Name: China Orange Punch
Ingredients: 6 cups strong tea; 2 cups China orange juice; Mineral water to taste; Sugar to taste; 1 teaspoon almond extract

Why it works: Orange and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,125 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

China Orange Punch

Ingredients

Directions

Brew 6 cups of strong tea and let it cool.
In a large pitcher, combine the cooled tea and 2 cups of China orange juice.
Add mineral water to taste and sweeten with sugar.
Stir in 1 teaspoon of almond extract and mix well.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Orange + almondtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,125 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Tea + orangetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together333 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Tea + almondtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together91 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,679 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together19,212 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Orange and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Strong tea: Provides the base body and a slightly bitter, astringent backbone that balances the sweetness.
China orange juice: Adds acidity and the main citrus flavor, giving the punch its brightness.
Sugar: Adds sweetness, softening the tea's bitterness and the juice's acidity.
Almond extract: Contributes a strong aromatic flavor that comes through even in small amounts.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.