Yun Nan Dian Hong Black Tea Full-Leaf

Part three of four in my Teavivre Dian Hong series.

Prepared gongfu style, in a ceramic gaiwan. No rinse. Steeping times: 5, 5, 5, 5, 8, 12, 15, 20, 30, 20, 35, 60, 90; 2 minutes, 5, 12.

Quick side note: Even though the temperature in Teavivre’s directions say 195, I had to lower it to 190 because my kettle doesn’t have that setting. Then I bumped it up to 200 because the liquor tasted weak.

This Dian Hong is also visually appealing. Truly full leaf, many almost up to an inch long. Needle-like. The leaves are mostly dark, a few have golden downy hairs. They smell like a milk chocolate bar. After sitting in the heated gaiwan bowl, the leaves give off an aroma of freshly baked marble cake. (I wanted the real thing….) The wet leaf, at first, smells of malt and herbs. In the middle of the session, the chocolate comes back in the form of brownies.

The liquor is clear and orange-gold in color, having a full body. The texture starts off silky and smooths out by the end. It takes a few infusions for this Dian Hong to decide what it wants to taste like.
1: malt.
2: malt and oats.
3 through 5: chocolate on the tongue, a tangy note on the roof of the mouth.
From the sixth infusion to the end,tThe flavor is consistent – a light sweet potato.

I liked this. The quality is good, but for me it’s OK like the “regular” Dian Hong. So far, the golden tips is my favorite. Aroma-wise, this one is a blast. Taste-wise, I had difficulty distinguishing the different flavors throughout the session. I’m pretty sure didn’t overbrew the first few infusions because they were practically flash infusions. Even so, I enjoyed the session from the middle and onward. Despite the sample being slightly more expensive than the sample for the golden tips, this is actually cheaper – almost the same price more double the amount.

I really enjoyed this, probably because it reminds me of Bailin Gongfu. I’d like to get a bit more to try the two together and see which I prefer between the two, it’d be a pretty close contest though, they’re very similar to me. Dark, roasty, slightly cocoa-y, but this makes me think a bit of coffee though whereas Bailin doesn’t really. Not for the flavour, just that it’s got a bit of kick to it.

… Definitely going to get some of this with my Black Friday order!

EDIT: Also worth noting that the leaves are humongous! The biggest I’ve seen, which, granted, I’m still a bit of a tea noob, but still. Very long and needle-like.

Good black tea, smells nice.

This tea has a nice malty aroma. It has a light sweet taste with flavors of chocolate and honey wheat. It is a decent black tea, but it is more adequate than impressive.

Finally getting down to this sample I ordered a few months ago. Sooo behind on these. Ripping open the packet, I initially picked up on an aroma akin to sweet potato chips. Then a touch of malt and honey. But mostly crunchy sweet potato.

The malt and sweet potato switch places in flavour, however. I hardly get the latter, but the malt is dominant, although even then, it’s also delicate. The flavour profile in general is very gentle and mild. I like it, but I wouldn’t purchase more.

Compared to teavivre’s golden tipped version, the dry leaf of this is larger and darker with a bit of gold. Scent is slightly less fragrant but still lovely.
Brews a darker cup and tastes more of chocolate and less potato, so perhaps a wee bit less delicate in taste as compared to the golden tip. Very delicious!!
I am glad I bought this and have gone through my bag quickly. I will certainly restock.

It’s 10 degrees in my neck of the woods this morning. That’s a little chilly for South Carolina. Ten degrees is probably a little chilly for polar bears. All is not lost, though, as I am about to try out a new tea (new for me) from Teavivre on this arctic morning!

When I opened the customary Teavivre silver double packaging, my nostrils were immediately greeted by the rich, leathery, sweet, and earthy aroma that is a trademark of my favorite Teavivre black teas. This made me even more anxious to begin the brewing process.

I steeped the long black and brown full tea leaves for three minutes at 195 degrees. The finished color was a dark reddish amber. The aroma was sweet with a slight honey quality.

The taste of this tea was instantly complex. After about my third sip, my taste buds began to disseminate the different flavor sensations. Sweet, fruity, and malty were all recognized. There also was just the right twinge of earthiness to cap off a fine flavor symphony. As with several of Teavivre’s teas, this one was so smooth that I had to force myself to savor each sip and not gulp it down.

There was no astringency to this blend. The aftertaste was light and gentle. It dissipated as if in a delicate mist.

You probably have surmised by now that I like this tea. Wrong! I LOVE this tea! It’s another terrific selection from the folks at Teavivre. This one is a bit more expensive than some of their other black teas but I am already saving my pennies for my next order!

I received this tea in the Anniversary sale from TeaVivre. Thank you!

All 4 Dian Hong teas have been on my wish list. I have currently only tried the Golden tip. I know it is most folks favorite, but for me the flavors were more fruity and almost tart instead of sweet. I am finding that I like black teas that have deeper notes like cocoa, wood, smoke (well kinda). This tea for me seemed to be a good combination of both worlds. It had a darker flavor with hints of cocoa, but the finish of the sip was very fruity. I enjoyed this western style and was able to re-steep this 4 times. I actually enjoyed the 2nd steep the most. The flavors were tilted more towards the darker side and less on the fruity side. Thank you TeaVivre for the opportunity to try this tea. I hope that we get to meet again some day.

Dry leaf aroma: Licorice candy sweetness, sweet potato, slight peppery
Brewed tea: Creamy, sharp sweetness, full mouth taste

This twiggy looking tea has a nice peppery note, which surprisingly stuck around for the second steep. The faint spice mixes into dash of malty hay and the syrupy sweet flavours of honey and overripe stone fruit. This bright orange tea is fitting on this warm autumn day.

Thanks for the sample, Amariel!