Huzzah. another black tea. This time, it’s the Fengqing Dragon Pearls from Tevivre.
Starting out by saying I love how the “sample” packs from tevivre are exactly one serving. Yes you get two individually wrapped single serving packs per sample, and yes I ordered two of almost every sample in my order. Still- nice touch.
(NOTE) I should add that for a small, 6oz cup of tea, the amount per sample package is probably closer to two servings. But for my large 12oz cup, it is a single serving.
Ok, western style, 195F Water at 6 min per steeping instructions.
Flavor is… different. It’s not as cocoa-y as my golden blacks, although that flavor is still present. Strong malt flavor and I now know what that flavor tag “Autumn Leaf Pile” means because holy cow is that here. I’m not sure if I like this or not. It kinda tastes… dirty. Not earthy, DIRTY. There’s a bit of bread flavor here too. I’ve let it sit a bit and it really doesn’t taste good once it’s cooled. I think it was much tastier when hot. I mean, if you like a really woodsy black tea, then this would definitely be for you. I personally, however, think I will stick to my regular golden blacks.
Flavors: Autumn Leaf Pile, Bread, Cocoa, Malt, Wood
Preparation
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With Feng Qing black teas, I think you need to brew them gongfu style to fully appreciate them. They tend to be very earthy and complex. Some people love that about them, but others don’t. You may also be able to get better results brewing these Western style if you start off with a shorter steep time. If it were me, I would start off with a 3 minute brew and then increase the steep time by 2 minutes for each subsequent infusion to see how the aromas and flavors change over time.
Agreed that six minutes is definitely a LONG time to brew this one Western to get the best version of its flavour. I’d personally recommend 3 or 4 minutes.
Agree. Kind of sort of on topic but what type of tea is the best grandpa style? Green? Thanks in advance.
I’m still relatively new at this and even I thought, when looking at the package, “5-8 minutes? Are you sure?” I really should have gone with my instincts rather than the packaging. I’ll try this again later with a much shorter steeping. The thing is, even oversteeping it like I did, I found that the drink was still palatable when really hot. The hotter the better it seemed. When I was typing that note, the tea had cooled significantly and it was just bleh. But when I went back for a resteep and drank it immediately it was actually not too bad.
@kawaii433 – personally, I’m a big fan of drinking oolong teas grandpa style – but really I’ll drink any straight tea grandpa except for black teas (I just find they get weird and bitter the most, and have the least longevity). Lately I’ve been doing a long of Grandpa style Shou, with the colder weather. The rest of my lab team Grandpa brews Chinese greens on the daily, though. So kind of just personal preference and experimentation, I suppose?
@Roswell Strange Ahh kk, thanks for the information. :D.
I’ve never grandpa brewed even once in my life, but I kinda want to try. I almost want to grandpa my Golden Monkey as I have found the Adagio Golden Monkey is extremely forgiving and doesn’t get bitter regardless of how long it steeps. Maybe I will try it sometime.
With Feng Qing black teas, I think you need to brew them gongfu style to fully appreciate them. They tend to be very earthy and complex. Some people love that about them, but others don’t. You may also be able to get better results brewing these Western style if you start off with a shorter steep time. If it were me, I would start off with a 3 minute brew and then increase the steep time by 2 minutes for each subsequent infusion to see how the aromas and flavors change over time.
Agreed that six minutes is definitely a LONG time to brew this one Western to get the best version of its flavour. I’d personally recommend 3 or 4 minutes.
Agree. Kind of sort of on topic but what type of tea is the best grandpa style? Green? Thanks in advance.
I’m still relatively new at this and even I thought, when looking at the package, “5-8 minutes? Are you sure?” I really should have gone with my instincts rather than the packaging. I’ll try this again later with a much shorter steeping. The thing is, even oversteeping it like I did, I found that the drink was still palatable when really hot. The hotter the better it seemed. When I was typing that note, the tea had cooled significantly and it was just bleh. But when I went back for a resteep and drank it immediately it was actually not too bad.
@kawaii433 – personally, I’m a big fan of drinking oolong teas grandpa style – but really I’ll drink any straight tea grandpa except for black teas (I just find they get weird and bitter the most, and have the least longevity). Lately I’ve been doing a long of Grandpa style Shou, with the colder weather. The rest of my lab team Grandpa brews Chinese greens on the daily, though. So kind of just personal preference and experimentation, I suppose?
@Roswell Strange Ahh kk, thanks for the information. :D.
I’ve never grandpa brewed even once in my life, but I kinda want to try. I almost want to grandpa my Golden Monkey as I have found the Adagio Golden Monkey is extremely forgiving and doesn’t get bitter regardless of how long it steeps. Maybe I will try it sometime.