Tangerine White Tea

This week I am reviewing a loose tea: a first for me on this blog.  I have had many loose teas in the past but until being asked to help with this blog, I had stopped using them and stuck with bags.

This past week I visited Honeygirl Gourmet, a small specialty shop in Geneseo, NY.  The store has teas, coffees, and a mixture of organic food items.  With limited time, I picked up a couple of teas and intend on a followup trip.

Tangerine White Tea is a loose tea bagged specially for this store.  The wrapper is a plain brown paper with a zip top allowing it to be resealed.  No photo is included of the bag; however, tonight I decided to show the tea leaves after brewing.

 The ingredients for this tea are simple: white tea, orange peel, and tangerine flavor.  I wish I could report that there is a delicious citrus flavor, but after tasting three cups, I have not been able to discern a citrus scent or taste.

The tea has an interesting texture including tea leaves and stems.












There are bits of orange visible .                                                                                                          

It was fun taking these photos.

And I enjoyed the tea!  My first cup was, as is my usual choice without any sweetening agent.  I enjoyed it but could not find any particular flavor.  It was simply an enjoyable cup of tea.  With the second cup I tried a bit of honey.  The honey did not overwhelm the tea, and unless I was imagining it there was bit of mint taste.  The same thing happened with my third cup when I used sugar.  I'm not sure why the mint taste came through with honey or sugar, but it did.

The tea is enjoyable; I have no regrets with the purchase, but perhaps tangerine requires a stronger flavoring technique.  I will discuss it with the owner the next time I visit.  The second tea I purchased was a British bagged tea, and the flavor was quite accurately described but saving that for next week.

Not sure how to rate this one, but a 2/5 seems fair as it was nice but not the flavor advertised.