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Something that I don’t mention very often is how much I love all of these Vietnamese wild teas (I am a big fan of most Vietnamese teas in general). I find many of them to have a sheng-like funkiness that integrates well with the aromas and flavors they display. Going through one of my tea cabinets yesterday forced me to realize that I had several interesting Vietnamese black and green teas that I should probably get around to trying. I then randomly chose this one and started a session with it. I found it to be an exceptional black tea with a wonderful texture in the mouth.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. Naturally enough, I used 6 grams of loose leaf material in a 4 ounce gaiwan. Following the rinse, I conducted a series of 15 infusions. Steep times were as follows: 5 seconds, 7 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted intriguing aromas of wood, spices, dark chocolate, leather, brown toast, and honey. The rinse brought out the expected malt scent, though I also caught traces of smoke, raisins, molasses, roasted nuts, and citrus. There was a touch of funk there too. The first infusion further brought out touches of pungent, sheng-like funk, as well as a slight scent of prunes. In the mouth, the smooth tea liquor offered notes of smoke, malt, spice, dark chocolate, molasses, leather, brown toast, honey, wood, and roasted nuts underscored by a slightly briny, vegetal funk. Subsequent infusions saw the liquor thicken and the spice and roasted nut notes separate. I began to detect distinct impressions of roasted chestnut, hazelnut, black walnut, black pepper, anise, clove, and nutmeg. The raisins, prunes, and citrus-I was reminded somewhat of a combination of lemon zest and bitter orange peel- finally turned up on the palate. I also began to get touches of caramel, minerals, black cherry, camphor, tree bark, vanilla bean, and stewed vegetables. The later infusions offered a wash of minerals with woody, malty, leathery, nutty, and spicy undertones. The touches of wild funk and camphor also remained for the most part.

This was a really nice and surprisingly complex black tea. Though it did not come off as particularly refined, it was intensely aromatic and flavorful with a number of delightful quirks, a slight edge, and a powerful caffeine wallop. Fans of wild teas should be delighted by this one, but I could also see it pleasing those looking to take the plunge into the world of Vietnamese blacks.