Dian Hong Congfu

Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Black Tea
Flavors
Bread, Earth, Honey, Malt, Fruity, Tannic, Dried Fruit, Mineral, Raisins, Smoke, Caramel, Cocoa, Lemon Zest, Metallic
Sold in
Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by LiberTEAS
Average preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 0 sec 6 g 8 oz / 248 ml

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22 Tasting Notes View all

  • “Backlog: I am simply in awe of this company. The black teas they offer are so good. And they not only taste good, but the leaves are absolutely gorgeous. These are artistically crafted teas...” Read full tasting note
    96
  • “For our Dian Hong Congfu, the dry leaves greet you with a smell of sulfurous dried peaches, the ones you bought last summer and left forgotten in the back of your pantry until now. They’re still...” Read full tasting note
    84
  • “Another one of those “finally opened this one up” teas. I am incorrigible. The flavor was a bit light, despite following the vendors instructions, so I may need to overleaf a bit, or maybe brew it...” Read full tasting note
    82
  • “Backlog. Sipdown. I had a uneven session with this tea. I started with half the sample 5g in 100ml gaiwan and 200F water. Dry leaf smells malty and bready. 10s-fruity, little too light in...” Read full tasting note

From Joseph Wesley Black Tea

At the foot of the Himalayas in southwestern China the great tea masters of the Yunnan Province have been hand crafting some of the world’s most unique teas for centuries. Yet, not until the 20th century did this region produce the unique Dian Hong Gong Fu (Yunnan Black) tea. Joseph Wesley’s Black Tea No. 4 is a spotlessly clean representation of this now famous tea. With its crystal clear red liquor, beautiful golden buds, robust and malty taste and its exquisite construction, Joseph Wesley’s Black Tea No. 4 is as much a work of art as it is a delicious tea.

About Joseph Wesley Black Tea View company

Company description not available.

22 Tasting Notes

424 tasting notes

Another sample from Cameron! This is my first Joseph Wesley tea. I enjoyed it, although it had more of a vegetal flavor than many of the Dian Hongs I have had. It definitely had a lot of character and was multi faceted.

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83
3986 tasting notes

After-workout tea! You would think I would want something light, but I guess not. :P This sample came from scribbles (she sent me basically all of the Joseph Wesley teas). The leaves of this tea are about medium in size and just slightly twisty. I would say they’re about 60% black to 40% gold. I’m not sure why I feel the need to be specific on that, but oh well. Dry scent is mild malt with nice Yunnan-y honey and stonefruit notes. I steeped a heaping teaspoon for 3 minutes at 200 degrees.

Whew, this is definitely a darker Yunnan by the smell. There’s a lot of earthiness here with some mineral and smoke qualities. Happily for me, the taste is very well-balanced. That earthy quality is here as well, but is nicely softened by a dark fruitiness and the sweetness of honey. I do get some minerality along with a slight smoke. Overall, not my favorite tea, but a good one. :)

Flavors: Dried Fruit, Earth, Honey, Mineral, Raisins, Smoke

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML
Joseph Wesley Black Tea

Thanks again for taking your time to drink and enjoy our tea (and sharing your thoughts). -Joe

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437 tasting notes

This one definitely falls into the fruity spectrum of Yunnan’s with the brewed tea smelling of apricots along with something a little bit sharper, leather, malt honey and grain.

I steeped 1 TSP in 220ml of water three times at about 95°C.

1 min. Apricot, honey, grain, and hints of malt and leather spice. The tea is sweet, grainy and rich. As it cools, deeper malt tones become apparent and a prune note appears.

2 min. Apricot, honey, leather, cocoa and grain.

4 min. Malt, leather, grainy notes, and a bit of cream.

Nice and different from my existing Yunnans

Thanks boychik for the sample!

boychik

glad you liked it;)

Cameron B.

Sounds amazing! Must wishlist. :)

Joseph Wesley Black Tea

I’m also glad you enjoyed the tea. Excellent breakdown of the various flavors at each steeping interval. Thanks, Joe

yyz

Thanks! I’ve very much enjoyed sampling your teas so far.

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89
618 tasting notes

Giving this one a try as my afternoon study tea. I’ve been drinking a lot of tea to keep me going the past few days. I have a big exam coming up at the beginning of July and need to study like crazy. I’m not getting a whole lot from the scent of this tea, it’s a bit soft. I do detect some sweetness, but otherwise it seems to want to hide its character from me until I sip!

Sipping… interesting.. not a very strong flavor from the tea. I wasn’t expecting the tea to mirror the scent as much as it is. I’m picking up on grapes, sugar and something a little bit metallic in the finish. It’s light, but satisfying at the same time.

It’s not as gutsy as some of the other black teas out there, but this is such a nice, light tea that it is perfect for the summer or spring. You know those teas that are darker, richer and sort of weigh you down? This tea is definitely one that can be had all day, no matter the occasion. What a lovely brew for this afternoon!

Joseph Wesley Black Tea

Happy to read that you enjoyed the tea. Cheers, Joe

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82
14991 tasting notes

the lovely boychik sent this my way and i’m ever so glad that she did. I’ve been wanting to try the Joseph teas for a while now, given the rave reviews but could hardly justify the ridiculous shipping for samples. I’d rather get a chance to try a few and then place a real order via my tea mule.

I’m also glad that i brewed this one along side that gross david’s tea since THIS is such a lovelier cup of tea. There is a hint of astringency to this one but nothing that would interfere with the pleasure of drinking this. it’s got a nice malt feel too it, though i wouldn’t call it an overly malty tea. there is some sweetness here that reminds me of peach but isn’t peach…just a really nice tea.

Cameron B.

Lol, your tea mule! Epic. :P

I hope you’re feeling better!

Sil

getting there…much better than sat/sun :)

TeaLady441

Are you working from home today? :O Hope you feel better soon.

Sil

yes..working from home.. and by working i mean attending meetings and doing what i can to not get too far behind while sitting on the couch and in the bed relaxing as much as possible.

OMGsrsly

Ooh, good to read you’re resting lots (and drinking loads of tea!).

Joseph Wesley Black Tea

Sil, happy to read that you enjoyed the tea. We’ve been working with a cafe in Windsor who can ship our teas within Canada for a much more reasonable rate than I can). If you are interested in trying our teas, contact me and I’ll put you in contact with the great people over at Anchor Coffee House ([email protected]) — as a reminder, for those in the US we have free shipping for all orders over $40. cheers, Joe

Joseph Wesley Black Tea

—and I hope you get well soon!

boychik

i hope you feel better by now. Staying home and drinking tea and chicken soup are a must.
Im really glad you liked the tea. Sorry i couldnt share more. i finished all the JW teas i got on NYC tea fest. i have to place an order by Sept., i really hope to get my cupboard somewhat manageable during the summer. these teas are definite restock.

Sil

Joe – thanks for that, sounds great. And no issues with the shipping thresholds as a general rule, just tough to swallow when i haven’t tried your teas. But now that i have thanks to boychik, an order is likely imminent haha (once i get things under cupboard control!)

Boychik – appreciate what you could spare… so happy to be able to try these!

boychik

Anytime you want to sample something fr my cupboard do not hesitate haha Just found 2 boxes of Verdant teas in my closet from last summer… Why is it there, dont ask. have no answer…

TheTeaFairy

Haha! Boychik, maybe you had something to hide?

boychik

you are right TheTeaFairy, i hide it fr my family. i just got a package fr Amazon with shampoo and my dd asked me if its a tea. She said, “Are you sure?” …lol

Sil

boychik – i know how that goes… you send me lots of teas to try thereby reducing YOUR cupboard…and don’t let me send you anything!

boychik

no i swear, it wasnt my plan. And i didnt send you huge amounts, just to sample. And I will ask you in September. i just go to rural place in PA, i have to drive 20-30min to get my mail.

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94
1353 tasting notes

Queued post, written April 18th 2014

Okay, I’m going to do a quick morning post of this and after that I’m going to aim for the ABTS (Apply Bottom To Seat) approach to my Camp NaNoWriMo writing. I’ve got behind while we had Husband’s parents staying, but that’s not really the biggest problem. The real problem is that I’m in re-writing phase now and this has turned out to be an awful lot more difficult than I imagined it would be. I would murder my internet for the duration, but that’s not as easy as it sounds and involves reaching into tiny corners and places where I can’t see what I’m doing, so I’m just going to have excert will-power.

HAH! As if anybody believes that. I’m already struggling with convincing myself to NOT have cake for breakfast. I am such a grown-up.

Anyway, I gave Husband the choice of tea this morning from among my three untasted JW samples, and for the second time, very surprisingly him being Cornflakes-Man and all, did not choose the LS. He picked this one, of which we used all the leaf for a large pot. And then spilled some, but there should still be enough in the pot that we can get a decent resteep.

This has a very malty aroma and it also reminds a little of honey. I’m not getting any cocoa from it, but there is something that I can’t quite put my finger on and it’s sort of in the same family as cocoa, smell-wise. (No, it’s not chocolate) It’s quite faint though, so I’m not deeming it super-important to decipher it at this point. Underneath all this there is a lot of grain and wood, so it smells like a good strong tea here. At first glance a good choice for the first tea of the morning.

Oooh, it may not smell entirely like cocoa, but it definitely has cocoa notes in the flavour. Not a lot of it, but just at the very beginning of the very first sip, there it was. It was followed with something that struck me as ever so slightly tart, ever so slightly wine-y. Interesting! That’s not a flavour I’m used to finding in tea at all.

The more I sip, the more the wine-y note seems to stand out. It’s in the realm of a slightly spicy wine here, perhaps even a tiny little bit mulled? I’m not getting too much of the grain and wood body I noticed in the aroma, although there those were fairly strong notes. I enjoy a good deal of grain in my Chinese black, so I’m missing it a little, but not to the point where it really bothers me.

This tea is very different from the Chinese black teas I’ve usually had, even the Yunnan teas I’ve usually had. It has a really interesting flavour and it’s very much worth a visit. Had I not been under certain ordering constraints (in general, but in particular with this brand) I think I could easily drink a tin of this.

It reminds me a little of the very first time I had the fabled Tan Yang Te Ji from TeaSpring. I honestly didn’t know what to make of it. I wasn’t even certain whether or not I liked it. And then gradually I discovered that I did like it. I really did. I really really did! It has remained my favourite ever black in the world since then and although a few teas have come close, none have yet managed to push it off that pedestal. With enough exposure to it, this Dian Hong has the potential of growing on me in the same way. Perhaps not quite to the epic pinnacles of the TYTJ, but close.

MzPriss

I like this one a lot!

caile

It sounds delicious!

Joseph Wesley Black Tea

Pepper, nutmeg, or cinnamon by any chance?

Angrboda

Not impossible. I can’t actually remember it exactly anymore. I frequently find black teas somewhat spicy, but it’s always some kind of generic spice if that makes sense. This one just gave some sort of mulled vibe in addition to it. I’m not very good at recognising my individual spices to be honest.

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3294 tasting notes

It’s Day 9 of little terri’s Ultimate Sipdown Extravaganza!
I stayed up til 2am, playing harp, paying bills, setting goals, & reading Sherlock Holmes. I’m getting close to the end of the collection, & it’s been fun, but I hope to move on after this weekend.
I’m having a nice morning. I slept in until 9:30 (I love being self-employed), then I woke up with Bach’s invention #8 in my head, so I sat at the piano & played a slow rendition of it. It’s been years since I played the inventions! I grew up on the piano, but I don’t really play it much, & I need to create time for it, because I still love THAT instrument too. If only there were more hours in each day!

I’ve visited Joseph Wesley’s website a few times, but never ordered. It seemed a little high brow for me, a little too polished/designer/sterile. Plus, I’d think naming a tea company after yourself would be kind of risky, like getting your girlfriend’s name tattooed on your arm, LOL. Of course, Joe is really probably a really cool guy who just loves tea!

I’d like to thank boychik for sending me this generous sample. I divided it, placing 5 grams in my 4oz pot for a gongfu session of 15/30/45sec/1min/2min/3min, & a nice Tb in my 8oz cup for 3/5 minute steeps. I drank the gongfu brews first, & although it was nice, the flavor profile remained pretty much the same throughout. It was a lovely wheat toast, made from a darker molasses sweetened bread.
The 8oz cup X 3min was my preferred steeping, with a nice dense chewy kind of thick mouth, Boston Brown Bread with a touch of rye & dark molasses, lightly sweet & savory, & even a little tart, as if some citrus peel were added. It is also mildly astringent, & the resteep @ 5min tends towards a slightly bitter ‘hops’ quality. Not a bad tea, & a sipdown.
349

Angrboda

Well, after he let me get away with half the actual cost of shipping for my order because it would have qualified for free shipping if I had lived in the US, I’d say he’s definitely a really cool guy. :) Or at the very least a very friendly one. :)

boychik

I’d say he is very down to earth, maybe even a little shy.

Joseph Wesley Black Tea

haha! This conversation just made my day!

Terri HarpLady

Good to know! I like nice people!

Joseph Wesley Black Tea

(and I’m happy to read that you enjoyed the tea)

Terri HarpLady

:)
When possible, I like my tea reviews to be a little entertaining!

Joseph Wesley Black Tea

I was originally going to try and be cute by pushing back on the “high brow” comment, but after realizing that I’m sitting in the library, reading a book and listening to Bernstein conduct Mahler’s 2 Symphony, I decided it was probably best just to laugh. Thanks for taking time to review our teas. Cheers, Joe

Sil

i need to try some of these before i bite the bullet and place an order – shipping just a little high for my tastes without having first tried 1 or two of them. LIttle more confident now that you’ve seemed to enjoy it my tea sister heh

boychik

Sil, i need the address, pls!

Terri HarpLady

I can split my samples with you, if you like, Sil…for your NEW box ;)

Sil

I didn’t even see this terri. I can’t recall if boychik was sending me these…it’s been that sort of week but if not, then I am game..or if there was one you loved in particular, happy to share an order or something.

Terri HarpLady

Too late, the box is in the mail! I mailed 7 boxes yesterday, in what I’ll call a serious tea measuring & packaging binge!

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612 tasting notes

Another special tea from boychik! Thank you. (:

I had this last night. boychik was super generous enough that I can try it both Western and gongfu; last night I did it Western but I’m definitely curious to see if gongfu suits it better. Western, it’s clean and smooth and malty, with that balancing act between the cleanness and a cocoa and caramel-y rich sweetness. You know, some of that caramelized sweet potato, but not as obviously so or boring as other sweet potato teas…it resteeps very well too. I get this itchy sense there’s probably a way to coax more out of it somehow if I fiddle with steeping paramaters…slightly cooler water? More or less time? Not sure. I can see why boychik wanted input from others.

boychik

not sure about parameters, I only tried it there.

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74
154 tasting notes

I met Joseph Wesley at the recent NYC Coffee & Tea Festival. His packaging is amazing and he was great to talk to. He provided me with a sample of this tea and I brewed it for myself & my fiance while working from home today.

The tea is reminiscent of a meyer lemon tea I’ve tried from Zen Tara Tea, but it is very clean with a slight sweetness. It tastes almost similar to a dark oolong due to the astringency, but it is very balanced and refreshing. Upon smelling, I get a faint roasted, earthy smell which translated into a smooth taste. The middle of the taste is mineral and hints of roasted chocolate or caramel, with a slight end-of-a sip citrus hint.

Flavors: Caramel, Cocoa, Earth, Lemon Zest, Malt, Metallic, Mineral

Preparation
4 min, 15 sec 2 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML

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90
985 tasting notes

Tea of the morning…….

I was curious about this one, even though I feel like I have all the Dian Hong I will ever need from Teavivre. I do love a good Dian Hong, though, so it was kind of a no brainer to give it a try.

Leaves are thick, twisted and have some golden tips. It is not as golden tipped as Teavivre’s golden tip dian hong, but more in line with their full leaf version. I would say it follows the profile of a good dian hong as far as taste…..malt, cocoa. Heartiness without astringency or briskness. What I do find remarkable about all the teas I have tried from Joseph Wesley is the heavy mouthfeel. They all make such a heavy brew which is very satisfying….like you are drinking something substantial. It makes me want to go back to my other dian hongs to see how they stack up.

For me, I do see this one as the one I may not need to buy soon of the 4 I was initially interested in. The outstanding winner for me is the Keemun. Then the Bai Lin. However, I can tell he really does pay attention to the quality of the teas he sells. Plus, for a black tea drinker like me, his product line is perfect. We shall see once I get my tins!

Usual mug method.

Flavors: Cocoa, Malt

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 5 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 15 OZ / 443 ML

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