Yunnan Feng Qing Imperial Dian Hong 2013 Early Spring Pluck

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Yunnan Feng Qing Imperial Dian Hong is a classic dian hong ( very tippy Yunnan black tea ). But it also has several other attributes that make it unique and distinctive.

One of the first we noticed is its enticing aroma that is reminiscent of darkly-roasted coffee or bitter chocolate. While we have tasted Yunnan black teas that have had a preponderance of a biscuit or ‘burnt-toast’ aroma, this coffee-ish/cocoa aroma is much more unusual.

Southwest China is one of the original locations for the tea plant– so it is easy to become enamored with many of the distinctive offerings of our tea gardeners and their master tea artisans. Feng Qing County in southwestern China’s Yunnan Province is famous for producing delicious dian hong tea. Here, in remote areas, tea bushes thrive in the perfect climate for producing great tea.

This leaf is plucked in the early spring from sub-varietal tea bushes that send out new leaf that is smaller in size than that of other tea bushes in this region. The flavor of this tea has a slight leathery, smoky initial taste, followed by the familiar dian hong biscuit, caramel flavor.

Yunnan teas made from mature tea bushes offer the luxury of time as they will generally store well and maintain their complexity for several years. These teas mellow with age and will be best after 12 months to 24 months – heck, we’ve even tasted Yunnan blacks that were ‘just getting good’ 2 years after harvest. The key is proper storage (cool and reasonably airtight: a ceramic jar is ideal), which will serve to underscore the inherent concentration of flavor elements that premium Yunnan leaf has in abundance. We’ve been a big fan of Yunnan black tea for two decades and counting – and will continue to purchase interesting ‘new’ offerings every chance we get!

Steeping Tip:
This tea’s leaf is an open spiral, so it should be measured generously, and you should expect it to yield several steepings from the same measure of leaf. We suggest that our tea enthusiast customers steep this leaf 3 times and possibly more – it all depends on how long each steeping is and how you like your tea. The shorter the amount of time the tea is steeped each time, the more times the leaf can be re-steeped.

For iced tea lovers who drink their iced tea black and plain ( sweet tea this is not!), Feng Qing Imperial Dian Hong makes a rich and smooth, delicious iced tea. We steep the leaf 3-4 times for iced tea and pour each infusion into a glass pitcher. After the tea cools down on the counter, we chill it in the refrigerator. This leaf is rich in amino acids, so will cloud heavily when cool.