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

[mganz42]

You're not talking about the Jing Tea Shop dancong red tea are you? I have that sitting in my cart (along with some of their other spring 2016 teas), and it seems to have gotten good reviews. But I'd like to hear from someone outside of the reviews on the site

I know the one you're talking about. I just ordered a whole bunch of it, so I haven't tasted this harvest yet. But I was a huge fan of last year's, it even gets its own qing shui ni pot. Very fruity, characteristic dancong aroma, but the taste is much more substantive. Quite a bit of stamina too, so it was a good bang for my buck.

[jayinhk]

Drinking a sample of dancong black tea. First tried this in Guangzhou last year and didn't like it. I still don't like it because of the bitterness. This sample does taste like dancong along with black tea flavor. Perhaps cooler temperatures would help, but there might not be any dancong flavor at all then!

Hey jay,

You're not talking about the Jing Tea Shop dancong red tea are you? I have that sitting in my cart (along with some of their other spring 2016 teas), and it seems to have gotten good reviews. But I'd like to hear from someone outside of the reviews on the site

Hi Frisbeehead,

No, I've never bought anything from Jing Tea Shop. This was a free sample I was given and it got crushed in transit, which may be why it was so intensely bitter!

[Frisbeehead]

Drinking a sample of dancong black tea. First tried this in Guangzhou last year and didn't like it. I still don't like it because of the bitterness. This sample does taste like dancong along with black tea flavor. Perhaps cooler temperatures would help, but there might not be any dancong flavor at all then!

Hey jay,

You're not talking about the Jing Tea Shop dancong red tea are you? I have that sitting in my cart (along with some of their other spring 2016 teas), and it seems to have gotten good reviews. But I'd like to hear from someone outside of the reviews on the site

Hi Frisbeehead,

No, I've never bought anything from Jing Tea Shop. This was a free sample I was given and it got crushed in transit, which may be why it was so intensely bitter!

Ah cool. You should try JTS, good oolongs. I've yet to try their other teas but I've heard good reviews.

[jayinhk]

Thanks, I was on their site a few days ago! I'm actually a few hours from Guangzhou (where they're based) and what I believe is China's largest tea market. Funnily enough, I've never been to Fangcun. There are enough stores there that I could spend a week there and not see everything!

[ethan]

Comparison of Taiwanese blacks:

Bought in person at Muzha in Taiwan, black Tie Guan Yin; & from David's Tea, Honey Black.

From the eastern coast of Taiwan according to the label on the tin, David's Tea tasted a bit rough, but it was good.

The better tea, Black TGY makes me laugh at myself. When I was out to buy, I was often asked which quality did I want. I was a bit uncomfortable w/ that approach & worked to lead discussion away from good & better, medium-priced & expensive etc.

Yet, having had good at my niece's house this morning & better this afternoon. It was that simple. The other simple fact is David's is okay but does have a Wow! factor. It is much nicer when a sip of tea makes me very glad to have that moment of pleasure. Getting to Wow! is worth more $.

I have a 2-lidded tin of some special & quite expensive black TGY that I have not opened. Jay & I did not hesitate to buy 150 grams each when we got to taste it. However, it is difficult to remember going from Wow! to WOW! & how I was sure of the expenditure.

Many teachatters say life is too short to be spent drinking bad tea, but when one is regularly getting a Wow! & is happy, should be messing w/ WOW!?

[jayinhk]

My black TGY is in a bag in a cardboard box...

[ethan]

Oh, that is what I am drinking. The expensive tea in the double-lidded tin is dark-roasted oolong. I get confused. Am going to organize & copy all of my notes in a proper notebook.
The unopened black tea is a high-mountain "9 years" (in Mandarin) vacuum foil bag from Dr Chen.
I like the black TGY from the beige box. I never saw TGY that was not rolled before.

[jayinhk]

Oh, that is what I am drinking. The expensive tea in the double-lidded tin is dark-roasted oolong. I get confused. Am going to organize & copy all of my notes in a proper notebook.
The unopened black tea is a high-mountain "9 years" (in Mandarin) vacuum foil bag from Dr Chen.
I like the black TGY from the beige box. I never saw TGY that was not rolled before.

Yup, the black TGY is not something commonly seen on the market, even in Taiwan. Bok had never heard of it when we told him about it and thought I was talking about high roast TGY!

[CWarren]

Oh, that is what I am drinking. The expensive tea in the double-lidded tin is dark-roasted oolong. I get confused. Am going to organize & copy all of my notes in a proper notebook.
The unopened black tea is a high-mountain "9 years" (in Mandarin) vacuum foil bag from Dr Chen.
I like the black TGY from the beige box. I never saw TGY that was not rolled before.

Those teas were such a temptation. If you had the dark and black in lesser quantities than a whole box I'd have purchased them with the other three I bought from you. They sound awesome! Just recovered from a cold so finally able to enjoy tea again. Can't wait to try the three I did get from you especially the HOR.

[ethan]

CWarren,

Hope you enjoy the teas. Updating availability tonight. Cheers.

[daidokorocha]

Black tea... I have bought a fair amount recently.

I actually am drinking long jing at the moment and not black tea, but I wanted to mention a tea I recently bought again that I nearly forgot about after drinking more or less only sencha in the last year. This is the Qing Pin from Yezi Tea. A certainly spectacular tea that took me past the world of Indian blacks. A black tea could be so much more I found out! Lovely chocolate and white fruit notes that brews up incredibly quickly but with such a strong flavor. One doesn't even need to use much leaf to do so. One almost feels like they cannot run out of resteeps either. Incredibly good tea; one of my favorites. I have other blacks from Yezi bu the only one I've sampled so far is Ming Hong and I didn't find it to be as good as Qing Pin. Certainly good in its own right, but Qing Pin is top tier to me.

[CWarren]

CWarren,

Hope you enjoy the teas. Updating availability tonight. Cheers.

Thank you Ethan. The second batch arrived today. Smells and looks incredible.

[ethan]

Black Tie Guan Yin from Taiwan:

This tea surprises me. Today I tried some w/ a 15 second infusion which resulted in sweet black tea flavor & an expected thin liquor. A minute more steeping did not increase the black sweetness but brought out notes of a fairly green TGY. Playing w/ this some more seems to lead these parameters for different goals:

For a more common black tea result w/ subtle notes of green oolong, add leaf & keep steeping time very quick.

For a greener oolong drink w/ notes of black tea sweetness, add steeping time, not leaf.

This is not a black tea made of TGY leaves, it is a black TGY. When I get the parameters perfect, I think it very delicious. Not quite there yet probably because of my habitual reluctance to commit to a true gongfu preparation.

[jayinhk]

What's the difference between a black tea made from TGY leaves and a black TGY? Funnily enough I had the same tea as you yesterday, brewed with similar parameters and the same results!

[ethan]

What's the difference between a black tea made from TGY leaves and a black TGY? Funnily enough I had the same tea as you yesterday, brewed with similar parameters and the same results!

Jay, A "black tea" is thick in body & boldly flavored. I had thought of all black tea that way regardless of the cultivar oxidized so much it became a black tea. This black tea made of TGY leaves is too unique for me to think of it as another black tea. I drink it & it is "black TGY". TGY characteristics are not buried in black tea characteristics.

There is a chance that however we prepare this tea, we will not get beyond very good tea: A very good black w/ TGY flavors or a very good TGY w/ sweet black tea character. We might need to embrace this tea this way & wonder what the lady did to make it better than we do.