Wuyi Mountain Big Red Robe

Brilliant. This has become a staple for me over the past few months. This morning. It’s cold and brisk in my living room. I immediately reach for my Big Red Robe and BRR Yixing Teapot. When one has tea like this everyday it runs the risk of becoming commonplace. I should repent for even thinking such a thought. This tea really is brilliant, and this morning I am getting an assertive Gala Apple flavor in the early steepings, which I have never experienced in this tea until now. This tea is particularly nice because it is not going to just give you that classic caramel that most BRR give. It also has several layers of complexity, ranging from what seems to be sweet apple, to hints of orange, to even a sweet metallic quality…as if you can taste hints of the rocky soil from which the tea was taken. Lovely.

I have had this tea many times now and I can’t get passed the metallic taste. It gets a little sweeter on the tongue for me after the 8th steep, but I can’t make out anything else. I really have been trying just not doing it for me.

So I have been drinking this stuff gong-fu style, and it is even better!!

I put 2 tsp. into my 4 oz. gaiwan (so it may not be true gong-fu, but it still worked well), and I managed to get six infusions out of it!! Of course, this makes for three regular cups of tea (at 8 oz. of water). My steepings were as follows…

Rinse, :40, 1:00, 1:30, 2:00, 2:45, 4:00

A lot of the flavors came out more, like the mineral rockiness and the complex sweetness. I got more of that orangey-sweetness in later steepings shown in the description. Also, I got a strong, delicious aftertaste each cup. It was a full, lingering mineral-roasty taste that kept me warm during the cold weather hitting north FL.

I bumped my score up to 90!

Well, that settles it. I think I’m overly sensitive to smoke in oolongs, and this is not my thing. Mandala’s colored species and milk oolong (candy oolongs?) are my favorites. This isn’t even especially smoky – it’s just the note I detect first. There’s a lot more going on here. I’m going to skip rating it at all, since I should probably just back away from this whole category of teas.

This is medium but good quality tea. The first steep was not too impressive, the taste was dull, lacking high notes which define a good tea. Luckily the next steep was much better revealing earthly notes and much desired depth. I do realize that a high quality Big Robe is hard to find. In particular at a reasonable price. This tea is certainly the best one can find without spending fortune.

I decided to brew this grandpa style in an extra large mug, and the results were amazing. The aroma was the signature roasted aroma that Wuyi teas are famous for, the the color of the tea was a deep red characteristic of a heavily roasted tea.

The first infusion was very strong, with flavors of dark chocolate and a metallic taste (kind of like the description of the tea posted above). The tea finishes with the characteristic Wuyi aftertaste, but because the tea was so strong, it also has a hint of something else present.

The second infusion was dark amber in color, and the aroma wasn’t as strong. The taste of the tea had also changed a lot, and wasn’t as bold as in the previous infusion. Instead, fruity flavors began to assert themselves, and the tea was significantly sweeter. Also, the aftertaste was purely mineral, without even a hint of whatever it was that was lingering during the first infusion. I find that this was a much more balanced cup of tea, which leaves me to wonder how the third cup will improve (given that in my experience, the third cup is usually the best for Oolong teas).

The third infusion is lighter than both of the previous ones in terms of both color and taste. It is sweeter than the other two, and tastes of caramel, fruit, and flowers. Truly a unique balance which results in a superior Big Red Robe.

The forth infusion is noted by the flavors all starting to fade. It is like the third infusion, yet sweeter, and the more delicate flavors are harder to distinguish.

During the fifth infusion, I noticed that the leaves were really starting to get broken up
into small pieces, which suggests that I am nearing the end of the session. Also, the tea was very mellow, with none of the boldness that characterized the eraly steepings. It has become very difficult to distinguish individual flavors, leaving behind a kind of general sweetness and a mineral aftertaste.

When it’s all said and done, it is a wonderful Big Red Robe, easily the best of the three different one I’ve tried. I’ll definitely consider buying this in larger quantities in the future.

I’m enjoying my first cup of this tea with some bittersweet chocolate sables I made at work yesterday. The perfect accompaniment! Very yummy!

Da Hong Pao from Imperial Teas in Lincoln England was my first experience of this tea. I love its darker nature and the toasty/roasted nature.

Wuyi is one of my favorite teas ever. I almost always have at least one variety in my cupboard. This was less dark/toasty than I expected, still very nice. I did detect some herbal (rosemary?) undertone. However, the tea magically transforms when cooling down – all the lovely toasty flavor shines through.

Just got my big oolong order from Verdant (I’m excited to try their spring Tie Guan Yin!), I ordered an ounce of each of their oolong teas, but somehow, I forgot to add an ounce of this to my order. Thankfully, I got a nice sample pack of this tea with my order.

This tea gives you an incredible rocky mineral taste that fills your mouth in the first cup with hints of chocolate. I brewed this in a quick gong-fu style doing only 4 steepings. The rest of the cups were not as strong in the mineral sensation, but lightly smoky and with a really subtle hint of cinnamon.

I will re-brew this tea once I have time to do a longer gong-fu session and post a more detailed tasting note. Overall, I enjoyed this Da Hong Pao very much, especially the first cup.