Wanted to post something but didn’t want to spend forever dissecting it so I grabbed something tasty but somewhat one-dimensional… Okay, maybe it’s two-dimensional if care is taken but I brewed this at twice the concentration I ought to have. I’ll consider posting a second note tonight if I decide to brew again at a more appropriate strength.
4g/100mL, 3min-4min-5min progression with 95-93-90C water.
Leaf Appearance – Really long, near-black leaves mixed with largish corkscrew shaped leaves of same color and disconnected, largish golden buds (all three in roughly even proportions). Low density; 1 Tbsp = 3.75g.
Dry Fragrance – Cherry chocolate chip bread.
Wet Leaf Aroma – Black olives… WTF?
Liquor Aroma – Even more cherry chocolate chip bread.
Liquor Color – Yellow-orange brown. Translucent – enough clarity to see bottom of cup.
Flavor (Hot) – Bready. Chocolatey. Cherry-y… Plum pit woodiness.
Flavor (Cooled) – Crisp and cupric. Acorn-like. Pinot Noir faint tannin. Artechoke heart.
Aftertaste/nose – Malty. Faint plum skin and spiced bread (nutmeg & cassia) toast.
At this strength the discernible characteristics are somewhat shortlisted. Shorter brewing times with high concentration doesn’t really help this one too much… I like it better ’round 2g/100mL at the same times I used here. Still, it never becomes too dynamic – just comforting and easy drinking with varying degrees of intensity (mild overall in all aspects).
Tasty, but far from the “King” of anything. Tanyang/Tanyangcun is just to the south of Shouning county’s administrative border, under the auspices of Fu’an. But if there’s one thing I’ve leaned about terroir and city/county borders by living in wine country, it is better to look at mountain ranges and relative proximity to bodies of water than where county lines are drawn. This tea tastes very little like the classical “Panyang” or “Tanyang” red teas… Or either of the other two famous MinBei HongChas (Zhenghe/Changde and Bai Lin/Pak Lam), though I’m certain this has far more to do with leaf size than locale. It tastes very much like a mild red tea tossed together with a very mild dark oolong. Sort of in-between a very bud-heavy Bai Lin and one of the TTES reds like the #18 Ruby. I’ll leave it at that.
Inexpensive for what it is. Tasty but not great… It makes a fantastic iced tea in summer similar to Bai Hao Oolong but a bit more brisk. Picked this up last winter but still have around 150g left – really hasn’t changed all that noticeably.
