The dry leaf smells wonderful a big wallop of fruity spiced compote but the experience is severely disjointed and displays only some of those notes within the watery body. Wet rocks taste but not mineral with vestigial oddities that I can’t place. A strange bitter-herbaceous finish that I imagine as the taste of chomping on some water-logged thistle flowers. Flowery-plum skin aftertaste lingers and with this third steep, the brew does taste like plum but not sweet. The first steep gave a warming/cooling camphorous rush in my chest which, beyond the dry leaf aroma, is my favorite part of this tea. I’m not going to bother going beyond this third infusion.
This is a good candidate for a home re-roasting.
Flavors: Allspice, Apricot, Bitter, Blackberry, Blueberry, Camphor, Chocolate, Coffee, Flowers, Herbaceous, Honey, Peat, Plum, Raspberry, Sour, Thistle, Wet Rocks, Wet Wood
Preparation
Comments
Your “wet rocks but not mineral” makes me think of the way Turkey Creek smells after a flash flood :)
There you go, making me miss Midwest thunderstorms. I did get to experience a hair-raising one in Florida a few weeks ago.
Every da Hong pao I’ve ever tasted has reminded me of pine cones boiled in bong water. Not in an unpleasant way just weird. Goes nicely with a Szechuan hot pot but otherwise not something I crave
There’s a big difference between Dahongpao that is composed of Beidou and/or Qidan cultivars compared to many that are mixes of ‘brick weed’. Lighter processing can give me that flavor reminiscent of bong water. A lot of times I pick up on cannabis in lighter roasted yancha. Darker roasts of Dahongpao made with Beidou and/or Qidan can produce some surprisingly complex and smooth teas without that funk. Some people may mention the difference between Banyan- and Zhengyan-grown teas; I don’t have enough experience comparing the two since Zhengyan teas are generally prohibitively expensive. Glad you can enjoy the funky ones.
Your “wet rocks but not mineral” makes me think of the way Turkey Creek smells after a flash flood :)
There you go, making me miss Midwest thunderstorms. I did get to experience a hair-raising one in Florida a few weeks ago.
Every da Hong pao I’ve ever tasted has reminded me of pine cones boiled in bong water. Not in an unpleasant way just weird. Goes nicely with a Szechuan hot pot but otherwise not something I crave
There’s a big difference between Dahongpao that is composed of Beidou and/or Qidan cultivars compared to many that are mixes of ‘brick weed’. Lighter processing can give me that flavor reminiscent of bong water. A lot of times I pick up on cannabis in lighter roasted yancha. Darker roasts of Dahongpao made with Beidou and/or Qidan can produce some surprisingly complex and smooth teas without that funk. Some people may mention the difference between Banyan- and Zhengyan-grown teas; I don’t have enough experience comparing the two since Zhengyan teas are generally prohibitively expensive. Glad you can enjoy the funky ones.