This is an intensely deep flavored black tea. After an initial Gongfu style infusion, the leaves smell of figs, nuts, and dark molasses. The first infusion was a bit hard on the palate, only steeped for about 15 seconds. It has a nice bitterness to it like a dark chocolate. Coming back for a second infusion it is less bitter and more well-rounded. There are hints of cinnamon, oak, and perfume in the aroma, while the taste is a bit hard to describe to me. Dark tobacco and fig flavors might be an appropriate way to describe it, if anything. It has it’s own flavor, like most teas, and is tricky to describe in other terms. The feeling it leaves in my mouth is very dry. I’m not diggin’ that.
By the third infusion, it’s a little more mellow overall, but there’s a definite astringency and bite in the finish. I’m tempted to call it here, as I’m not finding it suited to my tastes much at all, but Gongfu always pushes me to try another steeping.
The fourth infusion is even more dry (eeeek, this is like red alert dryness levels), the flavor has sort of flattened out and it tastes like … underbrewed coffee.
So, there you have it. This tea is not for me. Not feelin it. If you like your tea to give you (and your palate) quite a jolt, this may be right up your alley, but you might want to bring a bottle of Gatorade to rehydrate afterward. It’s so drying.
Judging by some of the other reviews, I half anticipate this could be the first moment for me on Steepster where a fanwagon crashes into the comments section of my review and passively-aggressively berates me for not sharing the euphoria of their experience, or tells me I brewed it wrong. I hope not.
I brewed 3 grams in 100ml of water for 15 seconds, adding 15 each time (this is more than a gram of tea less than Teavivre recommends for Gongfu style). This is how I typically brew red and black teas and usually it works out pretty well. The color of the liquor was a nice medium orange barely leaning toward red, so it didn’t look or seem overbrewed.
But like I said, some people LOVE these kinds of intense teas, so give it a chance if you’re interested. The flavor was not as complex as the aroma and was very dark. It didn’t really have any sweetness, which for me is an almost necessary component for a red or black tea to keep it from falling off the deep end into bitterness.
Flavors: Drying, Fig, Molasses, Tannin, Tobacco
Preparation
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Oh wow, I did not get any of the harshness or jolt that you describe, just smooth sweetness. But I do brew it much cooler, so that is probably why.
I brewed it at 203F. From most of my experience and sources I’ve seen, I’ve thought that was pretty safe for most red/black teas. It definitely works well for the few I have here at home. I wonder though if cooler is necessary for some of these.
I just saw that Teavivre recommends it at 196, so I did brew it hotter than they recommend. That might account for the explosion of tannins to some extent. It’s too bad I used up all my sample so I can’t really retry. :P
I do 195 or cooler, the Teavivre website recommends 194 for this, and 185 for the Bailin Gongfu, both are exquisite at those temperatures. I tend to follow their brewing parameters for their teas because they have never steered me wrong.
Definitely all sources I have found point to the 196-212 range for red/black teas, so 185 is an odd recommendation to me. If I had known Teavivre had recommendations for each specific tea though I’d have tried it that way. I may start going with 196 or so for red/blacks I haven’t tried though to be on the safe side. Some can be unexpectedly delicate.
And by 196 I totally meant 194. Dang Fahrenheit conversions.
I never go higher than 195 for my Chinese black teas, which could be the reason I have never not enjoyed one! I certainly suggest checking their brewing recommendations out for all their teas, it is one of the resources I used when I was first making the transition over to gongfu brewing and it has been very helpful.
This is why I am laboring over trying so many different methods to build this Gongfu infusion guide I’ve been working on for over a year. The internet is teeming with conflicting information about how to brew teas in the Gongfu style, but I’ve found that once you hit the magic numbers for a specific type of tea, almost no tea turns out badly. I must find them all and compile them, for the love of tea! D:
Hehe, I found mine already :P
Several others who reviewed this tea on Steepster reported using even higher temperatures than I did and loved it, so it’s all personal tastes at the end of the day. For some teas, I’ve found there is a fine line between too hot, leading to thin or astringent tea, and too cool, leading to a sort of “flat” and undeveloped taste.
For instance, Ben really enjoys this tea at a hotter temp, he likes his black teas to have a bite.
I’m trying some of my red teas here at home at slightly lower temps around 194 and finding it is much more my tastes.
yay!
Oh wow, I did not get any of the harshness or jolt that you describe, just smooth sweetness. But I do brew it much cooler, so that is probably why.
I brewed it at 203F. From most of my experience and sources I’ve seen, I’ve thought that was pretty safe for most red/black teas. It definitely works well for the few I have here at home. I wonder though if cooler is necessary for some of these.
I just saw that Teavivre recommends it at 196, so I did brew it hotter than they recommend. That might account for the explosion of tannins to some extent. It’s too bad I used up all my sample so I can’t really retry. :P
I do 195 or cooler, the Teavivre website recommends 194 for this, and 185 for the Bailin Gongfu, both are exquisite at those temperatures. I tend to follow their brewing parameters for their teas because they have never steered me wrong.
Definitely all sources I have found point to the 196-212 range for red/black teas, so 185 is an odd recommendation to me. If I had known Teavivre had recommendations for each specific tea though I’d have tried it that way. I may start going with 196 or so for red/blacks I haven’t tried though to be on the safe side. Some can be unexpectedly delicate.
And by 196 I totally meant 194. Dang Fahrenheit conversions.
I never go higher than 195 for my Chinese black teas, which could be the reason I have never not enjoyed one! I certainly suggest checking their brewing recommendations out for all their teas, it is one of the resources I used when I was first making the transition over to gongfu brewing and it has been very helpful.
This is why I am laboring over trying so many different methods to build this Gongfu infusion guide I’ve been working on for over a year. The internet is teeming with conflicting information about how to brew teas in the Gongfu style, but I’ve found that once you hit the magic numbers for a specific type of tea, almost no tea turns out badly. I must find them all and compile them, for the love of tea! D:
Hehe, I found mine already :P
Several others who reviewed this tea on Steepster reported using even higher temperatures than I did and loved it, so it’s all personal tastes at the end of the day. For some teas, I’ve found there is a fine line between too hot, leading to thin or astringent tea, and too cool, leading to a sort of “flat” and undeveloped taste.
For instance, Ben really enjoys this tea at a hotter temp, he likes his black teas to have a bite.
I’m trying some of my red teas here at home at slightly lower temps around 194 and finding it is much more my tastes.
yay!