Republic of Tea Orange Blossom White Tea Review

An Absolutely Delicious White Tea

Summary : Never had a white tea before? If so, this is a wonderful "first white tea." This tea has a superb, light flavor of orange to it...without a hint of bitterness.

Review : Well, after my rather disappointing black tea experience I had just a while ago, I really didn't want to end my night on a "foul note." As such, I began digging around through my tea samplers. And the first one that seemed interesting was a white tea I've managed to neglect from the Republic of Tea called Orange Blossom.

Despite the lack of review about white teas on this site, I actually rather enjoy white teas. Instead, the problem is their cost...white teas can be so expensive! Of course, the reason for this is that white tea is considered the premium of tea due to it's rarity...and thus comes with a cost to match this rarity.

Like most other white teas I've had, the fragrance of this tea was hardly awe inspiring. Indeed, you sort of have to use your imagination a bit to find any sort of meaningful frangrance at all. But you know what...that's ok. White teas are supposed to have a light, subdued flavor to them...and such teas usually tend to have light, subdued fragrances as well.

Here is how the Republic of Tea describes this tea on their website : "The Flower of Love. Highly scented orange blossoms are full of essential oils and are traditionally used as adornments in wedding ceremonies. The blossoms impart an invigorating citrus note to this rare White Tea, creating the ultimate cup."

Now, this tea contains one single ingredient....white tea leaves. The orange flavor in this tea comes from growing the tea leaves next to orange blossoms. The orange blossoms give off their scent, which is then picked up by the tea when it's growing.

Admittedly, I was a bit dubious that this tea would really have a decent orange flavor to it. Jasmine teas are usually infused the same was as this tea is...the jasmine scent is picked up by the tea leaves during the growth period. And in jasmine teas, the aroma is super strong, and has a flavor to match. And while I was not expecting an overwhelmingly strong orange flavor in this tea, I still doubted that a tea with such a weak fragrance as this one would really have a moderately strong, or even decent, orange flavor to it.

My, how wrong I was...and how happy I am to be wrong!

I've tried lots of orange teas as I simply love oranges. Almost always I come away bitterly disappointed with the non-existent or just plain lousy orange flavor to the tea.

Because of my lack of faith in this tea, I was basically expecting "nothing special" here. And thus, I was hugely surprised when I discovered that this tea has a wonderful moderately-strong orange flavor to the tea. Yet, the flavor is still "light," in that there is zero bitterness whatsoever (but pay attention to the brewing instructions!). Additionally, and always sort of a worry with a "citrus tea," this tea also had no sourness either.

Overall, this is a superb tea. The natural semi-sweetness of white tea mixed perfectly, and I do mean perfectly, with the orange blossom scent...creating a moderately strong yet light orange flavor to this tea that is simply wonderful.

Recommendation : Absolutely. Anyone who loves orange teas will love this tea. Anyone who loves semi-sweet tea will love this tea. And anyone in search of a first white tea will be really, really hard pressed to find a better tea to try than this one. Just pay attention to the brewing instructions...do NOT brew longer than 60 seconds, with 45 seconds perhaps being the ideal! And like all white teas, do NOT use boiling water!!

Featured White Tea Leopard Snow Buds Tea : This rare Origin tea has been grown from the same plants on the same ground using the same methods for over 100 years earning it the coveted Origin Tea classification in China. Price : $18 for 1/4 lb of tea Available from Dragonwater Tea Company

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