Pu-Erh Chorange

Wow, mine had very little flavor! Not a bit of chocolate, a hint of orange, and then earth. It was drinkable but not enjoyable.

This was my first loose leaf tea, as I’m trying to break away from tea bags, milk, and sugar. It was very mild in flavour, but there was no after taste and the aroma was exactly as advertised: chocolate with orange overtones.

I’m always a little nervous about orange flavored teas, though I’m not sure why as I haven’t had too many bad experiences with them. But once I got over my suspicions and brewed a cup of this, I was pleasantly surprised. I sweeten almost all of my teas, and a little sugar went a long way in this cup to bring about memories of Christmas with my grandmother when she would buy everyone one of those chocolate oranges that you smash against the tabletop to break the segments apart.

I love orange-chocolate things, but this… this does not work. Super pungent aroma. The aftertaste is wonderful – a few moments after swallowing the chocolate comes through and really mellows everything out – but the beginning is SUCH a punch to the palate, just full-on CITRUS and also EARTH and they do not mix together well. I’ll steep it less next time to see if I can improve it.

Dry: smells very strongly of orange and chocolate. Instantly reminds me of those chocolate orange balls!
Wet: mostly orange. The smell of chocolate seems to go away here.
Liquor: a dark brown with some orange. The smell of chocolate and orange is more subtle here.
The actual tea has more of an orange taste with the chocolate note hitting at the end before you swallow. It’s pretty interesting. There is also some very slight earthiness from the pu’erh but to me it is very subtle. The tea leaves me with a slightly dry mouth.

Overall I think it’s a decent tea and I like it, but I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to repurchase it.

Tastes like I expected chocolate orange tea to taste. Smooth and chocolatey with a hint of orange. A nice tea for weekend mornings or when you are lounging around. This complemented my hazelnut chocolate granola breakfast perfectly.

This is my first pu erh, and looking back I probably should have tried an unflavored tea to base my opinion off something. Oh, well. I was a bit intimidated by the smell of this tea in the package, but I’m glad I took the chance. This tea is coming in close second to Earl Grey Moonlight. On my first steep I did 6 minutes instead of the recommended 5 and added very little sugar, I got a very earthy and chocolate taste. It was strong , but very smooth. My second go round I only steeped for 3 minutes and added double the sugar. I found orange and the chocolate calmed down a bit. It’s making me a bit sleepy.

For a cup I wasn’t expecting much out of, this one surprised me.

Dry it smells so strongly of chocolate and orange, I’d almost believe I’d just opened a box of it. Once steeped, the flavor is dominantly orange. The chocolate flavor isn’t really present, but the puerh base has an earthy, dark, astringent note that reminds me of unsweetened cocoa or really high cocoa content dark chocolate.

So, while I’m not blown away, it satisfies a craving for this flavor combination, but it’s not a frequent craving I get and can’t see reaching for it otherwise.

Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Teakettle.

Captain’s Log Stardate 11502.3 -We reached a new planet by the name of Adagio. The locals insisted we try a beverage they call ‘flavoured pu erh’. They gave me a warm mug that smells strongly of oranges and chocolate. There is an orange flavour, but I don’t get much chocolate. Decent, but I’ve had better on other worlds.

End log.

never again.