Da Hong Pao

I spent the day at work enjoying this tea. I’ve had it before, and I don’t think I appreciated it as much the first time around. This is a top shelf oolong. I’ve been drinking several different versions of this lately and this one is hands down my favorite. It is really pricey, and I know that shouldn’t factor into it, but somehow it does. Is this twice as good as others I’ve tried (it costs twice as much as some), I’m not sure, but it is really good. If you want to splurge on an excellent oolong – this would be a good choice. I’ve upped my rating a little bit and I would probably rate this even higher if it wasn’t for the cost.

A very high quality roasted oolong, actually one of the better Da Hong Paos I had an honor to try. Roasty, mellow, slight bitterness – everything is balanced in this tea. It’s hard to go wrong with a Big Red Robe, but this particular one is a sure hit. Delicious tea, very good quality. It’s not a cheap one, but it’s truly a treat for a special occasion. Your gaiwan or yixing pot will thank you :)

An incredibly fragrant tea, I feel like I’m sitting in front of camp fire or smelling the scent of wafting marijuana. Great mouth feel as well. I love this tea and my husband loves it even more.

It appears I haven’t posted a note on this tea, which I think is from 2016. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 200F for 7, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of char, roast, wood, and grain. The first steep has notes of grain, cannabis, char, nuts, caramel, roast, minerals, and wood. The char becomes more prominent in the second steep, as are roast and walnuts. Molasses, oakwood, and an incense-type quality emerge in the next couple steeps, and I can really notice the minerals in the aftertaste. Steeps five and six are more roasted, woody, and mineral, and are a bit drying. I also get a tobacco note. The end of the session has notes of roast, wood, char, wet rocks, grain, and minerals.

This is a very enjoyable Da Hong Pao whose smoky flavours don’t detract from the drinking experience. I found that it gets kind of boring by the seventh steep, although this is a minor complaint. It’s a perfect tea for this cool fall evening!

2.25 tsp for 500mL water @90C, Western style, steeped three minutes.

I received a sample of this tea from the 2017 Toronto Tea Fesitival’s oolong tasting box.

The instructions on the packet are alarming: boiling water, 100C. What?

I decided to ignore that and use 90C water. And I’m glad I did.

Dry leaf: twisted and dark strip-style oolong. Scents are sweet, toasty, anfd a bit musty.

Wet leaf: long and glossy dark brown, with some dark green. Scents of toast and molasses.

First infusion

Liquor is light copper, no down. Sweet and toasty with some dark fruit notes and a strong mineral finish. In fact, it’s very sweet, almost like a pale honey. A heavier body than I was expecting. I’ve made a 500mL beaker here, so it might be a while before I try a second infusion.

Sweet, toasty, fruity, and mineral. Lovely.

A really nice roasted taste, but also sweet. I had purchased a sample to see if I would like it and it’s really nice. A light brown/chestnut colour in the cup. I made this in the gaiwan with short steeps. Right now I’m on my third drinkable steep and enjoying the mouth feel. I was disappointed that it only allowed a few resteeps. With good quality tea I usually get quite a few short steeps. With this one the 4th steep was too light.

My son’s girlfriend had tea with me Sunday morning and we tasted a couple of oolongs. He has gotten her hooked on puerh and she fell in love with Harney’s Hot Cinnamon Spice while she was here, and she has had a few greens and liked them but hasn’t had them at home much. I wanted her to try oolongs, as she had only had one or two green oolongs here.

I had to get the package to make sure of the company name. When I opened the bag to give a sniff to refresh my memory for this note, the aroma was so enticing that I had to reach in and take out a leaf to chew on. That doesn’t work out with all teas for me, but it is quite enjoyable with this one. It is very true to the flavor of the steeped tea.

We tried this using the aroma cup set that Tea Ave sent. The scent cup feels wonderful in your hand while it is warm if the day is chilly and damp and your hands are cold. The tall narrow cup is the perfect size and shape for me to hold onto and warm up.

The aroma of this one blow us away. I love Da Hong Pao already, and I could see that ChelseaR enjoyed it. It had a lovely chocolate aroma, with burnt sugar, and a nice bit of smoke. We had several nice resteeps from it, too. That oolong latex or thick resin flavor is there in scent and taste as well.

This is one of the teas my daughters picked up as a gift for me at the Toronto Tea Festival, and I think this is a company we will likely order from again.

Drank this tea at the shop in Toronto. It was absolutely wonderful. I can’t wait to order more from their website.

Thank you Boychik for this sample. This is a nice tea. The strong note is roasted barley but it is not too strong. It has a very pleasant taste to it. I am afraid I was too lazy this morning to brew this gongfu style. I brewed it western style.

I brewed this once in an 18oz teapot with 6g leaf and 190 degree water for 3 min.

This tea was really tasty, I had a sample. It tasted roasted for sure, so it was good for the cool weekend we had here in PA. I see it isn’t cheap, which makes sense, as the ones that steep this well many times usually aren’t. That said, I am not totally sure I would purchase it. As good as it is, there are many I have tasted with similar “tasty roasty oolong” flavor (for lack of better adjectives in my arsenal to explain it) that are less expensive. But, I recommend people give it a try if they can.