Hua Xiang Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong

Got 50 g of this just in from Verdant and I definitely like it! Most complex and unusual ZSXZ I’ve had. Very smooth and very sweet, with only a touch of bitterness in the aftertaste and minimal astringency.

I prefer the flavor profile (although less complex) of OWT’s ZSXZ, but this gets the same rating because it lasted more infusions (at least 12) before weakening.

I like the tea a lot and will enjoy drinking the rest, but doubt I would reorder at $0.35/g. I could see repurchasing if it were closer to the $0.20-0.25/g range.

Harvest: Spring 2022

Dry leaf: pear, orange, sour.
Wet leaf: malt.
Flavor: graham cracker, maple syrup, walnut, sweet, brown sugar.

This tea in general leaves my mouth feeling pretty dry, I can’t decide if this is a good thing or not. The aftertaste is quite sweet and pleasant.

Hands-down one of the best straight black teas I’ve ever tried! Mad props to mtchyg for sending this along!

It tastes, to me, like a really crusty dark multi-grain bread. The kind you tear apart with your hands and just eat straight. It’s smooth and it’s malty and it’s just bangin’. I’m currently poking around Verdant tea right now, looking at other stuff to try. (I have no impulse control.)

Oh man this is a good black tea. The scent alone is enough to get me. The wet leaf, upon my first few sniffs, reminded me of a raisin oatmeal with some molasses drizzled on top. If you are a hater of oatmeal, raisins, or raisin oatmeal (I know you are out there), please don’t write this tea off. Maybe to you it smells like a toasted graham cracker with a note of malt. Who knows?

What I do know is that this tea smells and tastes delicious. It is a bit lighter in terms of black tea flavor so for those of you who don’t care for the heavier black teas, you may enjoy this. Sweet, smooth, very drinkable with a nuanced flavor/scent profile that makes you pay attention.

This tea was just lovely, as it seems all the blacks are by Verdant. This one was one of the teas that wasn’t as described on the site, however—not to me anyway.

The predominating flavors were cocoa and bran, with a raisin and brown sugar kind of sweetness that was perfect with the other flavors.

There was a tiny bit of astringency and minerality, but they were not unpleasant.

The only thing I have to knock this tea for was that 90% of the life was sucked out of the leaves in the first steep (western). For the price, I would expect it to last at least two or three, so I am knocking some points off for that.

Before I start this review, allow me to state that I was not familiar with this style of tea prior to trying this version. I knew that this was a black tea harvested from the same tea cultivar used to make Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong, a.k.a. lapsang souchong. That was about the extent of my knowledge pertaining to this particular tea. Apparently, there are two major distinctions between this tea and lapsang souchong. The first is that this tea is produced from the young buds and smaller leaves of the plant, while the more familiar lapsang is normally made using the larger leaves. The second is that this tea is not pine smoked.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. Again, I used Verdant’s suggestions as a starting point and then went with my gut. I started by steeping 5 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 195 F water for 5 seconds. I followed this infusion with 11 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 8 seconds, 11 seconds, 14 seconds, 17 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 45 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 30 seconds, and 2 minutes.

Prior to infusion, the dry tea leaves gave off a wonderful aroma that reminded me of a combination of cocoa, brown sugar, and vanilla bean. After infusion, I noted strong scents of roasted grain, cocoa, brown sugar, cream, and vanilla bean. In the mouth, there were pleasantly robust notes of cocoa, brown sugar, cream, vanilla bean, and roasted grain. I also noted a trace of minerals that was most apparent on the finish. Subsequent infusions displayed a slightly enhanced minerality, while black walnut, hazelnut, and maple syrup joined the aromas and flavors detailed above. The final series of infusions was very mineral heavy, offering fleeting impressions of cream, vanilla, maple, and cocoa on the nose and in the mouth.

This was a nice black tea. It kind of reminded me of a less honeyed Jin Jun Mei. I did, however, wish that the flavors separated slightly more and that they displayed greater staying power. Still, I could see myself reaching for this if I were in the mood for a lighter, sweeter black tea. I could also see myself recommending this to people looking to branch out from some of the more common Chinese black teas.

This tea has a pleasing sweet aroma. It is sweet and savory with notes of maple syrup and raisin bran cereal. It is a very delicious tea.