Luku Hong Cha

I joined Steepster one year ago today. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone here for helping me explore tea, putting up with my questions, generously sharing your cupboards, expanding my knowledge, and just generally being the nicest online community I’ve run into. Thank you !!! (This also reminds me that I should update my profile – it’s not really completely “true” anymore).
I’m really working on getting over the “funk” I’ve been experiencing the last few weeks. I think I’m on the right track now and should be around more.

This was my tea of choice at work today. I’ve written about it before, and it still confuses me, but not as much as the first time. LOL I am learning – or trying to learn.
I really like Camellia Sinensis quality of tea. This one is Taiwan, and that’s why I think it’s weird. I think all Taiwan black teas are a little strange. Most of them are a little oolong esque to me. This one does not TASTE like oolong, but it’s definitely on the lighter side of the black scale. I think this is an interesting Taiwan Black, and if that’s where your interests/tastes lie, then you should give it a try. Me – I’m more of a China Black kind of girl – and that I didn’t know a year ago….

This was another interesting tea from Dexter. I don’t quite know how to describe it. I would order this again to try it, and i’m sending on a bit to my tea sister terri so that she can try it. I like that it’s rolled like oolongs typically are. The taste isn’t super bold, but there’s enough going on here that i am enjoying the cups i’ve had (it resteeps nicely).
Thanks for sharing some interesting teas with me dexter!

Since December 2012 when this was purchased and sipped, I’ve gone through about 2/3’s of the bag. The website description is pretty spot on; spices (cinnamon) and a sweetness are very present in each sip.

Observations from my steeping today, brought up a lot of old memories I’ve had drinking this. It’s a very flavourful cup, but it doesn’t perform so well with short steeps (kinda stretching if I go past 6 short infusions). The spices notes are wonderful, and they give off a nice “warmth”, but I still prefer their Jin Die tea over this for that particular quality.

Overall it’s a good tea and my expectations were met, but there are other teas from Camellia Sinensis I’d order again over Luku Hong Cha.

Steep parameters:
500ml water, 5g tea leaves, 1 steep (4min)

Welcome to day 6 of little terri’s Ultimate Sipdown Extravaganza!
I’m starting the day with a tea from Sil (anybody surprised?) that I’ve had for quite some time, from one of our many awesome trades. I’ve been avoiding this one for awhile, not really sure why, maybe because it’s the first tea I’ve ever had (to my knowledge) from Camelia Sinensis, whose website I’ve loitered on quite a bit lately, drooling over teas I might order, & a yixing I really want.

I was originally thinking, “gongfu”, but then I read some of the other reviews. (I’m not ashamed to admit it. My ego isn’t tied into coming up with my own unique take on a tea, or being able to recognize some taste nobody else noticed, so although I don’t always read others’ reviews before drinking a tea, I occasionally do, to see what kind of steeping parameters they used.)

Having said all that, I went with 5G + 8oz X 4min. There was enough here to drink this tea one time, and that sounded like the most promising formula.
This tea is not particularly exciting to me. It’s very smooth, with a kind of vanilla feel. There is a gentle sweet spiciness to it, perhaps cinnamon, & kind of a bland wood taste, with a growing but light coriander in the background. So, although there is nothing wrong here, & it doesn’t taste bad, it just doesn’t really do it for me. But I’m still glad to have tried it, & maybe on another day (if I had more), I would be in the mood to enjoy a tea such as this.
Sipdown – only 370 to go!

well what a strange tea. I picked it out the enormous swap box Dexter3657 sent me because I have been attracted by the leaves…of course I have thought it was an Oolong because it looks like an Oolong but no this is not…and however it comes from Taiwan and I adore Taiwanese teas…

And now I am sipping it after a 3 minutes steeping and…I am perplexe…I cannot really say what I feel about it and what I can taste. I it a medium black bodied tea, I would say a little malty with very little candied fruits.
It is a pleasant tea but really strange tea exactly like some people you meet and cannot really grasp their personnality.
Maybe I should meet this tea sevenral times…