ZY51: China Yunnan TGFOP

This black (or rather, red) tea is hearty and entrancing. The dry leaf smells of dark chocolate, toasted wood, and cooked sugar (like dark caramel or toffee). I found the wet leaf aroma depends mainly on the water temperature. Boiling water draws a pungent fragrance delightfully suggestive of soy sauce. Slightly cooler water (approx. 95°C) yields earthier, woodier notes.

I have prepared this tea in both Western and gongfu styles. Western-style preparation gives a mahogany brew with prominent notes of smoke and balsamic vinegar. With this tea, I obtain four solid infusions with Western brewing parameters (1 tsp leaf per 6 oz boiling water). The first two steeps are robust and mildly astringent, while the last two tend to be more subtle and earthy with mustier forest flavors.

Gongfu brewing produces fuller smoke and dried fruit notes in the first 2-3 infusions. Later steeps unfold into toasted nuts and woodchips with hints of dark chocolate. 75 mL of boiling water with 5g of leaf provided 9-11 substantial infusions with brewing times of 10, 15, 21, 28, 38, 53 seconds, etc.

This is one of my favorite teas to enjoy after an evening meal. Additionally, it blends very well with cream and would probably make an excellent bubble tea base.

A nice, slightly earthy tea. Smooth, and fairly strong, quick to brew (I use no milk or sugar, go for quick brews that are not too tannic).

The brew was a bit too astringent for my taste. One sugar cube in a teacup was too sweet, but it needs some sweetness to balance. Used finum bag with a ceramic teapot, and drank with half n half. Next time will try less steep time.

Not loving this. It’s pretty smokey, though not as bad as the Mincing Lane Breakfast Blend I tried and gave away last week. I bought an absolutely (to me) enormous bag of it because there wasn’t a sample size — 4.4 oz. Will probably offer to send it to someone on the Discussions board, unless someone reading my tasting notes would like it :)

For my third cupping of this tea, I reduced the temperature as well as the steep time. This brought out a pleasant smokiness in the flavor, but seemed to leave the overall flavor underdeveloped. Having run through my entire sample of the tea, at this point, I still feel that there is potential in this tea that I have not fully explored, so I will probably purchase another sample in order to continue attempting to bring out its full characteristics.

This was quite a nice black tea. It was very smooth, slightly sweet, and had no astringency.