Zhu Rong Yunnan Black

I got a small free sample of this when I ordered the Golden Fleece and finally got around to brewing it yesterday with my husband’s best friend who has been in town since Wednesday. It is a solid, dark, chocolaty tea at one moment refined and the next robust. It is so different from the other Yunnan’s I’ve had while it is a chocolaty tea like the Laoshan and Bailin Gongfu, it feels so solid after just 10 secs of steeping (where as the others have a thinner, mineral sweetness, that I love mind you, this is just new and enjoyable). The first two steeps were wonderful,Pierre used the word “meaty” the third was a tad astringent and then in took an interesting turn for the fourth and fifth, so much so that Pierre thought it was a different tea (we took a break after three and he went downstairs). He said it tasted more “herbal” though I would say savory, it had a lighter buttery quality. This and the Wild Picked Jin Jun Mei are actually two of my favorites and ones I would like to order. Though I haven’t tried the Golden Fleece yet, tomorrow perhaps, I would highly recommend folks order Verdant’s Black Tea Sampler, they are amazing teas!

This isn’t too detailed, since I took this with me to work, and drank it over the course of about 9 hours. I was really impressed with the flavor, starting out pretty sweet yet intense, like good dark chocolate, but then it started to develop a lovely spiciness. I would agree that cayenne is one of the flavors, and the mouthfeel later on definitely reminded me of clove. Anyway, expect a substantive review sometime this weekend, but not tomorrow. My company lets out early due to the holiday weekend, and I intend to spend most of it trying out my Golden Fleece. Based on Bonnie and Jim Marks’ reviews, it really is something special. I almost can’t wait.

Oh my goodness delicious. I don’t have time to do a good review right nwo, but I just wanted to make myself a note that this is really good, plain or with milk, possibly my favorite black from Verdant so far!
I’m on steep 7 so far.

I ended up steeping this at least 15 times – I don’t usually go that high, even where it’s indicated. I iced some overnight, which brought out the sweet malty/wheat flavors

2.5g leaf, 3.5oz water, gongfu style

The wet leaf here actually has a very similar aroma to the golden fleece, but sharper. You know this is going to be black tea, not red.

My wife just handed me a square of Theo 70% chocolate with orange and I’m trying to get that off my palate more thoroughly before I start insisting that this tea has notes of bitter cacoa and orange zest ;-)

That being said, the two pair remarkably well. This tea lacks the long, lingering sweetness of the dian hong, but it has a thick mouth feel and does linger, although not nearly as long.

This is a truly excellent black tea. Something like a fig reduction over lamb — a risk, too easily off the rails but so fantastic if the balance is just right.

I suspect this is a tea that can very easily be mis-steeped.

Finally getting around to doing some notes on this outstanding Yunnan black-I was waiting until I had time to try it iced, as recommended by Verdant, but too many teas and not enough time, so never have had it iced. Unlike Laoshan Black, I prefer this Western style for a stronger cup, rather than Gong Fu. I measured out 4 gms for 8 oz water with my precise scale, since it is hard to measure this type leaf with a teaspoon. No bitterness whatsoever. Good flavor for several infusions. Really nice refined Yunnan black-I can pick up a little sweet potato, but I will leave the more detailed descriptions of flavor nuances to others more talented. Let’s just say, I like this a lot.

This is a tasting note for the early version; the one that was wild picked

Backlogging…..

I had this last month western style to finish up my sample. I brewed it just like how I would brew the second version of this.

1st Steep: Rich smoky tobacco dry roasted malt

2nd: Similar but less intense and more subdued. It also has a slight smoothness/powdery smoke mouth feel. Has smokey bitterness as well.

3rd Steep: Tastes like cocao, has a slight spice, light smoke, and some woodyness in the flavor.

4th Steep: Last steep more sweet and cocoa like. Very malty and rich.
Cooled: slightly juicy flavor added

It should also be noted that the flavor of bourbon persisted through most of the steepings.

I find it interesting that the different pickings (one wild the other farmed) created a completely different flavor. The wild one has a more manly flavor while the cultivated one is more sweet and feminine. They even look different: wild picked is darker, while the other is lighter. In hindsight I should have added a little milk to the steepings; since I think it would make it taste really chocolaty. I might get another chance though….

I have only a little left of the 2nd version of this tea, which I am saving for a special occasion. Hopefully Verdant Tea gets some more of this in, but if not I am so happy I got to try this wonderful tea. (8^D)

Specifics
Pot:Glass
Sweetener: Sometimes added a bit of light agave
Water:?
Leaf:?

I barbarically over-steeped this one (Western style in one of my Tea Forte set-ups) this morning, on my first try, but it was still fantastic! A little over-astringent but not quite bitter. Actually, it was beautifully sweet with great earthy, spicy cocoa notes. One steep only, unfortunately. I’ll have more to say when I make it back to this one.

Being a lover of Yunnan black teas, I was excited to try this. I brew all black teas western-style and this one I let go for about 4 minutes without any resulting bitterness. The dry leaf smell reminded me of the cookies you can buy at the Italian bakeries in the North End of Boston, while the wet leaves had a powerful aroma of marijuana. The flavor is quite satisfying: medium bodied with a powerful baked apple essence and flourishes of chocolate and mocha. I would put this on par with a top level Golden Monkey in terms of flavor and body but not quite as awe-inspiring as the best Dian Hongs I’ve tasted.

So I think this was the first artisan black tea that I’ve had since becoming interested in tea. I suppose I was sort of sucked into the oolong world and never really came back =). I had never really cared for bagged black tea, usually sticking to chais and other flavored bagged teas before transferring over to loose leaf teas. This being said, I wasn’t quite sure what I was in for, but I was in the mood to broaden the range of teas I was familiar with. So with that, I bought a small amount of Zhu Rong from Verdant on my last order.

As soon as I opened the package I was a fan of Chinese black tea. The dried leaves are so pretty with the deep black-brown contrasting so vividly with the tight twists of golden brown. And the aroma…so aggressive and heady, full of scents of burnt hay, caramel, and tons of spice. Just invigorating. I measured some into my gaiwan and did a quick wash. The infusion was such a beautiful golden amber and gave off such an incredibly powerful aroma of cocoa, a hint of spice, and that “pure” tea scent.

I hurried to get the first steep out and was greeted with a liquor of a deep, russet red tinged with gold. I took a sip of this ambrosia and discovered a very pronounced honeyed sweetness with a chocolate and malt body, and undertones of pure tea flavor and oak wood. Whoa. I moved on to a second steep. The sweetness somewhat subsided, chocolate flavors began to diminish, while pure tea flavors and oak wood rose. Wait, this stuff has complexity, too? The increased woody notes created a very slight bitterness, which I had not even noticed the lack of in the first steep. This was certainly not turning out the way I had anticipated. And I was certainly happy about it.

Into the third steep, the spices appeared. The natural spiciness blended so well with the sweet honey flavors and chocolate. The more bitter notes of cocoa and oak moved into undertones and created a fantastic balance and great character revolving around a full body of the malt and pure tea notes. Into subsequent steeps, the malt/pure tea body remained stable as midtones while the sweet notes and bitter notes flipped back and forth every other steep, making the experience seem like some wonderful dance.

Although the overall flavor is hearty, after a sip it evolves gradually through the mouth without any bursts of intensity. It calmly expands and slowly recedes like a huge, slow wave. The liquor is extremely smooth and somewhat silky. The aftertaste is very clean, malty, with a cocoa flavor and a smidge of fruitiness. My only gripe is that if too cool of water temperature is used, the mouthfeel becomes waxy and a bit unpleasant.

Finally, I’m amazed by the amount of steeps I can get from this tea. The first time I tried it, I reached close to eleven, something this oolong lover was very happy about. However, I was certainly not used to the caffeine levels of black tea…I was buzzing all over the house after that much tea.

The leaves are very pretty, with the light and dark, large twisty leaves. My nose is a little stuffy today but the leaves smell sweet potato-ish.
I followed Verdants western instructions- 2 teaspoons of leaf per cup of water, steeped for 1.5 minutes. The first steep has the expected sweet potato flavor but is also strangely spicy; there’s fleeting sweet honey notes and something else I can’t identify. I’m intrigued! More on this later..

God, this was just gorgeous. Such a flavourful straight black tea, it’s amazing that it doesn’t have anything added. I was savouring each mouthful (brewed a small pot, Western style), but I would definitely make this for an everyday cuppa as well. Very mellow and with a hint of natural sweetness.

First of all, this does smell amazingly, strangely, like chocolate. Good, dark chocolate. There is also something very fruity and floral in the aroma, a very assertive floral that reads to me like marigold.

I’ve always been a fan of Yunnan black teas, because they’re sweet, and this one definitely has that quality. You can also taste the chocolate, which amuses me greatly. The first time I brewed it, though, because I got way too much of that marigold flavor, that coats the back of your mouth in that bitter/sour flavor you get when someone gets the bright idea to make a floral flavored cocktail. However, I think that was a problem with me, not the tea. I used much less leaf, and water that was less hot this time, and that element was greatly diminished, just enough to be intriguing.

(I’m sorry I don’t leave better notes on how I prepare tea. But my kettle only produces one temperature of water (ridiculously hot) and I usually time my steeping by leaving the leaves in until the tea is ‘cool enough to drink’ which is usually four or five minutes? I think? I’m sure some of the purists out there are appalled, mea culpa.)

3 grams/4 oz. Rinsed gaiwan and cup with just boiled water to preheat. First infusion steeped for 2 seconds. The liquor is a beautiful red copper. Lots of floral notes mixed with cocoa nibs and hints of spice in the aroma. Very rich mouthfeel. No astringency at all. Some clove and spice at first, quite earthy overall. A bit of cocoa on the the finish. Very enjoyable.

Update: Later infusions change considerably. The mouthfeel thins slightly , and the finish becomes more drying. The spice notes become the primary flavor, with hints of smoke.

So, on a recent late autumn afternoon, I sat and enjoyed a pot of Verdant Tea’s Zhu Rong Yunnan Black. Next I bundled up, drove to the park, and went for a run before the early darkness hit. While listening to tunes and soaking in the last moments of daylight, there was only one thing going through my head: this tea! My brain was feeling both appreciative for the first pot, all the while screaming; “finish this run so you can get back and brew the 2nd infusion”. Faster!

If you love bittersweet dark chocolate, this is the tea for you. The dry leaf is sort of a mix between sweet potato and cocoa, while the wet produces a more woodsy-dark chocolate scent. The liquor’s bittersweet dark chocolate aroma is simply terrific. It’s not the sort of scent you get with some flavored chocolate teas that have a certain artificiality to them. It’s a genuinely immersing scent that hits you straight to the core. This medium bodied brew is silky rich upon sipping. The intensity of the flavor peaks near the back of the mouth and throat where a delicious bittersweet dark chocolate note hits and then lingers. I get a little malt near the end of the sip as well. This is just an incredibly smooth and satisfying tea to drink. When I finish a pot, I continue to yearn for more. This tea continues to be enjoyable on additional infusions. These later infusions exhibit a slightly lower dark chocolate intensity with some added peppery spice appearing mid-mouth.

Simply put, if you love bittersweet dark chocolate and you don’t try this tea, you are really missing out. Run.

Great for multiple steepings!

I love this tea. Velvety texture, with prominent chocolate and honey flavors. This tea gives Golden Fleece a run for its money. It’s a shame that Verdant is out of stock.