Cheap Da Hong Pao from Wing Hop Fung.
The dry leaf has a dark brown color with a woodsy toasty aroma. Most of the leaf is made of broken pieces and some dust.
Since Wing Hop Fung does not provide any instructions, I compared different brew guidelines from several sites and settled on 3 min steep time and 205F water temp. I brewed this on a gaiwan.
My first cup gave a dark clear brown cup with a toasty aroma and faint hints of honey. The tea had a strong toasted taste, slightly smooth, and with a faint metallic finish. It wasn’t unpleasant, but nothing special either. My second cup was more enjoyable as it featured a less strong toasty taste, smoother textured, but aroma was less present. My third cup featured more or less the same, but with a fainter aroma. Fourth cup surprisingly kept the same flavor as the second and third cups, but seeing no change in taste or flavor I decided to stop brewing it (as I wasn’t enjoying the tea that much).
Nothing special was found in the wet leaf.
Overall, I didn’t get anything special from this tea, toasty flavor overpowers all, if any, subtle flavors the tea might have. At times it felt I wasn’t even drinking an Oolong or Wuyi tea, more like a burned black. I can’t say I expected much as this was a relatively cheap tea.
