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Gong Fu!

Over the last year, I’ve really developed a love for Dian Hong teas and their natural, rich chocolate profiles so when teabento gave me the opportunity to try eight of their teas I loaded up on as many Dian Hongs as they carried. Ideally, what I’m hoping for is to find one or two that I just adore, and to add them to my increasingly large amount of Dian Hong cupboard staples. I mean, they’re just perfect – both for Western AND Gong Fu brewing.

I’m gonna try to stick at close to teabento’s Gong Fu brewing guide for this session and just explore my thoughts on the tea in the moment, following those steeping parameters. As such, I’ve measured out exactly four grams of the tea leaf, and I’m using the closest thing to a 120ml gaiwan that I own – a 115ml one. I also started with a rinse and a rest before drinking, as they recommended. Honestly, I don’t often do a rinse with my black teas unless they’re compressed. I generally just don’t find it super necessary. So, it was a weird step for me…

Steep One/30 Seconds
- The aroma is incredible; already I’m finding myself strongly reminded of rich cocoa
- The Gong Fu set I’m using today is mostly blue teaware, so it is hard to see the liquor
- At least the “true” colour of the liquor
- Top note is definitely cocoa; reminds me of straight, unsweetened cocoa powder
- The body is more malty and just a touch astringent; pleasantly so
- Very thick mouthfeel
- The finish is a LITTLE BIT fruity, but not overly; reminds me of red fruits
- But in a generic sense

Steep Two/15 Seconds
- Aroma of steeped leaf is more a mix of honey/graham/cocoa
- Still very intense/rich cocoa notes but sweeter
- Body is still very malty, but has honey notes to it to
- And a sweet, bread like quality loosely like a French bread fresh from the oven
- Finish goes back to being chocolate like with fruity companion notes
- Red fruits/raisins; very jammy and sweet
- Thick, smooth mouthfeel and round/balanced flavour

Steep Three/1 Minute
- Super rich chocolate notes; almost a milk chocolate flavour now
- Combine that w. the malty body & baked bread notes and it kind of tastes like Maltesers
- With a fruity/jammy finish
- This infusion does have a VERY lingering aftertaste as well; kind of like a scorched cocoa
- Mouthfeel feels a little thinner?

Steep Four/2 Minutes
- Definitely the least nuanced infusion yet
- Mostly a mix of malt and chocolate notes
- With honey and raisin finishing notes
- Sadly, it’s losing its richness a little bit but it’s not too far gone yet

Steep Five/4 Minutes
- Personally, I think four minutes is WAY too long to Gong Fu something
- And if I weren’t following teabento’s steeping guide I wouldn’t be doing it…
- The flavour was fading in the last infusion, but I do think the long steep gave it a bump
- Still remains very chocolate-y, however the malt is pretty well gone
- It’s a little ‘one note’ now?
- It’s a good one note, though!

I don’t know that I’m gonna continue with the session, though I don’t think the leaf is totally spent yet either. I’m just honestly not super sure where to go from a four minute infusion. I definitely think you could keep going if you were so inclined, though!

Overall? I thought this was a REALLY nice Dian Hong, and I greatly enjoyed the session. That said, I don’t know that this particular Golden Needle style Dian Hong is any better than the other ones I currently have on hands so I wouldn’t deliberately stock this one over the other – however, if I was already low and just wanted to restock one in general and I was already ordering from teabento there would be nothing stopping me from choosing this one over another company’s. Does that make sense? Hopefully.

I’m not sure where I’ve landed on teabento’s Gong Fu steeping parameters; the timing is definitely different than I’ve seen from so many other companies; it just jumps up so quickly in time and I don’t know that I’ve ever steeped anything Gong Fu for four minutes – and on the fifth infusion, no less. To me, that’s just Western brewing in a fancier vessel? That said, it’s not like any of the infusions tasted bad! It’s something I think I’ll definitely experiment with on some of the other teas I received from them.