Country of Origin: China
Leaf Appearance: dark, long and spindly
Steep time: 20 seconds
Water Temperature: 212 degrees
Preparation Method: porcelain gaiwan
Liquor: reddish amber
I’ve been meaning to try the teas offered by Grass People Tree for some time. Watching Rui and Marco’s tasting of this tea was enough to push me to make that happen. I also picked up a lovely blue gaiwan that I have had my eye on (you know, to save on shipping 🤣). All of Grass People Tree’s offerings hail from Guizhou. The cherry blossoms used to scent this tea are wild harvested. That makes them a bit different from the larger cultivated cherry blossoms we might find in Japanese tea. Don’t let the name deceive you, red tea in China is what we might usually call black tea.
Leaf
The dry leaves were dark with a long and spindly shape. Their color was mostly uniform, with a few scattered golden tips visible under my photography lights. I noticed a faint floral aroma as well as an earthy sweetness. I brewed this tea using the lovely blue gaiwan that I purchased from Grass People Tree. It has become a fast favorite in my teaware collection. I used fully boiling water with a first infusion that was 20 seconds long. After that, I gradually increased the steeping time for each round.
Liquor
Master’s Red brewing up a reddish shade of amber. The taste was floral with a natural sweetness that lingered long after each sip. There was a fruity note, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Maybe plum? The earthiness that I picked up in the dry leaf was present but in a more woody way. The cherry blossom scenting remained noticeable but subtle throughout my session. There was some astringency, but overall this tea was fairly smooth. Master’s Red with Wild Cherry Blossoms left me with a very warm and comforting feeling. I received my order in mid-April when the weather on the east coast acts like it doesn’t know spring is here yet.
I would recommend this tea to anyone who enjoys Chinese black teas, even if you aren’t usually a fan of floral scented teas. As a lifelong asthma sufferer, I have to mention that I was disappointed to see this tea listed as ‘helps relieve asthma’. That is NOT a thing that tea can do. If it were, I would have been cured a very long time ago.
Have you tried Master’s Red with Wild Cherry Blossom? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Master’s Red with Wild Cherry Blossom purchased from Grass People Tree.
I had to laugh at buying the blue gaiwan “to save on shipping” because I do the exact same thing to justify my tea purchases! Watching Rui and Marco’s tasting definitely makes it hard to resist, especially with how beautiful that reddish amber liquor looks. I’d love to hear more about how the cherry blossoms influenced the flavor profile of this Guizhou tea.