Dan Cong Red Tea

This is a follow up to my last tasting note. Today I’m doing multiple short steeps in a gaiwan. These Dan Cong Red Tea leaves are quite long, so I expect them to be great for resteeping.

Tasting the initial steep, there is a strong zesty flavour, along with spice, “tea” flavour. The drinking sensation is kind of like biting into juicy melon, very clean and mouth watering.

The second to fourth steeps were very nice, with a bit of astringency, and stronger tea flavour that reminds me of tamarind candies.

Fifth through the eighth steeps were consistent, with not much of the flavour fading with each resteep.

At the ninth steep I began to taste the original water flavour, but it otherwise retains enough flavour to be enjoyable. I continued resteeping and stopping at the twelfth, it had a hint of flavour but it was becoming too weak.

Now that I’ve tried both methods, I prefer the shorter steeps. It’s a very consistent flavour up until about number eight. My only dislike with this tea, is that it’s very astringent. It makes my mouth feel quite dry, so after this tasting note I’ll be having plenty of water. ;)
This is still my favourite black tea from the Jing Tea Shop samples, but I’m not sure if I would purchase a big bag of it. It’s the sort of tea I’d want to drink on rare occasions as a treat. At the very least I am happy to have tried it once, since I never really see this sort of tea online often. And as a bonus, this is a terrific resteeper just like Teavivre’s Yunnan Dian Hong Golden Tip, which I also got up to 12 steeps with.

100ml gaiwan, 5g (2tsp? I weighed this out on a scale), 12 steeps (30s +15s)

I have not had much of this since I originally bought the sample set, so I made a cup to start off my afternoon. The first cup made me remember why I enjoy this tea so much. It’s a very unique flavour I only experience with dan cong type teas, and made even more special because it’s a black tea. I highly recommend this tea if you enjoy the honey orchid flavour dan cong tea, or want a very different black tea experience.

If I have enough time, I’ll probably try this with a few short steeps later today.

200ml glass teapot (mostly filled up), 2 tsp? (long leaves are hard to scoop in!), 2 steeps

I want to update my previous note, as this tea has surpassed every other tea in my estimation. It just gets better and better. And I did want to say that, personally, I don’t get any astringency. I am usually quite sensitive to it and dislike it almost as much as smokiness. This is not a cheap tea, but I just made another order, I crave it and I was worried about the low quantity in my cannister.