Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Orange Blossom’

What an incredible tea!   The aroma of the  dry tea leaves instantly transported me to an orange grove where the blossoms are sweet and the fruit is mature and ready to pick.   This orange grove also has some very “meadow-y” undertones which is one of the characteristic aromas of a good green tea.  I love an aromatic dry tea and I am always deeply curious as to what will become of the aroma when the tea is steeped.   The aroma typically transmogrifies under the alchemy of very hot water I have noticed.  This is a good phenomenon and means that the tea is multifaceted and opens itself up to complexity throughout its various stages from dry, to steeping, to being consumed.

I allowed the water to come to a boil and then I allowed it to cool down to approximately 175 degrees.  The tea had suddenly transformed!  No longer was I in an orange grove but I felt as if I were in the middle of a lemon grove where the trees were heavy with ripe citrus fruit and the grass was green and smelled freshly mown.  The orange aroma, however, had not gone away.  At this point it was deferring to the greater tartness of the lemons.   The taste, however, brought my back to the supremacy of the orange.    Because the ingredients include lemongrass and natural essential oils of rose, orange, lime, and tangerine, I am not surprised that the lemon made a strong secondary appearance because another ingredient is “lemon myrtle”.   I was not certain what the “lemon myrtle” is, but just spent some delightful time researching it.  It’s like lemon without the tartness and is used in a lot of Pacific cuisines.

This absolutely delightful tea seems to be more of a general “citrus” tea than a specifically orange blossom one. True, the orange provides the primary aroma for the dry tea, but the lemon sweetly dominates the wet aroma and the taste.  I might have named it “Sweet Lemon Organic Tea”.  It’s a  medley of citrus blends with the lemon taking the harmonic lead after an  orange overture.  I hope that my notes convey my general delight with this tea.   I absolutely plan to buy more.   I enjoyed it hot and think it will be a fantastic iced tea as well.   I also can see it as a soothing tea for a cold winter day; as a healing tea for any respiratory problems, and as a delightful tea for entertaining.  Rishi Tea Organic Orange Blossom will bring out the flavors of snacks sweet and savoury and will create a great atmosphere for a private conversation or a large party.  Just because this tea presents itself with a slightly confusing identity is no reason not to rush out and buy some.  If you like orange or lemon you will love this tea.

You can purchase Rishi Tea Orange Blossom directly from their website.

I know I tend to repeat myself on this point, but I really adore that first whiff of a new tea. The myriad of preparation techniques and additives means that each new tea is an olfactory adventure. Or, more succinctly – dang, they can smell great! And this one – wow. Aromas of dark sweet fruit, like raisins or dates combined with malty, yeasty overtones. It reminded me of whole wheat raisin bread in the first few sniffs.

So I eagerly dumped the packet into the gravity teapot I use at work so I could try this tea. This is where I ran into my first problem. The sample size was pretty small. So I scaled back the size of cup I was planning to make and added my 190 degree-ish water and commenced steeping.

The resulting brew was a beautiful deep brown. But the flavor was a little light. Tones of nuttiness, raisins and a light floral overtone which may have been orange blossom, but nothing outstanding. It was a pleasant cup, but not an outstanding one. I did play around with the steeping parameters to try and improve it, and wasn’t able to get it to sing. I would like to get a larger sample someday and try playing with this tea again.

You can purchase the Imperial Formosa Oolong directly from the Golden Moon Tea website.

Product Description: Orange Blossom is a blend of oolong teas from Taiwan, Sri Lanka and India. This loose leaf tea is combined with jasmine petals, fruit peel and natural flavors giving it a light, airy character with delicate orange flavor. This is an excellent beverage with morning toast and marmalade. The aroma will leave others wondering what’s in your cup, so make enough to share. Orange Blossom oolong tea also makes a refreshing and exotic iced tea.

Recently I was introduced to Imperial Tea Garden Teas. I LOVE trying teas from companies I have never tried from before. One of the teas I tried this week was their Orange Blossom Oolong. The dry leaves reminded me of a home that has recently been cleaned with Orange Glo and Lemon Pledge… I could smell the fresh, clean orange smell but also a little woodsy as well! Post infusion the aroma is more of an orange and a blossom. The scent is very ‘pretty’, pleasant, and uplifting!

As for taste this is a fairly full-bodied Oolong! It has some kick to it! There is more of a blossom than an orange taste but it seems to all even out at the end. I must say I am a fan of the Imperial Tea Garden teas I have tried so far and will be reviewing more of them very soon… so stay tuned!

You can purchase the Orange Blossom Oolong Tea directly from the Imperial Tea Garden website.

Described as: “A profoundly flowery blend of select green teas, rare blossoms and aromatic lemon myrtle leaves”.

I was anxious to try this tea because I am a huge fan of lemon myrtle and it did not disappoint. It was difficult to wait the full three minutes for it to steep because the smell of the citrus and rose oils was so alluring. It brewed to a nice golden color, almost like liquid honey and tasted just as smooth. Lemon myrtle is sometimes overwhelming in a tea but this blend has just the right amount to perfectly compliment the taste of orange and the green tea. Couldn’t really pick out the lemon grass in the first steep but it came through in the second. A nice tangy aftertaste, refreshing and pleasant, with enough sweetness on it’s own. It went through three steeps perfectly and has earned a place at the front of my tea cabinet. Can’t wait to try this one iced…

You can purchase Rishi Tea Orange Blossom directly from their website.

Orange Blossom is a deliciously fragrant tea blend from Rishi Tea. Rishi describes it as “a refreshing and floral blend of green teas with sweetly-scented blossoms, lemongrass and tropical citrus fruits”. The listed ingredients are organic and fair trade certified green tea, organic lemongrass, organic osthmanthus flowers, organic lemon myrtle, natural essential oils of orange, lime and tangerine.

Out of the bag the tea seems to be more lemongrass than green tea leaf – a very pretty combination of light and dark green with a scattering of golden osthmanthus flowers. Not surprisingly, the scent is strongly citrus – the orange, lime and tangerine combination almost mimics bergamot; with a nice fruity undertone provided by the osthmanthus.

After brewing, the blend maintained it’s refreshing aroma and produced a nice amber cup of tea. I really couldn’t taste the green tea in this blend, but it had a very pleasant taste; the citrus flavors were mild and not too sharp, and the floral notes added a sweetness rather than a perfumed taste. The lemongrass did a nice job of softening and tying all of the flavors together; although I think that between the lemongrass and the lemon myrtle, someone who didn’t like the taste of lemon may not like this tea. The lemony scent and flavor was not overwhelming for my tastes, but I was expecting stronger notes of orange based on the name of the tea.

Organic Orange Blossom Tea is available for purchase as part of the Xuan En Yulu Organic Fair Trade Sample Set from Rishi Tea.

You can purchase Rishi Tea Orange Blossom directly from their website.