compressed Dian Hong, Yunnan black tea cake

Fully oxidized tea leaves for a robust cup.

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May 14th, '18, 00:55
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compressed Dian Hong, Yunnan black tea cake

by john.b » May 14th, '18, 00:55

This type and form of tea isn't that novel; it comes up. I tried another version last year and really liked it and was happy to try a second from a Russian vendor, Moychay, that was also nice:

http://teaintheancientworld.blogspot.co ... -hong.html

It touches on the aging issue a little, that sun-dried blacks are said to improve over a few years' time. There was a question on here (Tea Chat) about an ideal storage environment, related to whether those should be stored like sheng or not (humidity level controlled in the same range) and I don't get into that.

I've tried typical loose sun dried Dian Hong across a time frame of a year or so and it did improve a little but I never made an attempt to maintain limited air contact and a 70-80% RH environment as for sheng. Living in Bangkok the climate is already that, so it would relate more to not keeping sheng in a completely sealed package.

To add a little about the tea the flavors were dried fruit, with a little tartness, and plenty of earthier aspects along with a "warmer" mineral base (different rocks than Wuyi Yancha or sheng aspects relate to, I guess).