Vietnamese Wild Black

Vietnamese Wild Black Hand-Crafted ~ Tao of Tea
Dry: Deeply fragrant aroma of rose, cherry/amaretto and hints of osmanthus. Overall floral and fruity and very complex.
Wet: Sweet and deep woodsy aroma with nuances of baked-caramelized nuts, and an aspect of horse leather or naturally fragrant oils.
Leaf: Darkly oxidized, twisted and textured leaves, of various size and length with some leaves being nearly 3” long and the density of the leaves being variable.
Cup: A pale brassy-peach hued liquor with amber depth. There is an immediate aroma from the cup that is reminiscent of oolongs served in more traditional Chinese restaurants, where the metallic scent of the pot contributes to the deeper tea aroma. The initial flavor is deeply woody and wild, elusive hints of flavors found around the savored pit of a cherry mingle with a slightly spicy caraway-leathery note, slipping into sweetness and hinting with a glint of metallic on the aftertaste. Extremely smooth and the almost ‘thin’ delicate flavors are confusing as the mouth indicates a denser body and viscosity. Overall the cup is dynamic and is challenging to define, being both simple and elusive, but clear and distinct in the same breath.
Directions: 1st extraction: 5g in 8oz 195 degree water steeped for 2 minutes in graduated glass pot and decanted into glass tea ocean. 2nd steep: 200 degree water for 3 minutes, with same tools, resulting in deeper flavors that were more robustly woodsy and the spicy was lightly hinting at chicory, but the overall flavor remained close to the ‘pit of a cherry’. 3rd extraction: 200 degrees 3-4 minutes and resulting in excellent color extraction with cup beginning to fade into a soft metallic and textured cup and significantly mellowed profile.
Notes: This tea was my first black tea from Vietnam. I’ve had oolongs, green/scented-jasmine green teas from the country but never a cup that was truly black, nor anything so distinctly sources in North Vietnam or from an aged tree from the country. I can’t say enough about how amazing the dry aroma and the craft of the leaves are, particularly upon first inspection and with no cupping expectations. I was very excited to try this and to share it. The cup seems to want to communicate in a complex language of flavors, textures, and weight, with color being vibrant consistently and not a clear indicator of strength. The variable leaf size I think also affects the extraction and its strength and also contributes to the elusive nature of some of the flavors. The notes from the Tao of Tea state:
Northern tea region of Ha Giang in Vietnam is home to old growth tea trees also know as ‘Shan Tea’. A pilot project to help preserve these tea forests is underway. We work directly with this project to source this Wild Black. Long, stylish leaves, well crafted into a robust, hearty black tea.

I almost always order high quality loose tea direct from China. I ordered this tea primarily for the novelty as I have never had tea from Vietnam. I was pleasently surprised by the very high quality appearance and taste. I used 8oz 200 deg water with the tea bag and brewed for 5 min.It has light flavor and body. Taste like malt, honey and Cocoa. As good as any Dianhong I’ve tried. This will not be the last tea I try from Vietnam.

So, this is my second experience with an unflavored Vietnamese black tea. The first (Simpson & Vail’s Vietnam Black) didn’t quite do it for me, so I was eager to give another Vietnamese black tea a shot. I’m glad I did. This one is really nice.

This tea comes to us from the province of Ha Giang in northern Vietnam. This part of the country is heavily forested, and Ha Giang is particularly known for its tea forests. To be clear, these really are forests of wild tea trees! This tea is harvested from these trees. I brewed this tea a couple of ways. I tried a range of temperatures and steep times and got pretty consistent results across the board. For the purposes of this review, I will be reviewing my favorite preparation (1 tsp of dry leaf steeped for 5 minutes in 208 F water).

Prior to infusion, the long, twisted leaves produced an aroma of wood, spice, dried cherry, leather, tobacco, smoke, and cocoa. After infusion, the resulting liquor was a dark amber. Robust aromas of dried cherry, brown toast, caramel, molasses, tobacco, leather, wood, smoke, and spice were evident on the nose. In the mouth, I detected intriguing notes of dried cherry, wood, smoke, tobacco, leather, caramel, molasses, chocolate, herbs, cinnamon, nutmeg, malt, and brown toast, as well as a subtle earthiness. The finish was woody, sweet, smoky, and spicy with a slight dryness and astringency.

Again, I quite like this tea. It is not something I would want to have every day, but the rustic, woodsy flavor profile is really pleasant and intriguing. It definitely beats the last Vietnamese black tea I drank. I would have no problem recommending this to fans of quirky, unique black teas.

Thank you Cookies for an amazing tea!
Heavy notes of pine and ceder , lighter notes of smokiness like a keemun tea and some dry cherry . a definite order for me soon !

I had this tea this morning. This was a sample from Cameron B.

When I smelled the leaves dry, I thought “uh oh”. It wasn’t a good smell to me. Kind of leathery.

I brewed at 200F for 3 min, 8oz. I can truthfully say I have never had a tea like this one. I wanted something different and I certainly got something different.

This is a very bold robust black tea. It brews up really dark. It was very woody & earthy with notes of leather . I’ve read notes with others saying they got leather notes in other teas. When I would read that, I would cringe. Yuk. Leather. However, it’s not as terrible as it seems. It was actually quite good. It was sweet and smooth and also had fig notes.

Will I be wanting to buy this tea? No , but I’m glad I got the chance to try it!

Another sample from cookies. She recommended I try this one next since it’s apparently quite similar to the Wild Black from Titan that I just tried. The leaves look somewhat different – the color is more of a chocolate brown than black and they’re more broken. There are some stems and golden tips included as well. Dry scent is similarly woody but with more of a sweet note.

The taste is also fairly similar, with strong wood and earth/mineral flavors. However, this tea is a bit smoother and less harsh, and there’s a nice creamy note and smooth mouthfeel. It’s a bit sweet, and it’s a clear sweetness that, along with the mineral note, makes me think of cool stream water. There’s also a teensiest bit of dried fruit, possibly raisin or cherry. Pretty tasty!

The dry leaves in this one are quite lovely. They’re the deep black twisty twig type leaves that are nice and full. Brewed, the liquor smells a bit smoky. More of the Keemun sort of smoke rather than a Lapsang though. Like a smoldering bit of cedar wood. The taste isn’t smoky at all, but the wood notes are there with a bit of very ripe black cherry. It’s smooth with no astringency.
It tastes like its own thing, not being particularly comparable to any other region. What an intricate interesting tea! I don’t know that I’ve ever tried a black tea from Vietnam before, but I’m definitely going to seek them out after this.

And a hearty Happy Thanksgiving to all my American Steepster pals. I hope you all had a lovely day.

My favorite. I tend to get a dry cherry profile. Color ends up darker than Tao of Tea shows in their picture – maybe I use a little more than they recommend. Anyway, it’s my go-to tea.