Feng Huang Hong Cha

Steeped this 12 times, all while chilling out and listening to Drone Zone from somafm.com

A very enjoyable tea and quite a unique experience that I’ve savoured over the months.
Next time I brew this it will probably be a “sipdown”.
See previous tasting notes for more of my thoughts on this tea

100ml purion teapot, 2 tsp, 12 steeps (30s, +15s resteeps)

This tea is from Dexter3657. Thanks! :)

This is so good. It actually survived in my travel mug during my winter walk really well. It still had nice flavour, and isn’t too strong with a 2 minute steep.

I have to try it in a ceramic mug instead of a stainless travel mug, but so far it’s on my list of “teas to buy”!

Wow – this is a much better choice today. I LOVE this. Different than other blacks I’ve been drinking. It’s bold and malty (tiniest hint of chocolate) but there are some fruity notes too – I’m getting citrus rather than cherry, but fruity none the less. The citrus notes adds a bit of astringency but more in a flavor way rather than in a bitter way. This astringency is really well balanced with the sweetness.
This has the potential of being added to my “must have list”. This really works for me, fantastic.

2021 sipdown no. 56

This one is difficult to describe. It has a Taiwanese black sweetness to it, but cut through with almost an oolong floral. I keep flip flopping on whether or not I actually enjoy it. I think I ultimately enjoy other straight black teas over this one.

this one is a little “oolongy” for my tastes the more i have it…

People actually reviewed this one! Thank you Leafhopper!

So, I gong fu’d it for four steeps than stopped. Went friendly on the leaves. It’s actually more black tea-ish than other Milan Hong Cha’s I’ve had in comparison. Waaaay heavier on the malt department while maintaining some cherry notes. I personally get some of the more citric grapefruit oolong notes from it’s varietal from time to time in aroma and a little in taste. A little bit bitter, but dark bittersweet from “redder” (totally making it up) tannings. The overall vibe of this one is more red than other Milan Blacks too. Sometimes, it was brisk enough to adulterate with cream and sugar, but I didn’t go that far. I haven’t decided on it yet. It definitely stands out, and it may be a little too strong for me to frequently drink, I do like it.

This was the tea I picked for the “black tea” prompt for Mastress Alita’s scavenger hunt and after the lapsang, I was just disappointed by it.

This is my “MVT” – most valuable tea – for the week.

I brewed this one Gong Fu, after first taking it to work with the intention of brewing it there and being told by my manager that this tea was too good to brew at work and I needed to take it home instead and brew it Gong Fu and really focus on the flavours/session. Who am I to tell my manager, the head of research and development for a tea company no!? If he gives me a tea recommendation I generally listen to him; he’s got great taste! Except when it comes to green tea, then I usually just tune him out, haha!

I’m glad he made the suggestion though; I know I definitely would not have been able to brew this at work with the same care and attention and it was a VERY good tea. Like, I enjoyed it more than the shou I had this week that literally caused me to have an emotional breakdown at my desk.

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/BwhuePDHXxb/

I wish I could better convey how amazing the tea was to you, but I think just recapturing my “in the moment” thoughts from instagram will have to suffice because after I finished snapping photos and writing up that instagram blurb it was like all words vanished from my mind and I could only drink tea and be happy. It was delicious, and I steeped this tea fifteen times, literally right down until there was NO MORE flavour coming from the tea at all. My last infusion might as well have just been water…

So here’s what I said on instagram:

“Notes of Sandalwood, malt, black currant, apricot, red wine/muscatel grapes, oak, and soft smoke. Coats and lingers in the back of the throat really long and intensely.”

It’s been a while since I last had a black tea that flavourful and nuanced, and to think that this was a freebie sample that I received from CS and not something I selected myself! It was an amazing selection though, and 100% something I recommend and am going to purchase more of. Just… Damn!

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u11kLhDXsG0&list=LL1M1wDjmJD4SJr_CwzXAGuQ&index=75&t=0s

I’m wistfully savouring the last of this tea, regretting that I didn’t buy a kilo of it. Since there was a little more than an average session’s worth but not enough for two, I put about 7 g of leaf in my 120 ml teapot. I steeped it at 195F for 20, 10, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

This tea is sweet, rich, and balanced. I get notes of barley sugar, honey, flowers, caramel, chestnuts, cranberries, malt, and wood. There’s a bit of astringency, especially since I stuffed so much tea in the pot, but it doesn’t detract from the deliciousness. By the third steep, notes of orange blossom, citrus, and a bit of cocoa show up, and walnut skin appears in the aftertaste.

For the next few steeps, the chestnut, honey, and fruity tartness are dominant. Even when it starts to fade, it does it elegantly, without the bitter mineral taste that later infusions of black teas seem to have.

No question, this is the best black tea I’ve had in 2017.

Smelling the wet leaves suggest a strong malty/citrusy brew.
Brew is bright orange, smells like flowers, citrus and chocolate syrup!

I am tasting a nice mix of chocolate and lemon, it feels a bit like molasses or commercial chocolate syrup (in a very nice way). the mouthfeel is thin which is nice because i still get those flowers and the tartness makes it uplifting.

overall I’m really liking the balance of flavors and it seems to keep me in a very clear productive state.

One downside might be that it’s linearity/simplicity. But it really doesn’t bore me for casual sipping.