TeaChat

Last Saturday, I had a nice session of tea drinking at a merchant's shop in the city where I lived and he brewed a tea pronouced "Jee Hong". I wish I knew the correct pinyin spelling of this tea but unfortunately the tea dealer's English is not great. He showed me the tea bag but it was all written in mandarin characters and same story, I can't read or write in Chinese Anyway long story short, this tea was amazing: hard to describe the smell but quite woody and with a lingering honey aftertaste. It has a golden colour when you hold the teacup against the sunlight.

This guy told me the tea goes along the lines of a famous tea called "Qimenhong" which is a superior tea according to him.

Qimenhong, he was likely referring to Keemun from Qimen. I have had a Taiwanese "Keemun."

Qimen Hongcha (祁门红茶) is known as Keemun by most English speakers. It is also known as Qihong (祁红), so the tea you drank was more than likely Taiwan Keemun.

Okay, now that we have an idea what it is, which Adagio tea would you say approximates this flavor best? Keemun Rhapsody? Keemun Concerto? Keemun Encore? Golden Monkey?

TwoPynts wrote:Okay, now that we have an idea what it is, which Adagio tea would you say approximates this flavor best? Keemun Rhapsody? Keemun Concerto? Keemun Encore? Golden Monkey?

My experience with Keemun and Taiwan Keemun leads me to say none of the above. It is a different animal in every respect.

mayayo wrote:Last Saturday, I had a nice session of tea drinking at a merchant's shop in the city where I lived and he brewed a tea pronouced "Jee Hong". I wish I knew the correct pinyin spelling of this tea but unfortunately the tea dealer's English is not great. He showed me the tea bag but it was all written in mandarin characters and same story, I can't read or write in Chinese Anyway long story short, this tea was amazing: hard to describe the smell but quite woody and with a lingering honey aftertaste. It has a golden colour when you hold the teacup against the sunlight.

This guy told me the tea goes along the lines of a famous tea called "Qimenhong" which is a superior tea according to him.

Is there any way this could be Oriental Beauty? OB is considered by many to be the best of the Taiwanese teas. You described the tea you tried as a red tea, but the color as golden. I've had OB that was red and some that was golden colored. OB is native to Taiwan (some fakes do exist) and although not a pure black tea, it is heavily oxidized.

Don't know if this will help, but here's the links to two Taiwanese dark teas that Hou De sells. The pictures show both the leaves and the brewed tea.

http://www.houdeasianart.com/index.php? ... ts_id=1266

http://www.houdeasianart.com/index.php? ... ts_id=1275

Chip wrote:My experience with Keemun and Taiwan Keemun leads me to say none of the above. It is a different animal in every respect.

Any suggestions then? Could it be this OB? I'm intrigued.

TwoPynts wrote:

Chip wrote:My experience with Keemun and Taiwan Keemun leads me to say none of the above. It is a different animal in every respect.

Any suggestions then? Could it be this OB? I'm intrigued.

This is the source of mine.

http://www.uptontea.com/shopcart/item.a ... egoryID=26

It is a fully oxidized black, not an OB. To me, it seemed pointless at the time (4-5 year ago) since it was mild to the point of lacking high notes.

I would not mind trying it again however. Perhaps I would have better luck this time, and maybe from a better source!

Thanks Chip.

Thanks for your replies.

The tea I had looks similar to the one posted above:

http://www.houdeasianart.com/index.php? ... ts_id=1266

And it fits the description. But, is it the same tea? Who on earth knows.

Especially after you guys mentioned "Keemun."



That fellow sold his for $78 US (300g/10oz).

I will try to take a pic of the tea container next time I visit the store...Gee I might get into trouble for doing this, lol.

I did manage to snatch a shot of the teabag where the vendor keeps this tea. Well it is kept in a Taiwanese read tea container but the tea itself is not Taiwanese at all. It's a Chinese one:



My apologies for the error. Anyway, what's the reputation of this variety like?

Considering that it is in a clear plastic bag, I doubt it is a very high quality selection or brand.

Yixing hong cha. The local art dealer told me it is not very well-known tea in China and even packed like that (which is very typical of Chinese) it's still good quality. I loved that tea. He told me he is leaving to China end of next week for one month and is going to bring me a better brand but still the same red. Directly from a small farm.

I will keep you informed.