I initially did this as a comparison tasting session between three black teas but the comparison made no sense, trying it along with two others that were just different in ways that wasn't informative. I pretty much always publish that type of content anyway, but somehow it makes more sense to cut these notes down to a simple tea review instead.
Since this isn't exactly a typical black tea I'll start with the vendor description, versus rambling on in a section first:
2016 Simao Gao Shan Hong Cha
This rare red tea come from high mountain in Simao area and picked in early April. Similar with Wuyi rock teas in taste. Some Chinese sellers offer this tea like "Yunnan Da Hong Pao". Dry leaves are dark and aromatic. Taste is smooth, thick, balanced and rich and not similar with classic Yunnan red teas. Aftertaste is fruity, sweet and long.
Maybe it would've made sense to read that first and then evaluate if the character seemed like that to me, in this case. I tried the tea over the weekend and drank it a second time with breakfast to get a second take, with these notes from a comparison tasting (edited down to include only the one type).
The style is interesting, not exactly typical of Dian Hong forms (other Yunnan black), although maybe not that close to Wuyi "rock teas" either, the roasted oolongs. Maybe to a Wuyishan area black tea; that could work, given those can be fruity in different ways. I might clarify that Dian Hong is either used as a reference for all black teas from Yunnan (so this definitely is that), or as a style reference to a subset of those that is supposedly more typical. Since black teas from Yunnan span a broad range of character it would be hard to isolate that intended meaning, but then people do tend to use terms in different ways, and with the right shared perspective any particular use could be meaningful.
Onto the review notes first though, with that covered as a summary at the end.
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| including this order excerpt is typically about confirming which version I'm reviewing (the last one shown) |
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the vendor photo; could this have darkened with age? |
Review:
On the first round it's nice, a bit light for being a fast early round, but the complexity is really kicking in anyway. It's sweet, with layers of complex flavors already emerging. There's some cocoa, but it's not mostly about that. A fruitiness is a little towards Welche's grape juice, with mild earthy components giving that great balance. It's so complex that a number of different interpretations could all sound like they're describing different teas. I'll leave off for a round to attempt a clearer list.
Second infusion: flavors in between cocoa and cinnamon emerge, or I guess spanning both. I really do like Dian Hong in that style, although this isn't clearly typical of Dian Hong versions. Rich floral tones seem to join that, along the line of rose petals, which could as easily be interpreted as fruit instead, towards dark cherry. This tea is complex. The earthier or heavier mineral base that rounds out that experience is harder to identify. It doesn't necessarily come across as overly intense; well-balanced instead, if anything a bit subtle, but the flavor spans a lot of range. The feel has some pleasant thickness to it and aftertaste extends longer than is typical for black teas.
Third infusion: for being subtle in character this is great. It would be the right round to bump up infusion time next time. It has settled in more to cocoa range, with some supporting floral, and extension in all sorts of flavor direction. Even on the light side the feel isn't thin and aftertaste carries over.
It's not completely fair to say that black teas are just simpler than sheng or oolongs. In one sense the teas I tried during that tasting, and others, contradict that sweeping judgment, while in a different sense they confirm it. The range they tend to span, individually and as a set, is very broad, and definitely not limited to flavor. At the same time the levels of experience are still slightly simpler than for those in those other two categories (which vary a lot; it makes no sense to group them that generally, really).
Fourth infusion: this round I brewed closer to 30 seconds but this is still quite subtle. If this tea wasn't a sun-dried version, which it seems not to be (really only a guess, given all the more background I have with that) then it may have faded a little in the past three years, versus gaining depth and limited flavor intensity if it was "shai hong" instead (sun-dried tea). It's still very pleasant but it's time to use 45 second to one minute rounds to draw out intensity in it.
Fifth infusion: not different. This is on the way out for brewing out but not changing, which I guess in itself is a good sign. I get the sense this has a couple of rounds left, that it will be pleasant at longer infusion times too.
This tea might be fading a little due to that age. I'd be surprised if some of the character wasn't more positive, along with giving up a little intensity, and it's easy enough to compensate for that with a proportion or timing adjustment, and brewing a round or two less.
Second tasting input and conclusions
Sometimes I'll try a tea again before a review write-up, just to get a second impression, without the burden of taking notes, which I did with this tea. Without trying to pin down specific aspects flavors come across as subdued, but the feel stood out as more unique, not really how black teas often tend to go. It's not as thick and rich as some sheng can be, not necessarily viscous, but a bit fuller than black teas often are. And just different. A mineral base or an earth-range equivalent, or set of both, plays more of a role than tends to occur, but the fruit and cocoa were typical flavors.
I interpreted all that as being related to this being a few years old, expecting that it probably had started as fuller in flavor but evolved to gain depth and more feel over that few years. Maybe that happened, or maybe I got the causation all wrong, since the description (which I hadn't read in the last few months, since back when I ordered this tea) said it wasn't typical of black tea style, or at least Yunnan black tea version style.
It was more odd because the dry tea scent is so rich, sweet, and intense, covering a fruity range one would expect in a more conventional black tea. Fruit does show up, but the flavor range aspect is subtle, with the feel and some general impression of depth--that's hard to pin down--occurring instead.
It's hard to place that potential connection with Wuyi Yancha / rock oolong. Some of that matches, it's just not exactly similar to those Fujian oolongs, just not typical for black tea either. For a slightly aged black tea it's probably closer.
This is yet another tea that's a good enough value I probably shouldn't even be mentioning it (not just the value, the tea itself). It would be better if no one ordered it at all, and it remained an anomaly in the range of tea options, something unique in character, and selling for an absurd value. Then again if it gets ordered up and lost as a potential experience to new customers it is just a novel black tea, and some people would've had a chance to try it.
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after singing at a China-Asean performance competition |
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