Orange

The orange (cheng, 橙) is a native of China — citrus has been cultivated here for thousands of years, and the word itself sounds like 成, “success”, which is why bowls of oranges and tangerines appear on every table at Chinese New Year.

Taste and aroma in tea

In blends orange usually comes as dried peel or fruit pieces: a zesty, sunny top note with a gentle bitterness that keeps sweetness honest. It brightens black tea, lifts floral blends out of heaviness, and gives caffeine-free infusions the sparkle a citrus alone can provide — the flavour builds slowly, steep after steep, as the peel softens.

In the Chinese tradition

Chinese tea culture holds citrus peel in special esteem: aged mandarin peel, chenpi (陈皮), is a treasure that only grows more valuable with the years — “old peel is worth more than gold”, the saying goes — and ripe pu-erh aged inside a small mandarin is a beloved classic. In traditional thinking citrus peel moves qi and helps digestion, which is why it follows a rich meal so well.

How to brew

Brew blends with orange at 90–95 °C; the peel is generous but unhurried, opening fully from the second infusion. Such blends hold several steeps and make an excellent iced tea.