Yun Nan Dian Hong Black Tea

Yay, the last of my provided TeaVivre samples! And I only have one Green Terrace sample left, but it’s slated for gong fu style since it’s a milk oolong. And then that’ll be it for review-required samples for me until I get the ones from Good Life Tea! So, this one. The leaves are dark and slightly twisty, and there are a (very) few golden tips. Mm I love the smell! Very malty with sweet honey and a lovely tart stonefruit aroma. I did a 3 minute steep here.

Brewed aroma is… alarming. Lol. Completely different from the dry version! I immediately detect smoke and earthiness with the ubiquitous malt. Maybe a tiny hint of those stonefruits? Woah, this is quite smoky! There’s also earthiness and the taste of wood. A tiny bit of bitterness that goes well with these flavors. Not as malty as I would expect from this type of tea. There’s a little bit of a deep rich flavor that I would associate with molasses. And when I least expect it, there’s a lovely stonefruit aftertaste! Similar to plums and apricots mixed together.

I can see definite parallels between this tea and the Harney & Sons Tippy Yunnan, which is a good sign because they are both lower-grade. So maybe my taste buds are halfway decent! Lol. I definitely added sugar to this, it’s too powerful for me without it. And it would definitely take milk well if you chose to add some. A definite kick-in-the-pants morning tea! :)

I can’t find any notes for this tea even though I had it many times. Oh well
3G 205F 2 min
Nice smooth but something is off. I dunno. Probably me. I blame my taste buds. I should retry some other time .

I’m an avid black tea drinker. I know there are many kinds of tea out there that asked to be tasted but i tend to stick more with black tea than any other. The reason for that is that I like full-bodied tastes, but at the same time I dislike the bitter elements in black teas. Now when I think about it, I prefer bitter elements in green teas, it’s funny actually.
That’s why I’d rather have a cup of Chinese black tea than Indian and the ones from Yunnan are my favourite.

Dian Hong is my cup of morning tea, and I’ve been through at least 400 gr of this one in particular (through 2012 and 2013 harvests) and I find it to have very good quality/price ratio. This tea brews an average impression with Gongfu preparation style (Full-leaf and Golden tip grades prove much better this way) but it really shines with western preparation method. I normally use 3 gr with my 250 teapot and steep if for 4 minutes and boiling water.

The infusion comes out in the cup with deep red-brown tone and aroma of molasses and faint citrus at the top. The taste is full and deep, rich note of molasses is touched by a slight sweetness and are finished with a light notes of citrus and freshness. After a few sips I might have a slight stiffening sensation in the throat (I never figured out why this happens to me with some teas), and peppery element slowly sets in and rests at the tongue along with a smooth coating. What I like with this particular tea is that it doesn’t get bitter easily. Actually, that could be said for greater part of Chinese black teas, Keemun is a perfect example of this.

Since this is a review based on 2013 harvest I’m anticipating on trying the 2014 one, which I really hope to be closer to 2012 one which had more buds and more prominent citrus-sweet note.

sipdown! farewell December tea :) Not sure that i’ll get through January’s teas this month as there are a LOT of them, but it is nice to at least know that when there are months that i’ve purchased less tea, i’ll make up some of that time. I’m really just doing it to be conscious about drinking my “older” teas even though i realise some ppl would love to have cupboards as “fresh” as mine lol.

I have quite enjoyed this one, though the reality is, i’d prefer 50g quantities from teavivre more than 100g in nearly every instance. Otherwise i start to feel like it’s too much to drink up. :) Not sure if i’ll reorder this one even if it is a lovely tea, ONLY because there are others i prefer more from Teavivre :)

I found an overlooked sample packet of this today and will have to add to the already positive comments. I’ve enjoyed many black teas from Teavivre. This one is a really nice surprise because of its great price, yet it still tastes like a good quality tea. I brewed it just under boiling for 2 minutes, then re-steeped for 2 1/2 minutes. No bitterness and good hot or cold. I will include it in my next Teavivre for an every day drinking tea.

This is a sample from TheTeaFairy who writes this is “a really good straight black”. I had my doubts because up until now there was no such thing as a good straight black. But since tonight I’m not interested in the chocolate teas I’ve been guzzling like mad, polishing them off slowly, I thought I’d bite the bullet and have this. Steeled myself for great unpleasantness and followed the steeping instructions: 1.5 tsp, 2 minutes, 95C. Well, it was more like 203F but hey, close enough.

Cautious sniff, cautious sip… wait a minute, this … this is not bad. Does not need sugar or cream, in fact I find it vegetal enough at the back that I think it would taste weird with sugar added. I don’t know about malty, like someone said, to me this is more like a dark roasted oolong.

Thank you, TheTeaFairy I like this!

It was nicely floral and complex.