Red Jade (Highest Quality)

Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Chrysanthemum, Floral, Honey, Rich, Sweet, Tannin, Brown Sugar, Caramel, Cream, Malt, Menthol, Mineral, Molasses, Peppermint, Roasted Nuts, Sweet Potatoes, Toast, Tobacco, Wood, Mint, Smoke, Oak
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Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
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Average preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 2 min, 0 sec 5 g 6 oz / 192 ml

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5 Tasting Notes View all

  • “This tea smells a bit like a chrysanthemum to me. It has that slightly menthol-like astringency mixed with some floral and sweetness. It is a really good Hong Yu and I recommend starting with this...” Read full tasting note
    86
  • “This is the final tea from my October-November backlog to get a review here on Steepster, and before I begin the actual review, allow me to state that I have a bone to pick with the way Beautiful...” Read full tasting note
    95
  • “The smell coming from the wet leaves of this tea is similar to an Assam black tea with a little bit more sweetness in the back of the tea with some spices as well. I did a question ck wash to open...” Read full tasting note
    96
  • “One of the best black teas I’ve ever tasted, this Red Jade variety is incredibly delicious. The tea has a beautiful honeylike aroma and a woody flavor that is a fantastic combination. I rarely want...” Read full tasting note
    90

From Beautiful Taiwan Tea Company

“The flavor reminded me strongly of extremely high-end European soft dark caramels: gently but deeply sweet and with rich woody notes, smooth and with a tiny hint of stone fruit.”

This tea embodies the qualities of top-quality black tea and fine oolong tea. Also known as “Ruby Red”, this is another high quality tea from Mrs. Lee’s farm above Sun-Moon Lake. Extremely rare to find this tea in this quality! Whole leaves, hand-picked and processed by Farmer Lee himself and his lovely wife.

This varietal is unique to Taiwan. This crop is sweet smelling, delicate and smooth! A combination of the best characteristics from the robust, rich Assam tea together with the best characteristics of a fine Taiwanese Oolong.

About Beautiful Taiwan Tea Company View company

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5 Tasting Notes

86
23 tasting notes

This tea smells a bit like a chrysanthemum to me. It has that slightly menthol-like astringency mixed with some floral and sweetness. It is a really good Hong Yu and I recommend starting with this one if you haven’t tried one. The taste is a bit deeper you might expect. I would call it warm and rich. All those metallic and cocoa adjacent flavors that you get from black tea and some tannin that dries out your mouth. Plenty of complexity and flavor to made a great cup of tea.

Flavors: Chrysanthemum, Floral, Honey, Rich, Sweet, Tannin

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 6 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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95
1049 tasting notes

This is the final tea from my October-November backlog to get a review here on Steepster, and before I begin the actual review, allow me to state that I have a bone to pick with the way Beautiful Taiwan Tea Company markets this tea. They encourage drinkers to think of this tea as a dark oolong (even describing it as an oolong on the sample pouches they send out to customers), but then readily admit that it is really a black tea. What’s the point? Stop trying to confuse people. If you think calling a black tea a black tea is going to scare off the likely tiny number of oolong diehards who may not otherwise give it a shot, all I can say is you’re trying to market the wrong product to the wrong crowd anyway. And if you’re going to engage in subversive marketing, fully commit. Don’t be like, “Think of this as something we’re telling you it’s not.” This is a black tea, plain and simple. It does not need to be classified as anything else. It should not be classified as anything else. Okay, the rant is over. I got that out of my system.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 185 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 14 subsequent infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry leaves emitted aromas of malt, sweet potato, molasses, and menthol. After the rinse, I noted clear aromas of wood, wintergreen, peppermint, and toast. The first proper infusion yielded no new aromas for me. On the palate, I noted flavors of malt, molasses, wintergreen, and peppermint that gave way to hints of roasted nuts on the finish. Subsequent infusions introduced impressions of wildflower honey, brown sugar, caramel, minerals, cream, and tobacco. The sweet potato, toast, and wood notes also finally showed up in the mouth. The later infusions offered mild mineral, wood, malt, caramel, molasses, and menthol notes.

I have a big soft spot for Red Jade teas, and this one was easily one of the best I have ever had. As a matter of fact, this would also have to qualify as one of the best overall Taiwanese black teas I have ever had. It was so complex and lively on the nose and in the mouth and displayed no real astringency or bitterness whatsoever. I would have no issue recommending this tea to anyone looking for a high quality Taiwanese black tea for regular consumption.

Flavors: Brown Sugar, Caramel, Cream, Honey, Malt, Menthol, Mineral, Molasses, Peppermint, Roasted Nuts, Sweet Potatoes, Toast, Tobacco, Wood

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 6 g 4 OZ / 118 ML
lteg

I’m glad I’m not alone in finding their “think of it more like something is isn’t” thing. They do that on multiple products! Great review – this sounds like a wonderfully complex black tea. The wish list keeps growing!

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96
33 tasting notes

The smell coming from the wet leaves of this tea is similar to an Assam black tea with a little bit more sweetness in the back of the tea with some spices as well. I did a question ck wash to open the tea up despite it being only semi rolled/twisted. The first steep came in quite minty which I was not expecting but is delicious. This tea tastes like a minty Assamica that has a lot of sweetness behind it. It has quite a bit of complexity and is completely delicious! I would love to get my hands on some more of this tea as I only received a sample of this but it is absolutely delicious. You like darker oblongs with quite a bit of body, complexity and flavor that this is the tea for you. It does not taste very roasted at all so if you don’t like smokiness don’t worry.

Flavors: Honey, Mineral, Mint

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 4 OZ / 120 ML

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90
4 tasting notes

One of the best black teas I’ve ever tasted, this Red Jade variety is incredibly delicious. The tea has a beautiful honeylike aroma and a woody flavor that is a fantastic combination. I rarely want to drink a tea completely straight, but for this variety I make an exception. The only unfortunate part of this tea is how expensive it is compared to many daily varieties. If only I could afford to drink it daily!

Flavors: Honey, Malt, Oak

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 30 sec 3 g 10 OZ / 300 ML

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86
1379 tasting notes

Flavour is not as strong as the scent but the first few sips reveal a wooden character that dances on my tongue and becomes sweet through the after taste. The sweetness is honeyed, not overly strong but beautiful and pure; it just trickles elegantly down my throat, coating my mouth with sweetness.

A few sips more have an increase of dryness with a touch of leather and smoke. On the whole the strength is still medium and though there are some strong sounding flavours they are not thick nor too much ie. A nice balance of combinational notes.

At this point I’m halfway down the cup and I am still finding the sweetness very pleasant, it has not lessened in any way; though the dryness is more apparent.

Now with a few mouthfuls left there is an added sour quality to a thickening strength but throughout it has been a wonderful steep.

More info and longer review on the blog: http://sororiteasisters.com/2016/05/09/red-jade-black-tea-beautiful-taiwan-tea-company/

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec 5 g 11 OZ / 320 ML

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