I do not know much about this tea, it was gifted to me by a tea shop attendant. Yes, gift culture is huge in China, and I appreciate these random gifts.
Actually, what happened as follows. The shop attendant was drinking this tea when I entered and started to shop. He offered me this tea. What I felt was that it was probably a good dian hong tea, but he had steeped it many times already, and the taste was not strong. I told him that a good tea, but I could not get any sweetness or complex notes, I’d expect from a Dian Hong. I think he took it that I really like this tea so gifted me some.
This presented a new opportunity as I could now try the tea and taste the first steeps. It made a huge difference. I had caramel scent and taste with no sweetness, which was not there when I tried this tea at the shop.
Traditionally processed black teas are baked at the end, like this tea. I recently found out that in Yunnan, there is another type of black tea processing called sun drying, and the tea processed this way is called Shai Hong. This sun-dried black is supposed to have a better response to multi-steeping. I shall try and see. Luckily, I have a Shai Hong sample already and am looking forward to trying it in the coming days.
Tea Profile:
Type: Black
Origin: Yunnan
Harvest time: 2019?
Leaf colour: Dark brown with some golden tips
Liquor colour: Dark yellow
Tea aroma: Caramel
Tea taste: Caramel and maltness with no sweetness
Steeping/brewing: Place 4 g of this tea in a teapot or gaiwan and add about 100 ml water at around 90°C. Rinse after 5 sec. Steep for 15 seconds for the second time and increase the consecutive steeping time by 10 seconds each time. You can steep this tea up to three or four times.
Shelf life: Can be aged