This ripe pu’er stuffed orange came in the White2tea club for October. The orange was added as a bonus.
I find orange pu is a fun steep, but I wouldn’t buy more for myself but new pu’er drinkers seem to interested in them. Maybe since the pu’er content is generally not the greatest, pu’er stuff oranges to me is a “try once” novelty tea. Some people do love them and buy them. I have reviewed a raw pu’er orange 2 years ago but not a ripe pu’er one.
Pu’er stuffed oranges is generally cheap material but price is a little high due to the novelty and time to make it. I was planning on gifting or adding the orange to a traveling tea box, however I got asked multiple times on my Instagram and reddit that I should review this orange. One mistook me for Cwyn and said I should drink the whole thing. Well challenge accepted! Actually, drinking the entire orange is a good idea, storing these half broken oranges is a PITA.
Dry Leaf
The whole orange looks like a pumpkin, especially with the inside of dark pu’er leaf. The orange clocks in at 18 grams.
Well since it’s Halloween, I spiced up my orange with a non-toxic marker.
The spirit of Halloween attracted MUMMY OWL! MUFFLED HOOTS!
Well, let’s get this orange ready for steeping. HOOT HAMMER TIME!
Steeping Instructions
Since the orange is 18 grams, I went with steeping out of a tea tumbler which was a perfect size for the gram to ml ratio. I used the entire orange and steeped with boiling water, doing two rinses. My pitcher was a glass measuring cup. Hoot, this brews dark!
Time to drink the Halloween Ripe Pu’er Stuffed Orange!
The tea has a flat orange scent with a weird earth scent. The tea steeps up quite dark and cloudy despite filtering. However the dust could been my fault hahaha!
First, Second, Third, and Fourth Infusion: The flavor is pretty consistent through all these infusions.
The pu’er stuffed orange sips in earthy forest floor pu’er with citrus building up.The finish is all citrus and totally mandarin orange and has a zesty sweetness. The after taste is zest orange white pith and earth. The first part of the sip is meh but citrus is refreshing and good.
Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Infusion: The pu’er stuffed orange is starting to lighten here so I’m extending the steep times quite a bit. The orange flavor is strong leaving a bitter orange note on the tongue. It’s like I nibbled on old dried up orange peel left on the counter. Oh wait I did.
Eighth Infusion: The smashed orange is dead. The flavor is stale orange with a touch of earthy pu.
The finished leaf looks pretty rough!
I couldn’t possibly drink all this tea in a single session, so I’ve been pouring the extras into my take a pitcher to ice and drink cool. If you like iced ripe pu’er like I do, these orange pu’ers taste great chilled!
By the way, you don’t have to steep the orange peel. Obviously less peel would give you less orange flavor. It was also suggested on the White2Tea Club instructions that you can save the peel to use with other teas.
Happy Halloween bonus!
