Expectations. Very little, I wanted to try this only because 4,7/5 rating.
Steeping. I didn’t check the steeping temperature (that was 80C) so I accidentally steeped the first pours at 95C. For later steep I let the water cool down for a bit. I used 4g/65ml and porcelain gaiwan.
Appearance. The leaves are really pretty, they are tiny and covered in a golden fur. Tea is bright orange with a little bit of red hue.
Aroma. Dry leaves smell awesome, there are some cocoa, chocolate, honey and caramel notes. Wet leaves have bolder aroma with molasses, sweet potato and smoky tones.
Tasting. I ordered more of those beautiful ‘bamboo hat’ cups so I had a better chance to compare different steeps. My favourite one was definitely the first pour, it had overall stronger flavour with nice chocolate, cocoa and caramel notes. Latter ones had more mild and mellow flavour of honey, smoke, chocolate and cocoa. More interesting flavours, like berries, fruits, citrus and flowers emerge with every pour.
Comments. Really interesting tea experience, as a black tea noob I still prefer Fenqging Dragon Pearls over any other black teas, but Yunnan Dian Hong has really good amount of different and interesting flavours. Really enjoyable for cold winter mornings.
Flavors: Berries, Caramel, Chocolate, Citrus Fruits, Cocoa, Flowers, Fruity, Honey, Molasses, Smoke
