I had seen puer tea stuffed in mandarins before but I had never seen Korean black tea stuffed in a dried, hollowed-out yuzu. If you’re not familiar with yuzu, it’s a citrus fruit which is similar to a grapefruit and a mandarin orange in flavor. This tea shouldn’t be confused with Korean Yuja Cha, a traditional Korean herbal tea made with fresh yuzu rind and pulp, sugar, honey and hot water (check out Korean Citron Tea by Oh, how civilized). 

I purchased this Korean black tea at World Tea Expo following the recommendation of my friends Geoff (Lazy Literatus) and Char (Oolong Owl). Check out my blog post about two Korean green teas side by side from the same tea plantation.

Don’t use the whole black tea stuffed yuzu at once, but break it up in pieces, it’s flavorful enough to be steeped this way and it’ll last for many tea sessions.

Tea Name: Korean black tea stuffed in a yuzu citrus, Boseong Woonhae Tea Plantation
Origin: Boseong County, South Korea
Ingredients: black tea, yuzu
Preparation Method: gaiwan
Leaves/Water Ratio: 7 gr to 120 ml filtered tap water
Water Temperature: 200 F / 93 C
Steep Time: 1 minute (a fine mesh sieve is needed), 1:15, increase by 15 seconds each subsequent steep

EYE
dry leaves: black, very fine, small leaves rolled lengthwise, leaf fragments, yuzu peel is dark and rusty in color, its appearance almost reminds me of crispy pork cracklings
wet leaves: dark brown, yuzu peel turns lighter orange
liquor: amber

NOSE
dry leaves: intense mandarin scent with a pleasant bitter citrus note
wet leaves: intense mandarin scent, notes of pine
liquor: bright citrussy 

PALATE
liquor: bright front notes of citrus, in the core notes and back notes the tea shines through / the black tea starts to dominate, sweet, honey notes, spicy notes in the throat 

MOUTHFEEL: smooth, light bodied but aftertaste lingers long

OVERALL IMPRESSION: very unique and delicious, I wish the leaves were a little less broken

How is tea stuffed into fruit?
If you are curious, I found an interesting blog post about how puer is stuffed in mandarins and I’m assuming the method is very similar.

Disclaimer: I was not paid to mention or review businesses, products or services. This is my honest opinion.