Special Grade "Da Hong Pao" Wuyi Mount Chinese Oolong Tea AAA+

I didn’t get around to trying the very generous samples from China Cha Dao for a while after receiving them for a variety of reasons, including being overwhelmed with tea and going to the cottage a lot to enjoy the amazing fall weather and eat a lot of pumpkin baked goods. I’m feeling back in form now and started with this one.

It’s a really nice surprise. I was intimidated as I am not always fond of dark Oolongs. I’m not sure why, but the roastiness often doesn’t sit right with my stomach and my taste buds. This one smelled very dark and roasty dry. Sweet and honeyed, but dark. I thought of tar, actually. I boldly proceeded, though. Also, the leaves are gorgeous. So long and twisted.

I’ve enjoyed four infusions and counting of this in my gaiwan at around 180 degrees but for no measured steeping time. I think it’s increased slightly each infusion. It turns out to be light compared to what I was expecting. Sweet and toasty, I’m thinking roasted barley. Really nice.

I jumped on this pack of free samples of oolongs when it showed up as a great chance to further my oolong education. These oolongs are all dark, which I generally don’t have much experience with. I’m not brewing them gong-fu style since I don’t have the setup for it, so I read up a little bit and settled on these steeping parameters for now.

The dry leaf smells roasty, but also sweet too. The leaves are fairly long and loosely twisted. The tea brewed up lighter than I expected, a medium amber color, and it has a lightish aroma that smells a bit like roasted grains.

The flavor is extremely light. I have a feeling that I didn’t have a correct tea/water ratio, which is a feeling I get often from these dark oolongs. The greens I don’t seem to have a problem steeping “traditionally” in a mug, but the darks trip me up. Anyway, it’s light but roasty and sweet. Really I’m getting more flavor in the aftertaste than in the sip itself. I definitely think I would really like it if I could get it right! Sigh. I guess I won’t rate this one until I can try it again. Fortunately I have a very generous sample to play around with.

This tea has a very full flavor that is quite nutty for this first infusion. I’m looking forward to see what other flavors I get in coming steeps.

_{This is my 4th review in a series of six samples of Wuyi Oolongs from China Cha Dao}

Experience buying from China Cha Dao: I responded to an offer on Steepster for free samples. Received exactly what was stated in the offer: fresh tea and very generous sample sizes. On their website on eBay they have a good variety of tea for reasonable prices.

Age of leaf: Stated as harvested in 2011. Received mid-summer, brewed early fall 2011.

Packaging: small, clear bags with small label printed with the full name of the tea.

Dry leaf: looks and smells the same as the other Wuyi Oolongs teas in this series: long slender dark brown leaves with a roasted aroma that reminds me of the smell of burnt gunpowder from my cap gun when I was a child.

Brewing guidelines: four 8-oz cups of water used, leaves loose in glass Bodum pot. Stevia added. _{(I tried to keep the following guidelines as consistent as I could throughout the series)}
…………….1st: 185, … 2’ Good.
…………….2nd: 190, … 3’
…………….3rd: near boiling (un-warmed teapot), … 5’
…………….4th: boiling (un-warmed teapot), … 7’

Aroma: smells mildly roasted and a tad burnt.

Color of liquor: pretty much the same as the other Wuyi oolongs: medium brown—like a lightly roasted coffee.

Wet leaf: aroma is mild and pleasant. Most of the leaves were on top, the rest on the bottom of the pot during the first steeping; all were on the bottom for the remaining steepings. Most of the leaves and buds are whole, many are large, and there are a few broken pieces (probably due to transport and handling); they range in color from dark green, through brown, to very dark brown (almost black).

Flavor: roasted and a little sweet.

Value: Free 10-gram sample (Thank you Jerry Ma @ China Cha Dao tea on Ebay!). His regular tea is very reasonably priced, I judge ($7/125grams).

Overall: Like the other Wuyi Oolongs, I liked the second and third steepings the best. The flavor comes out more when it cools. This tea is touted as Special Grade, and yet I can’t tell the difference between this grade and the standard version of Da Hong Pao. Like the other version, it tastes rich, robust, fresh. It’s good, but to me it doesn’t set itself apart from the others in this series.

I once again decided to do an experiment with “Grandpa style” brewing, and this time I decided to use my Da Hong Pao. While I had rather lofty expectations after how well my grandpa-style Qi Lan worked out, I was really surprised at how this tea reacted to the alternative method.

The first two “cups” were very dark, with a very pleasing yet strong aroma of nuts and fruit. The taste was also pleasantly nutty, with a subtle roasted flavor that added to the delightful complexity of the tea. The aftertaste of the tea was a typical yancha “mineral” flavor, which was smooth and a touch sweet. Latter infusions resulted in the nutty flavor fading away, leaving behind a mildly sweet tea with a slight mineral aftertaste. The really nice thing about the later infusions is that the tea kept its smoothness, whic resulted in a long and pleasant brewing session.

I ended up drinking 12 cups of tea, but keep in mind that each cup was only 4 of the 6 ounces that were present in the cup. I would day that 8 would be the limit of this tea if brewed in a traditional manner.

This has a nice scent to it. Larger than the 2011 Da Hong Pao. It has the Oolong toasty scent with a teensy tiny bit of clover sweetness.

The taste also strikes me as stronger. A dark “Oolong flavor” with a taste of charcoal on the back of the tongue. An almost unnoticeable sweetness at the tip of the tongue now and then.

While I tend to like the darker and stronger Oolongs, this one isn’t for me. Nice tasting and definitely recommendable to others, but too much charcoal for my preferences.

this s a Awesome Oolong.. I Brewed this leaf in my Ming Xiang Cup.. The leaf is long and dark, have a rice/veggy smell is the best i can describe it. I brewed for 3min at about 190f.
The color was a red brown very pretty.. The cup nose (smell) is of cooked rice and Tea but not like genmacha. Good sweet taste I get a little veg and a really nice tea and sweetness on the after taste. I will give it a second and third infusion to see if I can draw out some good tea.