Zealong Black

Thanks so much to Dorothy for this tea sample!

I think this is my first zealong tea so I wasn’t too sure what to expect here. She told me it wasn’t a good short steeper so I used the regular teapot method here and steeped it for 4 minutes. I think I had 2 tsp. or so of tea for an 18 oz. teapot.

I got a medium brownish red tea liquor here. The flavor of the tea is slightly malty and grainy with a very nice floral element. I’m impressed by the lovely sweet tone in the finish of this tea. It lingers for a while and is very pleasant; has a smooth almost creamy quality. This is an easy tea to sip on plain and I am really enjoying it this morning. It reminds me a bit of some Chinese congou teas I have had recently.

Thanks for the sample Dorothy!

Upon seeing the opportunity to get an early release black tea from a plantation that specializes in Oolong… I couldn’t resist the offer and spent perhaps a few dollars more than I ought to have in order to be a part of this.

The leaves are large, dark, and gorgeous to me. The scent of the dry leaf is full-bodied and sweet. But not sweet in a sugar or fruit sort of way to me. It’s sweet like a handful of grain.

I opted to brew this gong fu style first in a 100 mL gaiwan. Each infusion was around 1-2 minutes (depending on the infusion), so perhaps I will try this again gong fu style with shorter infusions.

The liquor is a deep amber with a surprisingly mellow aroma. As Dorothy noted, it definitely is malty with a touch of barley. Drinking the tea is smooth. There is no astringency or bitterness to my palate. At first, I couldn’t quite identify what I was tasting. It was robust but mellow. There was a heartiness without being too much.

After a while, I realized that tasting this tea reminds me of tasting craft beers. There are a lot of the same flavors working their way through the tea as I have experienced in beer. It’s almost like there’s a very light hoppy after-taste that I find especially pleasant.

I’m looking forward to trying this again with shorter infusions and again in a western style pot.

Recently there was a post on Steepster/Teatra.de about a special offer to buy a pre-release pack of Zealong black tea. It seemed a bit pricey but I love trying new stuff so I put in an order for 50g. (Although to be fair, the price is on-par with other high end black teas I buy)
My package came in the mail today, and along with the tea I ordered there were a few goodies: a photo of a Zealong picker in a tea field, photo of a tea cup in snow, and 2 tea samples (gaba oolong and FF ruby darjeeling).

For my first tea session I will be brewing it “western style” once at 3mins. Next time I’ll do multiple short steeps in a 100ml tea vessel.

Dry leaf appearance: big broad leaves

Liquor scent: malty, grainy

Flavour: Starts off very light, grainy, malty, with a sweet after taste. As I kept drinking, I started picking up on a unique flavour, not sure how to describe it other than “grapey”. It’s not a muscatel or concord grape kinda flavour. The tea body wasn’t bitter or had much astringency. Reminds me a bit of the “oolong-black” tea I tried from Yuuki-Cha.

Next time I brew this western style, I’ll try it at 5 minutes. The tea body is very light, so I think it could benefit from a longer steep time. This is my second experience with a tea from New Zealand. Before this I tried the Zealong Pure oolong, which I thought was pretty good. They all seem to be quite smooth and lack a sharp astringency.

Overall I found this to be an interesting black tea, but I won’t rate it until I do a short steep session.

Steep Information:
Amount: 3 tsp
Water: 500ml at 195°F
Tool: Breville One-Touch Tea Maker BTM800XL
Steep Time: 2 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: floral, light, toasty
Steeped Tea Smell: Floral, fresh vegetal, slightly roasty, sweet
Flavor: Sweet, toasty, smooth, almost silky
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: sweet, toast
Liquor: translucent honey yellow brown

Lovely, light, sweet! In addition it have this beautiful sweet floral fragrance that I could not stop sniffing. It is not a morning wake you up cup of tea but a slightly floral sipping tea. It is delicate on the tongue, but with enough presence to make sure you know it’s delicious.

Resteep:
500ml at 195°F for 3min

Just as good, slightly less smooth mouthfeel

Third steep was too weak at 4 minutes

I thoroughly enjoy this black! I don’t love it as much as the oolong

Rating: 4/4 leaves

Blog: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2012/03/zealong-loose-leaf-black-tea-zealong.html