Fortune Mandarin

This tea offers a unique learning experience when it comes to brewing: the longer you steep it, the more pronounced the orange flavor becomes. For those who prefer to savor the subtle nuances of the pu erh, we recommend keeping the steeping time as short as possible, or even just letting the water pass through the orange, as shown in the picture above. Alternatively, a friend of ours has perfected this own method: steep one small mandarin in 500ml of water at 100°C for 4 minutes. This creates an ideal balance between the flavors of the ripe pu erh and the orange peel. For the second infusion, reduce the steeping time to 2 minutes, and for each subsequent steep, increase by 1 minute.

Since mandarins are a powerful Chinese symbol of good luck, and the packaging bears the symbol for “fortune,” we decided to name this tea “Fortune Mandarin.” We wish all tea drinkers around the world the very best!

The mandarins used in this tea come from Xinhui, in Guangdong province, a region renowned for producing these baby oranges. According to the grower, Xinhui has a long tradition of drying oranges that spans thousands of years. Originally, the oranges were used in traditional Chinese medicine for their health benefits, believed to help with sore throats, stomach issues, and digestion.

In recent years, these dried oranges have also become popular when paired with ripe pu erh tea. In China, they are known as ‘Xiao Qing Gan’ (small green orange), ‘Gan Pu’ (dried orange peel), or ‘Chenpi Puer’ (aged orange peel).

Chenpi pu erhs tend to be expensive due to the labor-intensive process of production and individual packaging. The baby green oranges are often pricier than the pu erh itself. That’s why we’ve partnered with a Xinhui farmer to source these oranges directly from the origin, while we supply the ripe pu erh for the filling from a small nearby pu erh workshop.