Tangerine Blossom

I have been dying to try this tea since I purchased this a month ago and I finally splurged today. This has a wonderful perfume-y taste. I was thinking jasmine. But then reading the other reviews, I would say more like orange blossom water. The tea base is smooth, warm. As this is some type of fermented white tea , the brew is light and somewhat caramelly. It is quite different and I would definitely recommend it.

I think a rating of 100 says it all and nothing has changed for me – this is still just a heavenly, lightly floral, stunningly smooth tea. I did use less leaf than normal this time and shortened up the steep time just a tad to see what would happen. It is still a marvelous tea but the shorter steep time makes the floral not quite as in your face. I like it both ways!

I mainly just wanted to add that it is a very good swap for jasmine tea with Chinese food. :)

As LiberTEAs mentioned – this tea is perplexing! It says it’s a white tea but it’s really a black tea! :)

Perplexing isn’t always a bad thing because the aroma and flavor of this one is wonderful! VERY aromatic and flavorful! It tastes like tangerine zest or ‘skin’ more than actual tangerine-juiciness. That flavor paired with a heavy floral flavor and tea tastes make this what it is.

I like this because of the tangerine-zest type taste and like I said before…the aroma is out of this world!

If you are ready for a wild ride…try this one out…it will surprise ya!

T&C Box 11/18

This smells like straight black tea in the bag. Really good black tea, admittedly, but I don’t notice much else. While it’s brewing, though, wow! So citrusy and sweet. It almost reminds me of honeysuckle mixed with oranges.

This brews up a gorgeous orange-gold color and tastes just as gorgeous. The citrus note is strong in the flavor, but there’s still a floral edge to it reminiscent of jasmine. It’s juicy and sweet and smooth, I can’t get enough of it. It’s also lighter than most black teas, which means it feels really refreshing. I will absolutely have to buy some of this.

Urghhhhhh! Tre’s out right now, but I’m really fighting the urge to tear into him when he gets home. I went into the freezer to grab some orange matcha, and noticed that all of my matcha had been moved around from where I was storing it. It took me a second to notice, but apparently Tre decided to make himself something using the Eggnog Matcha that I have.

How do I know? Well, I cut a very small corner of the sample package the first time I used it and then tightly rolled it up and put the sample package inside a second air tight bag. However, upon checking the matcha sample pouch is now widely torn open inside the second bag which has been carelessly sealed and has tons of air in it. The matcha itself is also all over the bag and it looks like about half of what I had left in it is now gone. That’s about a tablespoon. HE USED A FUCKING TABLESPOON OF MATCHA FOR A CUP OF TEA.

Like, I wouldn’t have minded if he’d made himself some – I typically welcome him to drink whatever he wants in the house (Lord knows there’s too much for just me), but clearly he was careless in doing so. I don’t even know if he gets how to make matcha. Clearly he doesn’t know the measurements. And what really bugs me is that he doesn’t even LIKE eggnog. I bought a whole jug of the real stuff for Christmas and he wouldn’t touch it.

Anyway, this is the second tea sample that TeaTiff included with Day #2 of the 12 Days of Christmas exchange. It’s from a shop local to her, and dry it just smells amazing. It’s juicy and clearly smells like tangerine, and there’s a lovely floral quality to the smell too. I just love trying things that are local to people, and lately I’ve tried to include things from my local shops in swaps. Anyone can place an order online, but it’s really neat get something that would be very hard to acquire outside of in person at the store. Does that make sense?

For preparation, I used the whole sample (Teatiff’s brewing guide said between 1/2 to 1 tbsp. so I went with the large amount for a large cup size) for a 10 oz mug, steeped with boiling water for 1 minute. It’s quite odd looking at the tea because visually it looks like a black tea, but really it’s made with fermented white tea leaves. That’s really interesting to me, and I think the first time I’ve tried anything like that. In so far as the smell, it’s it’s juicy, floral oranges. Yum!

Taste wise, I was expecting to taste tangerine first, but was actually hit with notes of nut and a sweetness; honey perhaps? Natural, unrefined honey that is. Don’t worry though, I got the tangerine right after that! It’s very natural, and the floral quality translates beautifully into the taste without tasting chemical or perfumey or anything negative like that. It’s truly lovely, and very relaxing which is a feat considering how pissed I am at Tre and the present moment.

I’m so, so sad this is a sipdown! That’s the downside to trying hard to acquire local things I suppose – if you fall in love it’s hard to get them back. Seriously, this tea is stunning and manages to flood your whole mouth with an array of flavours that are delicate but full! Thanks so much TeaTiff! The two teas you sent were stunning!

SIPDOWN! Another tea from teh lovely nicole I was worried a little about this one because teas with the word “blossom” in it tend to be floral in nature. This one is no exception, but not so much that i didn’t enjoy it. I REALLY liked the citrusy flavour of this one and the base is a very smooth black that didn’t overpower the taste of the tea or interfere with it. It was a really nice afternoon tea to be drinking. There are floral notes in this, at least as far as my tastebuds go. it is also one heck of a delicious smelling tea! Thank you nicole!

Hiya Steepster…it’s been awhile. How ya been?

On to the taster note. The Shang Tea sampler was my frivolous “Tea WANT!” purchase for March. The main reason I got it was for one particular tea, their Tangerine Blossom “red” tea. As the description stated, it was white tea leaves (Dai Bai) that’d been lightly fermented, then blended with tangerine blossoms.

The result was a dry leaf scent that smelled at first like a jasmine green, but imparted a light citrusy profile. The liquor brewed to – what I can best sum up as – “oolong amber”. The scent also echoed the oolong comparison. The taste? A black tea-ish forefront followed by a strong citrus tang in the middle, and a smooth aftertaste. I can find no fault with this tea. At all.

This is from TeaTiff, I believe. It smells super… pretty, for lack of a better word. Hah. Elegantly floral and citrusy. The taste is just as delicate which is nice, since I usually don’t go for floral teas.

The smell and taste of it combined make for a really nice treat. Which really just enhances the tea even more. For me, I’m having a Goldilocks moment, and drinking this tea is becoming a rather nice experience.

This tea is fantastic.

For me this is a mood tea, by which I mean that sometimes it’s striking, pungent flavor feels like just the right thing and sometimes it feels like it’s too much and too bitter and I can’t handle it.

Tangerine Blossom is a black tea that is made from Shang’s white tea leaves and scented with tangerine blossoms during the oxidation.

This is a pretty good tea, although it leaves something to be desired. Certainly it has one of the most rich, tangy, and citrus filled aromas that I have ever encountered, however the taste falls a few steps below the aroma. Certainly it is still very good, but disappointing based on the aroma.

I steeped this 6 times with 4 g of tea per cup of water.