2016 Orange Drop

I’ve been trying a lot of gong ting in orange and tangerines lately. I bought one from White2Tea and wish I got more now. They are expensive. One is $4.00. I had so many infusions yesterday I lost count. It began as Yixing gaiwan, 110ml, rinse, 5s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 25s, 30s, 35s, 40s, 45s, 50s, 55s, 60s… And then I just kept filling my gaiwan up, used it all day.

The tea is meant to be drunk with the orange and all so I just put the little orange in without breaking it up as their site suggested. The fruit is tiny, young and unripe unlike the others I tried. It was so tiny and cute (yes, I went there lol. I love cute things.) and it did have a greenish hue. I especially loved the first 5 infusions because of the “fresh green bite”. Their site says you “can toss out the first 2-3 steeps, and drink the next 12 or so.” No way, I loved that part! :) It changed from a slightly astringent green taste to a very mellow mandarin and earthy ripe pu’erh taste. I broke the orange up towards the end of the day to get even more of that rind taste.

I think of all the Xinhui Green Mandarins I’ve tried so far, this was my favorite. I’ll have to do a comparison again if I can get another. I think they sold out… /cry. Note: I have two more to try: YS Tangerine Stuffed with 4 Years Aged Ripe Pu-erh Tea and YS Gong Ting Pu-erh in Tangerine “Golden Horse 8685” Ripe Tea. Maybe I’ll do those this week.

Received this as a sample a while ago, and since I’m not too often in the mood for shou I took me a while to try. I’ve had the Little O from W2T which I really liked, so thinking citrusfruit+shou fits me I enter this session with positive expectations.

After reading the first two rinses should be tossed I did so thoughtlessly, I regret that a little since I wonder how strong the manderin would’ve been in these steeps. Adjacent to others I am not getting loads of actual manderin flavors through steep 3~7. There is a certain bright note that carries the shou blend though, followed with a minty breath through the nose which is very pleasant. Smell of the Gaiwan is consistently manderin with a background of general shou woodness.

The tea is very calming and easy to drink with a nice pick-me-up from the manderin. I wouldn’t place an order specifically for these but I might add them in my next cart since they’re a nice thing to have in the cupboard for these moments that you’re craving something else.

I got about 12 steeps of it before it got too boring and flat for me.

Got this with the White2Tea club a couple of months back and just now tried it. It is pretty good. There was a strong but smoky orange flavor at first and the fermentatioin was not too strong. Unfortunately the orange flavor was only strong into the first four steeps. Still, it was still a nice tasting ripe after this flavor was history. There was really no bitterness to this tea.

I steeped this ten times in a 160ml Solid Silver Teapot with one whole mandarin or about 11g leaf and boiling water. I steeped this for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, and 1 minute. Could have gotten a few more steeps out of it but ten steeps was a lot of tea.

Got this from Roswell Strange in the slack secret santea exchange! Thanks again!

Brought one of these in to have at work today, since one was already broken up, I wouldn’t have to worry about damaging it bringing it here. Quick rinse, let it all sit in the gaiwan, quick first steep.

The liquor is super dark. The aroma is definitely that of shou, but the mandarin skin is definitely in there as well. The texture is extremely smooth. Thinking I should have maybe done another rinse or two to start, though. rhinkle likens the first steep to shoe polish, and in the second steep I can start to see where she’s coming from. Then I see w2t recommends tossing the first couple of steeps for some. There is an enjoyable creaminess behind it all, though, and I get the mandarin rind coming through, as well.

After a couple of steeps, the mandarin aroma really starts to explode out of the gaiwan, and the flavor pushes to the forefront more, as well. A blend of smooth earth and citrus bite. Definitely one to sip on slowly for me. I’ll continue with this one for the rest of the day and update notes accordingly.

So it’s been a couple of days, but I had saved these leaves so I decided to give them another try this morning. Basically seeing how far I can push leaves I’ve got laying around from earlier in the week before tossing them. Mellow and smooth with an up front sweetness and a persistent aroma. The liquor has lightened up but is still dark. I would say the flavor of the mandarin is pushing into the forefront more and more.

Sipdown (161)!

Ugh; nothing like your laptop dying mid tasting note…

Laptop died around the third steep, so rewrote those based on memory.

I’ve tried mandarin stuffed pu’erh before – but this is by far the smallest one I’ve ever had. I wasn’t sure if I should crack the casing for it, because in the past I’ve had to crack the casings because the size of the orange has just been so large that it was enough, easily, for multiple sessions. Not the case with this one. Further inspection on W2T’s site reveals cracking it is not necessary, but since there was a large crack along one side of my drop in the first place I just cracked it in half anyway.

Started with a 5 sec rinse

5 Secs.
Smells lightly of sweet mandarin oranges
Flavour is smooth; not bitter like anticipated??? Or like the W2T site suggests is should be
Damp/wet wood and earth: very petrichor
Dull mandarin orange segment flavour

5 Secs.
More robust/juicy mandarin smell fills the whole room
Also a bit floral/like fresh flowers???
Aroma translates to flavour; minus the floral component
Stronger wet earth; reminds me of the forest floor
Having an issue with the very fine broken leaves getting through my gaiwan
Perhaps that’s why it shouldn’t be cracked!? Learn from me, tea friends.

7 Secs.
God, that mandarin aroma is so intense and beautiful
About equal in taste to the earthy notes
Wet wood/earth, moss, minerals, wet stones… basically all the wet stuff
Thick soup/liquor

12 Secs.
Picking through the leaf in the gaiwan a little… the mandarin casing is intense!
Liquor is getting a little sweeter
Taste in my mouth after swallowing is like the flavour of honeysuckle
My brother, cousin, and I used to suck the honey/nectar from honeysuckles as kids and it’s just like that!
Doesn’t mean a lack of earthy/brothy body

20 Secs.
More mandarin than pu’erh
Sweet, and feels almost like a perfumed mandarin? Or orange blossoms?
Very smooth; strong flavours but still feels delicate at times

20 Secs.
Mandarin starts the sip and ends it
Mid sip feels equal parts like wet earth/wet stone and fresh flowers
With a brothy, game-y component?
Really well rounded, supple
Getting stronger/more intense now

25 Secs.
Essentially a repeat of last infusion…

30 Secs.
Really strong mandarin – in smell and taste
Otherwise the same/very similar
Perhaps I’ve hit the sweet spot, now

30 Secs.
Sweet/bright overall
Earthyness somewhat overshadowed by the mandarin
Orange blossoms

45 Secs.
Liquor colour has SIGNIFICANTLY lightened from how opaque it started
Just a little weaker overall
Mandarin has a little tartness/sourness in the finish

60 Secs.
Mostly just mandarin
Can tell this is close to being brewed out

60 Secs.
Weak and watery, with whispers of mandarin and wet stone notes
Could continue until it’s completely brewed out, but I’m happy to stop here

Really happy with this purchase! I got many, many really lovely infusions from it and enjoyed every single one of them greatly. The mandarin was super lovely, and surrounded by a family on Christmas munching away at Mandarin oranges it felt perfectly appropriate as a choice for a tea session.

A delicious and medicinal club box offering from white2tea…
http://www.aguywithagaiwan.com/2016/10/14/2016-orange-drop-white2tea/