Aged Chenpi Ripened Tangerine Pu-erh

Tea has had culinary uses for quite a long time. Tangerine pu-erh became a delicacy for the way it tactfully unites the taste and benefits of both the tea and the fruit in one drink that is absolutely perfect for cold autumn days.

	Cup Method		Chinese Gongfu Method
	Teacup:12 oz / 355 ml		Gaiwan: 3.8oz / 110ml
	212℉ / 100℃		212℉ / 100℃
	5g Tea leaves+ 2g dried orange peel		5g Tea leaves+ 2g dried orange peel
	Brewing time: 3 - 5 mins		8 steeps: rinse,10s,10s,20s,30s,50s,70s,90s,120s Rinse time is around 3 seconds

Choose mature big oranges

Dig out the orange pulp; wash the orange and natural drying.

Fill in the empty body with aged ripe puerh tea leaves.

Put them in furnace and dry with firewood. Combing the essence of tea leaves and tangerine, this tangerine tea is characteristic in special flavour.

Menghai, the birthplace of Chinese pu-erh tea, is located in southwest Yunnan province. Until now there were a large number of ancient trees growing around the area, including the 1700-year-old ancient tea tree king. In addition, Menghai also is home to many rice and sugar cane farms, and has held the title of ‘Southern Yunnan Granary’ since ancient times. Nowadays it is a state-level grain and sugar production base.

Native to Menghai County in Xishuangbanna, the Menghai large-leaf tea tree species was rated as the most improved national tea variety in 1984. This species can grow up to seven meters tall, and has bold green leaves much larger than common varieties, and buds that are yellowish-green and coated with fuzz.

The leaves of this tree are high in phytochemicals: one bud with two leaves contains 2.3% amino acids, 32.8% polyphenolic compounds, 4.1% caffeine and 18.2% catechinic acid. As a result, pu-erh made from this species is high quality and rich in flavor, yet soft in taste and with a full-bodied essence.

Pu-erh tea is one of the oldest types of Chinese tea, with a history stretching back over 1,700 years to the Eastern Han Dynasty, when the tea was called Jing Cha. It is named after the town of Pu’er in Yunnan province, which was the earliest trading center for this tea. In its early history pu-erh was used as a bartering currency throughout southwest China, and there the famed Cha Ma Gu Dao - or Tea Horse Road - was built especially to transport this tea through the Himalayas to other countries and areas in Tibet.