Not long ago I reviewed a tea that I identified as my favorite sheng version, a pu'er in all but name, since it was from Thailand. The producer was Aphiwat, someone I've mentioned before. This time I'm reviewing a Dian Hong style black tea that I also bought. It's good; I've tried it a few times before this review.
Of course Dian Hong literally means Yunnan black tea, so I mean that it's in a common style related to that type. The plants are surely quite similar, Assamica trees, and the growing area isn't that far from China, just not that close either, not right across a border. Dian Hong is actually a broad range, but the most typical version range is exactly like these, with the flavor aspects I'm describing here, or a related set, similar in appearance to this tea.
This is Aphiwat's FB profile link, and this is his producer vendor page there. He's not really set up for website based sales, or direct overseas sales, but it's also not a secret what the source is.
Review:
First infusion: a bit light; I decided to use that approach of brewing the first round light. It doesn't matter; the fuller flavor and feel will emerge next round either way.
You can already tell this is great. Fruit tones emerge, and some cacao, with underlying mineral and some roasted yam. One part of the fruit is light and citrusy, with a more main part like dried dark cherry. Sweetness is good, taste is clean, there are no flaws, and feel is already picking up limited fullness. There is no astringency edge, in the sense that harsher black teas include one. It's not tart; I dislike that flavor range, and it's nicer for me when it's not there. It's great.
Second round: warmer tones pick up; this is plenty strong. If anything a little over optimum, but that's fine, trying it brewed in different ways. Feel stands out a lot, extending from richness to very mild dryness, to about as rich and still light as orthodox Assam tends to ever be. It even resembles malt as much as it's ever going to, made this way. Fruit still stands out, the same set, dried dark cherry, and a hint of citrus. Roasted yam, cacao, and mineral depth are still the rest.
Feel is a big part of the story, and sweetness, along with intensity, and balance. It gets awkward explaining those, without repeating ideas that might not add up to much. This is a very close match for Dian Hong style; it's just what this tea is. It's no surprise; it's made from old Assamica plants in the north of Thailand, that match Yunnan versions about as well as any from elsewhere. And then it's also different; the flavor character would never exactly match, even though it's so close you couldn't say it's not from Yunnan, as you can more easily pick up from sheng versions.
It's just good. All of those aspects are positive, and they all balance and integrate well. I could drink this for a month straight, and I barely even drink black tea now. In a sense it's a simpler, more basic, less refined tea than good oolongs, but it fulfills a different character role. I'd rather drink this twice a week for a year than almost any oolong version of any kind. It's a perfect breakfast tea, and it's also good enough to drink alone, to spend a half an hour just appreciating it.
Third infusion: even brewed quite fast this draws out good intensity. Lighter flavor tones stand out more brewed faster; the citrus edge in the fruit emerges more, and warmer mineral eases up. Rich feel doesn't change much, but the light dry edge is gone. I think cacao stands out slightly more brewed light, but that could be a judgement call.
I bought a good bit of this tea but I'm thinking of buying more. I rarely own more than a kilogram of any tea; I don't "tong up" buying pu'er, and have only bought an entire kg of black tea once, a kg and a half, as it turned out. That was black tea from Viet Sun, that I bought a year ago, a batch that I might only own 100 grams of now. I gave it away frequently as gifts, to monks, as a thanks to people for helping us, and so on. It had a tart edge; it didn't match my preference nearly as well, based on just that one secondary flavor input. So it goes with preference; someone else could appreciate the tartness the most.
I'll brew one more round and drop the note taking. This doesn't transition as much as some tea types, even though it might include an interesting extra flavor in the next few rounds.
Fourth infusion: warmth extends just slightly. Dried cherry might be shifting towards dried tamarind, or it has already changed. Mineral seems to stand out a little more. For someone who has never experienced anything like that, mineral really standing out in black tea, oolong, or sheng pu'er, that might not be familiar or meaningful at all. For people deep into tea exploration they might either seek out and value that input or else see others as more important. Either way it adds depth and balance to the experience. It helps a lot having nice sweetness offset it, as is present in this. It also matches well with the cacao, dried fruit, and roasted yam.
All in all a really nice, basic tea. It would only seem basic to people who already love Dian Hong style teas, and for them, for someone with my preferences, it's just great. It wasn't that long ago that you could find pretty good Chinese versions of this that didn't cost much, but I suppose as with most other tea range prices have jumped quite a bit, and more expensive curator sources have replaced market-type options selling good versions.
Maybe Yunnan Sourcing's versions are this good (for Chinese teas), some of them, or it's possible this is better than the average there. Tea Side sells Thai Dian Hong style tea directly, but that is likely to cost more than YS Chinese versions. There's no reason why Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnamese related range couldn't also be good, made in a similar style, from similar material, so there would be plenty of range to look into, but you need to try lots of versions to run across one this good.
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