This is an interesting looking black tea that I ordered along with the sheng I've just reviewed from Viet Sun. For whatever reason black tea is the main other type I've stuck with as a preference beyond sheng, even though I drank a lot more oolong earlier on, and can still appreciate versions of it. I especially like Yunnan style black teas, by definition Dian Hong, since that more or less translates to Yunnan black tea.
Just to fill in the extra background usually what is sold as Dian Hong is a certain style, most often all leaf material or leaf with some bud, relatively fully oxidized, and oven dried versus sun dried. The slightly less oxidized versions that are sun dried, which leaves potential for development through aging for a few years, are often called Shai Hong, or sun-dried tea (maybe just translating as dried? I don't speak any Chinese language variations).
I'll try to keep this post simple, to just describe the tea. If it helps describe it to comment on oxidation level, or something such, I'll go there, but it would be nice to just say how it is this time. Here is the Viet Sun description, which I have read before tasting this time (just to mix up the process):
Our first black (red) tea from Lào Cai Province! A buddy hồng trà from old/ ancient trees growing at 1800m in Bát Xát, Lào Cai. The people living in this tea area are primarily of the Red Dao ethnicity.
A fruity, honey cacao fragrance emerges upon first infusion. This tea brews up quickly into a rich crimson golden soup. The flavors I pick up are fruit jam, chicory, malt, cacao, honey with warming spices. This tea has a chicory dark chocolate bitterness with a rich lingering effect in the throat with and an uplifting, focused qi.
Medium oxidation, medium rolling time/ pressure, lower than average air drying temp/ longer drying time. A great option for a morning pick me up or any time when you need a burst of clear headed energy.
This tea goes many rounds. I like to brew it at 85-100 degrees for shorter and then longer steeps...
Sounds good, and it looks nice and smells great in a dry leaf form. It smells like plum.
Review:
first infusion: still opening up, but quite pleasant already. Rich fruit tones and just a trace of cacao already; those will probably evolve. Feel is rich too, but that should thicken.
Amount of malt tone present seems to mostly define whether a tea seems similar to Dian Hong or good orthodox Assam to me, and this contains a little, but for that being moderate it's closer to Yunnan style. People might associate a characteristic dryness or feel structure with even good Assam but really to me that varies by version (so much for keeping this simple, only a description). Dian Hong often contains type-typical roasted yam or sweet potato, and I can notice that in this, but it's secondary to a rich fruit tone range, and cacao stands out just as much.
second infusion: I didn't brew this for long, maybe just over 10 seconds, but intensity is pronounced. Warmer tones and mineral stands out more with brewing a tea stronger; to keep the other range of emphasis on lighter and brighter range I would need to brew this quite fast at this maxed-out proportion, which is my typical approach (probably 8 grams in a 100 ml gaiwan; most of what would fit).
Savory range picks up, along the line of sun-dried tomato. Fruit is still pronounced, but I would expect dried fruit tones would stand out more brewed quite light. This would have to work well brewed Western style, but one would have to be careful about intensity, getting that dialed in to not ruin the effect. For me Gongfu brewing would be a more natural approach. Cacao (chocolate, basically) is often a dominant flavor aspect when it's present, but it's a supporting aspect in this.
third infusion: I went light on this round, to check how that does change things, maybe even a little too light, not long over 5 seconds. It does draw out a lot more of the fruit; the plum nature in the dried leaf scent finally shows through as a main flavor. Then a roasted sweet potato flavor along with that is pleasant, and a much lighter cacao aspect is still there, but it wouldn't be noticeable without expecting it.
The feel is still rich, even though this is brewed quite light, and some aftertaste still carries over. Often Dian Hong contains this kind of pleasant flavor aspect range but often it's really subtle related to producers using summer harvest material for it, while spring and fall leaves go to making sheng pu'er. This is pretty intense black tea; you can't get away with 5 second infusions of lots of types, and still get ok intensity.
Sweetness level is good; that's implied by the flavors I keep mentioning but I didn't actually say it.
fourth infusion (back to 10 to 15 second infusion time): this is balancing better and better. It's complex enough that it starts to taste like some sort of flavored Christmas blend, there is so much going on. Cacao stands out more than ever, and the fruit tone shifts a little towards a dried tangerine peel effect. Roasted sweet potato (I think it's that, not yam, but flavor can fall in between those) fades back to form part of a nice base. Warm mineral is also nice, very moderate in level, but pleasant as a supporting tone. Oddly all that integrates so well that at the same time it's complex it comes across as all one thing. It's an interesting effect.
fifth infusion: not so different than last round. Warm tones might be increasing slightly, that one "tastes like tea" flavor range, or I guess that could be interpreted as an aromatic spice input in this. This is probably a good place to leave off taking notes. It's probably only half finished related to infusion count but the aspects may or may not go through more interesting transitions, versus the balance of what was already expressed just shifting.
Conclusion:
It's good. Never mentioning malt again after that first comment related to not noticing much for that. For some that would be negative, but for me for liking Dian Hong style better it works better.
The next several infusions were just as good, maintaining good intensity and positive flavor balance. It dropped off fast when that intensity wore off but a couple of extra long infusions were still nice. This is a really nice breakfast tea, although it's also good enough to be appreciated as a solo session version. The style matches what I like most in black teas but I think anyone could relate to it; preference wouldn't limit who could appreciate it. For me this is the kind of tea I could drink a few times a week for a year, and not get tired of it, but of course that part just depends.
Value is quite good for this version. It's in a range that a lot of Dian Hong falls into as well, but quality and novelty vary a lot for those versions. I'd expect most costing a comparable amount would give up a lot for intensity, complexity, and novelty. It is still just black tea, and those only get so refined or novel, but this checks most of the boxes for pleasant character and good balance. Someone looking for malt tones or heavier feel structure should be drinking good orthodox Assam instead.
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a different cat visited for this tasting |
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