Country of Origin: China
Leaf Appearance: needle-like with golden hairs
Ingredients: black tea
Steep time: 30 seconds
Water Temperature: 210 degrees
Preparation Method: porcelain gaiwan
Liquor: dark reddish amber
In a world where tea companies seem to come and go frequently, it’s nice to see that a few have stuck around through the years. I reviewed my first tea from +Little Red Cup Tea Co. way back in 2012 after discovering them on the now extinct flash sale site Fab.com. They recently surprised me with a couple of samples in my mailbox and this was the first packet that I grabbed.
I’m a sucker for fuzzy leaves, especially black tea from Yunnan. This particular one was produced in Lincang. My notes made me giggle after this tasting because I had written all in caps, “IT’S SO FUZZY!”. There tends to be a bit of an overemphasis on super golden and fuzzy leaves in the market, often sacrificing aesthetics for taste. It’s safe to say that this tea was a good balance of both The dry leaf had a wonderfully warm and earthy aroma that had me sticking my nose into the bag more than once.
Dian Hongs tend to have a bit of a yam-like quality to them. This one leaned more towards sweet potato but that aspect was definitely there in the flavor profile. The taste was malty and sweet with notes of dark cocoa. Western style brewing brought out a hint of spice that I found really comforting and warming. Gongfu was definitely still my preference though. This tea held up well to multiple infusions. I found myself drinking long after the leaves were spent because of the pleasantly sweet aftertaste.
Yunnan Black sample provided by Little Red Cup Tea Company.