Strange, I’m down to the last few grams of this tea and I’ve never written a tasting note for this prepared gongfu style.
Sipping from the first steep, the rose floral notes are very powerful. Tea body is a nice smooth, deep earthy flavour, with notes of spice and pepper.
Second steep, much of the same flavour remains but now it’s slightly sweeter. I’m also adjusting to the floral notes. So that doesn’t bother me as much now.
At the third steep, I feel that the flavour is starting to weaken but it’s still a good cup.
I took a break here and sniffed my gaiwan. It smells like wood and soy sauce. Strange, but that’s what came to mind.
Fourth and fifth steeps continued to weaken in flavour, but were enjoyable and the rose floral notes remained.
I gave up at the sixth steep because I could start to taste the original water. Otherwise, not a very interesting cup flavour-wise.
Not a favourite, but the flavour from this tea and another one (Zhao Bai Jian Hong Gong Fu) from the same province have piqued my interest. I’m looking forward to try more tea from Szechuan in the future. I’m happy to have tried this tea once, it was a good experience even if I’m not in love with the tea.
If you dislike tea with strong floral notes I would avoid trying Chuan Hong.
100ml gaiwan, 2 tsp, 6 steeps (30s, +10s resteeps)
