’t like the taste at all, not the pu-erh and not the tangerine. It’s not gross but it’s just not flavorful to me. I tried with the tangerine (little bit and whole) and it didn’t have a tangerine citrus taste. I prepared it a few different ways. There is so some citrus, of course, but even with the whole tangerine, it’s pretty tasteless. I’ll let it sit some and see how it changes but that’s all I got to say about this one.

Although slightly different, my main focus is looking for a true tangerine yumminess so I much prefer the Aged Chenpi Ripened Tangerine Pu-erh (Teavivre). That one the tangerine has a great tangy tangerine aroma and taste.

Now this is some great shou! The citrus balances with the light earthiness of the tea perfectly. I definitely recommend brewing this with a good chunk of the the peel for added citrus flavour. Overall I’d say the taste is sweet, almost malty/caramel, and spicy like one of my favourite dark chocolates with orange zest and ginger, or even mulled wine.

I’m glad I bought a few because I can’t stop drinking it this week, each tangerine makes about three gong fu sessions in a small gaiwan which is pretty decent. Lost some marks for only making it through four good steeps before the flavour dropped off though. At the end of the day, I can’t complain considering I payed $20 for 250 grams of these delightful tangerines.

Brewed with boiling water in a 180ml gaiwan, roughly 8 grams of tea.
After two rinses, I brewed the first cup for 15 seconds, increasing by 5 or 10 seconds each additional brew. Four strong brews in total.

This tea doesn’t brew super strong, but lasts for a while. The colour of the liquor is paler than other ripe pu’er teas I came across. It has a medium body. The mouthfeel has some kind of cleansing feel to it, especially in the finish.

Without the skin, the citrus sourness is mostly present in the smell, the taste has more of the citrus bitterness.

The tea taste is very brothy (mushrooms) and only a little earthy. The tangerine taste is definitely present in the tea, but doesn’t dominate.

There is almost no sweetness in this tea, it’s mostly a bitter affair, but I think that’s nice. Also the aftertaste in the early steeps is mostly savoury with some bitterness but not much sweetness. The later steeps seem to have more acidic aftertaste.

With the tangerine peel, the liquor smells a bit like an apple pie to which someone added a bit too much of citrus peel. The wet leaf is now really reminiscent of citrus orchard with both the earthy and citrus notes present.

The taste with the skin is more tangy and sour and akin to actual fruit juice, but without the sweetness. I like it a lot.

This is a good Pu-erh with a nice aftertaste of Tangerine. I broke a small piece of of the tangerine and put that in my gaiwan along with the tea. I definitely enjoy the taste of this!

Very enjoyable although, I didn’t notice much citrus flavor coming through. I’m not that great at describing flavors. this tea is overall good, nothing outstanding, but still really good. I’ll enjoy the rest of it and may reorder when I run out.

I really love this one. It smells wonderfull, chocolate like, dark and earthy with a hint of citrus. The brew is thick, a dark red color.
It tastes creamy, like chocolate, a hint of orange, earthy (but not too much).

I am brewing it gong fu style, a quick rinse of like 10-15 secs and then i started with 10-15 secs steepings, gradually increasing the time.
I ended after around 15 steeps (last steeping time was like 5 mins)

I bought mine from ebay rather than Yunnan Sourcing. Supposed to be 2008, but I have doubts.

Strange. I got some of this in a travelling tea box a few months ago and really liked it. Anxious to find more, I bought this from ebay because shipping was included. I had one cup and really enjoyed it. Rated 82, which is what I gave the TTB sample.

Next in the saga is the 2015 mandarin tea that was included in Liquid Proust’s Dark Matter group buy. When I tried it a few days ago, it had a very strong fishy smell and taste; I hated it. I tried this again today largely to renew my pleasant memories and guess what? Big fishy smell.

So, what is going on here? Am I somewhat predisposed to taste fish after the previous tea? Was it there before but I missed it? Is some of the tea fishy and some not? I’ve had this sample for about a month, but took the wrapper off a few weeks ago when I had it for the first time. This isn’t as fishy as the W2T mandarin, but the fish is definitely there. Bottom line is that I’m confused and disappointed. I used to really like this tea as a daily drinker in the evening, but now I’m afraid to try it. Worst is that I bought an 8-pack so have a lot. Also, I gave one to a friend at work to introduce him to puerh, and I’m thinking it probably wasn’t a very good introduction.

my bunch of these teas has aged well within a few months :D

Wow, it’s been awhile since I’ve posted on here. You know how it is, you drink the same teas, or you don’t feel like making a tea page for all the new teas you have, or life just gets busy. Anyhow, it was finally cool today, so I thought I’d have some Shou. Stephanie sent me this in a surprise package and it’s so fun! It’s my first whole tangerine Shou. I’ve had a sample before from another company, but it was just pieces of the peel and tea. This time, I got to break it up myself!

It has that smoked/char taste that I noticed in the other one, which is warming and cozy when it’s cold out. I also noticed a bit of citrus, and that seemed to come out more as I steeped and the Shou got sweeter. Very nice and smooth, no funk. Thanks so much Stephanie! :)