Imperial Red (Da Hong Pao)

So I finally got the Breville One Touch Tea Maker for Mother’s Day! All I can say is Thanks guys (to my hubby and son) you finally listened to all my hints and did the right thing. The reason I say this is because usually I am given a card (which I love and cherish) and told to go buy myself something. While this sounds like a good deal (and I admit it’s not SO bad) it’s just kinda become boring I wanted a gift and I knew what I wanted and to their credit I sometimes do not know what I want.

So on to the tasting note I am in a constant search of black teas that will taste good to me and kick my butt into gear in the mornings. So in come’s this one Imperial Red by Silk Road Teas I have to start out by saying that it doesn’t have much smell to the dry leaf. In my search of the perfect black wake up tea I need little to NO astringency I don’t like astringency and certainly do not want to taste astringency upon waking up.

I preset the Breville and when I walked in from dropping my son off from school there sat my tea ready and waiting gosh was that nice. So I pour my tea into a teapot (note to self need to buy a two cup teapot) and here I sit looking over email and posting tasting notes. This tea is very good while I hate to compare it to the Simple Leaf’s Dawn it’s the only thing I can think of that may somewhat compare so here’s what I taste I taste black tea with NO astringency YES! I get a very light whisper of smoke and cocoa but I can see where one may not it does not have the natural flavors of a tea like Dawn but it is an excellent morning to mid afternoon tea in that it is a great black tea you can just tell it is a high quality tea from the taste and from the lack of bitter black tea taste. It is a good tea I will happily finish my 1 ounce bag not sure if I will order more but if I don’t find anything I like more I could see me reordering.

I’m not sure if I have done this tea justice in this tasting note but I do want to make it clear that black tea lovers would probably really enjoy this tea. I could see someone like tea=bliss loving this hmmm maybe I should send her some so she could give it a review.

Thanks to Soccer Mom for this sample. In fact, I have been SOOO CURIOUS to try this tea to be honest as I have heard so many good things about this Da Hong Pao/Big Red Robe-
But after tasting this, I would say this is a “Dawn-lite”…

Honestly, Soccer Mom’s review is on target. When compared to Dawn, the cocoa flavor is not as strong. In fact, it is only noticeable after swallowing the tea. While the liquor is in my mouth, I mostly detect a toasty flavor and certainly not smoky. No astringency so no sugar is needed. This is not bold enough to be a morning tea but great drink for after work. Not sure if I will purchase this as Dawn is soo much better

Many thanks to SoccerMom for this tea!!!!

Big Red Robe! Hello Robert Fortune!!! :)

I was very excited to try this one because this type of tea was talked about in For All the Tea in China, plus one of my little pet projects within my little pet tea obsession is trying and learning about more and more classic Chinese teas.

I’m discovering that I’m a huge fan of the roasty. This one reminds me of a less roasty version of Samovar’s Wuyi oolong. The first steep (2 min) of this tea had a raw, earthy, roasty edge to it, but the second one (3 min) that I’m enjoying right now has more of that nut butter roasty quality. The Wuyi oolong was a health food store peanut butter – but this is an almond butter or cashew butter. Really exquisite and smooth.

I am now working on the third infusion (4 min) – lighter than the second, but it retains the same nut butter qualities.

I love this tea!!! Maybe it’s because I’m a coffee drinker or maybe because I’m the type of person who loves chicory, bitter greens, olives, etc. but boy, the roasty is my big, big love :)

I want to thank SoccerMom for this lovely sample!

This is a strange one…and for some reason can’t put it into words as to why. At first I didn’t think I liked it much…not that I couldn’t drink it…it just tasted a little ODD to me. It was trying to be “cakey” but wasn’t quite getting there. It was on the verge of bitter – which shocked me.

I seemed to like it a bit more as it cooled. Not COLD but cooler than JUST-POURED.

I’m going to do a 2nd infusion on this. I won’t rate it officially on the slider but just want to note I would give it about a 60-65 based on this rather odd experience. I do have higher hopes for this tea so I am going to tinker with what I have and the officially rate later. Right now I am chalking it up to human error…lol…