Plum Rooster - Long Jing Black

I love all the cute names and pictures that Teabento has. It’s a really yummy black tea even I can’t describe the flavours I’m getting out of it. I blame the fact that it’s been awhile since I was drinking tea on a regular basis. Getting my butt back on the tea wagon!

VariaTEA was kind enough to send me a sample of this one, along with several other teabento blacks. I had a nice, relaxed session with it while watching The Office with my boyfriend.

I didn’t take detailed notes, as I didn’t expect the flavor to change much over time, which it didn’t. Honestly I’m not sure which types of red tea are most suitable for gongfu cha, but since I’m enjoying familiarizing myself with the ritual and exploring different steep times, I don’t really mind if the tea tastes similar throughout the steeps.

Anyway, this one was quite delicious. It has amazing brown sugar notes along with rich malt and deep dried fruit flavors. The rather small leaves are so flavorful! I found the sugary notes to be very sweet and decadent in the early steeps, and they became deeper, like dark burnt sugar, in the later ones. There was also a light musty hay flavor that began to crop up towards the end, and it reminded me a bit of white tea. The last steep had a lovely lasting sweet flavor, and I thought that was a perfect cup to end on.

Overall, very yummy. Smooth, malty, sweet, rich, and slightly fruity. Happily, I have a little bit left over, so I can try it as a Western-style cup next time!

5g – 110ml – 200°F – rinse/10/15/20/30/40/60/120/240s

Still pretty obsessed with this as an iced tea. Brought some camping, and it wasn’t quite as good, but still satisfying! (Also – baby enjoyed all the new sights and smells of camping! And he slept okay! So it was fun.)

I had this with breakfast and honestly the tea was gone in two gulps. I don’t remember details but I know I enjoyed it so there’s that.

I’ve been laughing at the “extreme weather” warnings on Pokemon Go all week. It’s been cold here but nothing unusual or “extreme”. TODAY those warnings are true. It is dangerous cold out there. I took a 7 minute walk to spin a poke stop and that was more than enough time outside. Earlier today it was -32C + wind something like -42 windchill. The wind has gone down a but but it’s still in the -38C range. Yeah cold.

So I’ve spent most of the day watching Netflix and doing a whole lot of nothing.

Plum Rooster was next on my list of Teabento teas to try. The description of this one sounded really interesting. It is interesting – as in it’s unusual – but it’s another one that just doesn’t work for me. It’s way more fruit juice and not enough black tea. Fruity fruity fruity with a little honey.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BdIprMrh2ZH/?taken-by=dex3657

Plum Rooster is the favorite so far out of the black teas from Teabento. It is a black Long Jing. The notes are of pomelo, butter, mineral, and various baked goods like eggy cookies and sourdough. This tea is quite delicate, so it gets bitter and dry in 5 infusions.

Full review, along with other Teabento black tea reviews, on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/black-teas-teabento/

Tasty and unique black with sweet notes of ripe plum and honey balanced by savory notes of soy sauce, peppercorn, and toasted grain. So far this is my favorite tea I’ve tried from Teabento.

Mmm, lovely earthy, sweet, rich, cocoa, bread, malt with hints of sweet potato. I used a bit more dry leaf in my western style steep than I normally would and I think it served me well. This reminds me very much of Laoshan Black, which I have been drinking fairly often in the past couple of weeks, but with a twist. It has that same smooth bread, rich, malt, cocoa, earth thing going on, but more sweetness and a lighter lilt to it as compared to the heavier more grounded feel of a Laoshan Black.

A very enjoyable cup.

The loveliness continues in steep two and three, though the sweetness begins to fade and the slightest bit of astringency starts to set in.

Thank you, teabento, for sending me a generous sample of this to try.

I was intrigued to see this relatively uncommon tea on Teabento’s website. This seems to be part of the trend to turn varietals that are usually made into white or green teas into blacks, sometimes with mixed results. Thanks for providing a sample for me to try!

The leaves aren’t pressed flat as in the green version of this tea, but are your standard spindly, somewhat fragmented hongcha. Upon opening the bag, I understand why Teabento decided to call it Plum Rooster, as the scent of plum skin and barley sugar hits my nose. I followed their steeping directions for infusions of 1 minute, 30 seconds, and 3 minutes at 185F, although I used a 120 ml vessel and about 3 grams of tea.

The first steep has that plummy note, combined with barley sugar and florals. The aftertaste is kind of starchy, reminding me weirdly of raw potato. There’s no astringency or bitterness present, and if I didn’t know better, I’d swear someone had added sugar to this.

In the second steep, the plummy note seems even sweeter and more berry-like, maybe like blackberries or cranberries. This is a very sugary tea! It’s also smooth and easy to drink.

The third steep of three minutes is less fruity and a bit drying; maybe I used too much leaf and should have shortened it. The sweetness, though, persists. An attempted fourth steep of six minutes was similar and I think the tea is finished at this point.

While I enjoyed trying this tea, I don’t think it’ll be replacing my Yunnan or Taiwanese staples anytime soon. It’s kind of similar to a black Dan Cong I tried from Camellia Sinensis, leading me to wonder whether these “non-traditional” varieties tend to produce very sweet black teas. (Clearly, more research is needed!) That sweetness is also the main point of similarity between it and regular Long Jing, as it lacks the typical nutty flavour. All in all, I’m pleased to have expanded my horizons.