Da hong bao from 小罐茶 (Xiao Guan Tea)

The container contains 4 grams of tea and looks expensive. The red label and the brushed aluminum surface has a minimalist, modern appeal, resembling the surface of an apple computer. The label, and the company website showcases associations with famous tea masters for each tea. However more important details of the tea such as terroir, cultivar and picking times are not disclosed.

Tasting notes:

Overall, the tea lacked stamina and did not impress. I steeped the tea in the following ways:

1.) 4 g / 125 mL boiling water. Rinse / 30 s / 45 s / 1 min 30 sec / 4 min

2.) 8 g / 125 mL boiling water. Rinse / 15 s / 20 s / 30 s / 1 min / 3 min

In the first session, the taste tapered off after the second infusion and could not be recovered. Therefore, I doubled the leaf for the second session. However, the tea did not last many more infusions.

The dry leaf has intense charcoal, roasted coffee and chocolate notes. These are enhanced in the wet leaf and completely reflected in the first steeping. The first steeping also had strong notes of milk chocolate and some dried fruit. However, by the second steeping, all the flavors were halved. I added some extra time to the third steeping, but it did not help. By the fourth steeping the tea became quite boring, with mostly diluted smoke notes. Hopefully the lack of stamina doesn't mean the tea had been sprayed with artificial flavors.

Overall, this is definitely not worth the price tag (50 yuan per container of 4 grams). The fact that people are willing to pay so much money for this tea suggests that the target consumers are not serious tea drinkers.

Comments

Glenburn king single estate first flush 2019 from vahdam

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2020 Competition Grade Jin Jun Mei Black Tea from Yunnan Sourcing

From vendor: Late March Harvest Tong Mu Guan Village (Fujian) Review: Strong yeast and honey suckle aroma from dry leaf. Lots of orange yellow powder from the small, tight buds. A small holed filter is necessary. Brew parameter: 4 g / 100 mL 90 C in porcelain Rinse / 10s / 10s / 15s / 35s / 1 min / 2 min / 5 min Strong honey and milk chocolate notes. Smooth and thick with stone fruit (peach) aromas and sweet yam flavors. Some vegetal notes develop in later steepings. Early steepings are quick and strong but drops off after 3rd steeping. Strangely, a pu-erh like wet pile funk is faintly present. This is not particularly pleasant. Western brewing is also acceptable at 1 g /100 mL for 3:30. However, the chocolate notes are much more mild when brewed in this way.

Brewing Taiwanese oolong

Bao Zhong: After some experimentation, I found it works best in this way: ~7.3-7.5 g/125 mL. Basically a little less than yancha. Boiling hot water No rinse 30s /35s/45s/1 min etc Keeping it at 6.5 g but longer time makes the later steeps less balanced for me. Going higher to yancha ratios overwhelms me with qi. Oriental Beauty This tea can behave like hong cha and white tea hybrid with some oolong notes. for natural clean stuff - 4.5-5.5g / 100 ml - start at 15s and slowly go up increasing by 5-10s. Allow the cup to cool each time- treating it evenly And gently but also with strength (boiling water) like a fine lady results on full appreciation of aromatic journey For green gao shan Ive learned it depends a lot on the nature of the leaves and the brewing vessel. When using thin porcelain, 6 grams/100 mL, doing Rinse/45s/35s/45s is a good starting point When using a thicker vessel like kobiwako clay, a similar ratio can be appropriate, but maybe a slightly faster first infus...

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