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Aug 25th, '16, 10:56
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Re: Official what Black (Red) Tea Are You Drinking Right Now?

by Tead Off » Aug 25th, '16, 10:56

Ethan, as you know, I like this tea very much. I have various ways of brewing it and I enjoy all of them. I don't find myself sticking to just one technique because my mood changes and the amount of tea I want to drink at any given time may change, too. I believe that this is a sign that this particular tea is in a very unique class and shows the inherent quality of it. You can hardly go wrong brewing it myriads of ways. Rare tea and on my all time greats list.

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Re: Official what Black (Red) Tea Are You Drinking Right Now?

by kuánglóng » Aug 25th, '16, 12:54

Tead Off wrote: I believe that this is a sign that this particular tea is in a very unique class and shows the inherent quality of it. You can hardly go wrong brewing it myriads of ways. Rare tea and on my all time greats list.
+1
If there's one little issue with HOR, to me it'd be that the dynamics fall a bit short of the rest, but that only relates to gong-fu anyways and I have it on my top list as well.
...
More than 30°C over here today, back to sipping some nice Hai Lang Hao sheng pu.

Aug 26th, '16, 18:41
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Re: Official what Black (Red) Tea Are You Drinking Right Now?

by ethan » Aug 26th, '16, 18:41

9 Years Black from Taiwan: This tea is not super-complex yet not boring. It is quite satisfying. It has proven rather forgiving as I have played w/ parameters. While reducing the amounts of time, leaves, & temperature for other teas recently is my preference, I've found the usual amount of leaf etc. best for this tea (which is a true black tea liking boiling water & minutes, not seconds, for infusion).

HOR parameter "panic" is over. Not steeping > 25 seconds & using water not > 96C keeps astringency & bitterness out of my cup. I used to like a touch of dryness, but not lately.

Cheers

Sep 3rd, '16, 16:43
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Re: Official what Black (Red) Tea Are You Drinking Right Now?

by ethan » Sep 3rd, '16, 16:43

A dian hong from Yunan China drunk w/ Vee & Palita at Tea Village:

This tea is beautiful. The dry leaves look beautiful, smell wonderful, turn to a golden color when wet, then produce a cup full of golden aromatic tea which tastes great. Vee uses a porcelain gaiwan for this tea filled just under half w/ leaves. He started w/ 20 second infusions & increased slightly. I stopped drinking after 6 or 7 rounds but Vee & Palita continued for a few more rounds. Great mouthfeel comes w/ taste of malt etc. Subtle while flavorful.

Years back this tea would have thrilled me. Now my palate is influenced by bolder flavor of the tea I drink from Nepal & some specific flavors I like from black tea from Taiwan, too much for me to put this tea in my teabox though I like it a lot & know it is excellent.

Tea-Village has not put this online yet. I suggested that besides the full Chinese name, "gold" or "golden" should be used

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Re: Official what Black (Red) Tea Are You Drinking Right Now?

by kuánglóng » Sep 4th, '16, 05:39

Happily gong-fuing through my Darjeeling collection.
Brewed up 3g of the organic 2016 FF Singell DJ5 with my buddy last night and got more interesting, intensely fragrant and dynamic steeps than most of my younger shengs would have given us. The leaves just kept giving and the brew stayed incredibly coherent, smooth and nicely textured through almost 800ml before from one step to the next the leaves went K.O. On the somatic front both of us noticed a velvety, comforting sensation in our stomachs and felt very relaxed and revitalized after these rounds; couldn't have asked for a lot more.

Sep 9th, '16, 03:29
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Re: Official what Black (Red) Tea Are You Drinking Right Now?

by ethan » Sep 9th, '16, 03:29

I did end up buying that Dian Hong from Tea-Village. Only took 2 days for me to begin craving it. I may prefer other black teas more but when one finds something truly special, one should get a bit. My preparation in hotel room is a bit different than Vee's but w/ about identical results. Excellent.

Sep 23rd, '16, 20:50
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Re: Official what Black (Red) Tea Are You Drinking Right Now?

by Whalebreath » Sep 23rd, '16, 20:50

Doing some internet browsing I learned Tea is actually grown in Russia it's quite the story and like many things Russian barely survived the fall of the Soviet Empire so given the decent price I decided to buy some real Krasnodar Tea online-here it is.

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Lovely low Tannin brew makes a very creamy cup of Chai.

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Sep 25th, '16, 13:07
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Re: Official what Black (Red) Tea Are You Drinking Right Now?

by debunix » Sep 25th, '16, 13:07

Interesting: I had no idea they grew tea.

Oct 4th, '16, 09:16
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Re: Official what Black (Red) Tea Are You Drinking Right Now?

by ethan » Oct 4th, '16, 09:16

Ruby 18: Dr Chen sells a Ruby 18 that does not make think I might as well blend leaves of Assam & usual black tea & not bother having another tea in the cupboard. This is unique & good, the best 18 I've tried. I know I like it. I may like it a lot later. (Medium price)

Championship Black: Made from same leaves being used for excellent oolong, this black has undertones of green gaoshan & roasted oolong; yet, it is definitely black. Very complex bringing different flavors in layers. Good for many infusions (> any black I've ever had). Like it a lot & think I will be loving it as my palate learns to appreciate this very different tea. (Slightly high price) Note: This tea has a caffeine kick & gives a sort of chaqi. Nice.

Oct 10th, '16, 07:16
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Re: Official what Black (Red) Tea Are You Drinking Right Now?

by ethan » Oct 10th, '16, 07:16

Today drank & bought a black Tie Guan Yin at Maokong. I knew I was buying it at the second infusion; it was good for several. Comes in a nice canister also. Sweet no problem w/ astringency & complex enough. Really a good tea. I went to this shop in Maokong in January w/ Jay & along w/ other tea bought black TGY then. Smooth & delicious.

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Re: Official what Black (Red) Tea Are You Drinking Right Now?

by jayinhk » Oct 10th, '16, 16:04

ethan wrote:Today drank & bought a black Tie Guan Yin at Maokong. I knew I was buying it at the second infusion; it was good for several. Comes in a nice canister also. Sweet no problem w/ astringency & complex enough. Really a good tea. I went to this shop in Maokong in January w/ Jay & along w/ other tea bought black TGY then. Smooth & delicious.
I figured that's where you went! Their black TGY is really quite lovely.

Oct 12th, '16, 01:23
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Re: Official what Black (Red) Tea Are You Drinking Right Now?

by ethan » Oct 12th, '16, 01:23

I had a prolonged tea session w/ 2 Taiwanese who love tea yet never buy any; they drink it w/ their parents. Right away we were disagreeing & laughing at each other. First they thought I use way too little leaf & second use too much time. So, I upped the grams & cut the seconds.

What I have called black w/ no other words is bitten by bugs & made of the same leaves used for donfang meiren (oriental beauty); we started w/ that. I think I was steeping the first infusions before, for 45 seconds or so. This time 30 seconds & I poured, thankfully. This tea is the sweetest black & w/ extra leaf (for my taste) would have been overly sweet. The extra leaf makes me think this would make a great ice tea. We drank half of the first infusion & divided the rest in 2 servers. On empty stomachs early in morning, this black showed its high caffeine content.

A one-minute second infusion produced less sweetness & let other good flavor be noticed. Again we drank half & put the rest in the servers. We tasted the combination of the first & second infusions which was excellent, equal to the pleasure of the first or second infusions drunk on their own.

The 3-minute third infusion was less pleasing. I think on its own, not right after the first two really good rounds, it would be please more. Following right after those rounds, it was only okay. Added to the blend of the earlier infusions, it brought the quality down a bit.

We ate breakfast & then started w/ Ruby Black or Ruby Jade or whatever you want to call #18, the tea created by marrying Assam w/ Sinesis. I was directed to fill the pot one third high w/ leaves & steep for 30 seconds. I did. The tea is very good w/ more leaves. Steeping for the second infusion was 30 seconds & for the third a minute. The second infusion tasted very much like the first. The third was a bit less tasty but quite good. Stacking the first & second infusion w/ the third did not make much difference.

The Taiwanese were surprised we had drunk Ruby 18. It seems a lot of teas were produced in the search for a great new cultivar. After trying a few duds, most people stopped sampling the newly created teas. Additionally, not all Ruby 18 is equal of course. I've had some awful ones & can understand how one might conclude it is not his cup of tea. I like it quite a lot, but as I said before, it is slightly out of the box.

My companions said what we had today is better than what they get at their parents' & relatives' homes. I asked if their
families might think so too. They laughed at the ?. It seems their families would never change their habit of buying the same teas from the same vendors as before.

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Re: Official what Black (Red) Tea Are You Drinking Right Now?

by jayinhk » Oct 12th, '16, 12:28

ethan wrote: My companions said what we had today is better than what they get at their parents' & relatives' homes. I asked if their
families might think so too. They laughed at the ?. It seems their families would never change their habit of buying the same teas from the same vendors as before.
Ah, you got a taste of guanxi and Chinese relationships firsthand. Yes, that is the same case in many places in the Chinese diaspora--people stick to their guns and do business with the same families, sometimes for centuries. At one of the places that supplies me, I've seen young people come in and ask for pu erh--with no discussion of grade, or even raw/ripe (it's almost always ripe in HK). They just ask for a tea and buy what they're given from a certain place, like their parents and perhaps their grandparents before them!

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Re: Official what Black (Red) Tea Are You Drinking Right Now?

by kuánglóng » Oct 16th, '16, 15:30

2015 Second Flush organic Seeyok DJ171

A very expressive tea with complex fruitiness (peach, apricot, cherries, mangosteen, ... depending on how you brew it), some vanilla-esque notes, a wee bit of maltiness and muscatel - in spades - plus some pretty impressive dynamics if gong-fued. Not too friendly to an empty stomach but one of my favorite Himalayan teas from the last 12 months.

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Re: Official what Black (Red) Tea Are You Drinking Right Now?

by Psyck » Oct 20th, '16, 12:04

jayinhk wrote:Ok, so I still have a lot to learn about C Med :lol:

Apparently all tea is cooling except for black tea, which is warming.

https://nutsaboutchineseidioms.wordpres ... ling-food/
Interesting post. Indian culture follows quite closely similar principles of heating and cooling foods.
I wonder what category Chai would come under, as the black tea (yang?) it contains is balanced by the dairy (yin?) component.

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