Wuyi Da Hong Pao

The dry tea smells like raisins with a hint of plum. Steeped the leaves smell like Chili, more specifically turkey chili from hormel. The taste is kind of boring, there is a little smokeyness to it with a little bit of the raisin taste. It is mostly boring to me.

I may have to write a second tasting note for this later brewed with western parameters, but I wanted to use the same method I used yesterday with Verdant’s Shui Xian Wuyi to see how it compared and the verdict is that it just doesn’t. No vanilla, no cinnamon, no wow factor.

That is not to say that this is a bad tea, it is just a much lighter wuyi, lighter than Adagio’s Wuyi Ensemble that I got to try at the Chicago store. However it was the challenge of brewing this up gong fu (that worked out favorable for their Fujian Rain, but that was dark and heavy in the western sample) and the tiny little tin that sold me (okay so we all know it was mainly the tin, I’m a sucker).

I used lots of leaf like yesterday, but instead of getting a flavor explosion I got astringency. There are some nice notes as well that come out to play in later infusions, a hint of lemon, some veg and wood and a touch of mineral sweetness. But they are all so thin feeling and the brew is rather dry. Will attempt another day and see if I can find those ripe peaches. Saving the rating till then.

Edit: Silly me this is a Da Hong Pao aka Big Red Robe, so while it’s not fair to compare to the Shui Xiang: Water Sprite, this is also no where close to the two Big Red Robes I’ve had, nope.

My boyfriend can’t be online today and, while I miss him, it gives me time to get thru these reviews.

Maestro Collection: Set 1, Tea #3

My 2nd Wu Yi. The dark leaves are loosely twisted and look like tiny pieces of raffia. This oolong grows between rocks and it even looks like it does. Something about it just says “I’ve had a tough life and I’ve faught to be here”. The aroma is dark and slightly roasty. My last Wu Yi wasn’t roasty… which is good cuz I don’t like roasty teas.

Prepared as suggested.

The liquor is a lovely reddish orange color and the aroma still contains those roasty notes although there is a sweetness to it as well.

When I take a sip I am relieved that this is not by far the most roasty tea I’ve ever had. The roastyness is present, but there’s also quite a bit of sweetness in the background to cut thru it and make this more enjoyable for me. The description says it has notes of wet stone, but as I have no idea what wet stone tastes like, I can’t tell you if it’s there or not.

Just had 2 large cups of Wuyi plus some pastries while watching my compatriot Ernests Gulbis play Roger Federer = good entertainment. I’m trying to figure out the smell of this tea – I think it smells like brandy, earth, dried apples.

Adagio just released a brand new Maestro Collection on April 10th. The Maestro collection consists of 8 teas that I will be reviewing in the coming days. Read my first six reviews here: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6). This tea is an oolong tea from the Fujian province of China and comes from the Wuyi mountains surrounded by rocks.

The Nose and Color: The leaves are loosely twisted and look fully oxidized like a black tea. After steeping, the leaves really open up and reveal that the leaves aren’t too oxidized and still maintain some green and brown colors. The nose is pretty strong off the leaves but not so much off the tea itself. The most notable thing about the nose is the roasted, almost burnt, aroma.

Tasting: This tea has a strong roasted flavor to it but I detect some slight sweet notes as well which isn’t something I expected. This tea has a really unique taste that’s hard to describe. Adagio says it’s like wet stone but I liken it more to burnt stone. The taste of the tea is fairly complex and I liked it to help develop my palate.

Steep Instructions: 3 grams at 205 F for 3-4 minutes

Price: $29.00 for sampler set.

Summary: Read my rating here: http://www.indieteas.com/home/2010/4/27/tea-review-20-adagios-wuyi-da-hong-pao.html

Aw yeah. Talkin’ bout dat Masta Collection.

This is some black tea from the Wuyi mountains in China, and it tastes divine. You haven’t had black tea with so many flavors in it. I could sip this all night while fraggin’ and PvPin.

Personally I was a tad disappointed with Adagio Wuyi Da Hong Pao and personally enjoyed their cheaper Wuyi Ensemble more. Da Hong Pao is the lighter of the 2 wuyi oolongs offered by Adagio and it has a slightly fruity taste to it. The brew is still light and sweet but there is none of the rich earthy taste that goes along with a good roast to be found in this tea.

Deliciously light, slightly roasted in flavor. All around a mild tea.

Yesterday I tried this in the gaiwan and it was so unremarkable I didn’t even bother writing a note about it.

In was, in fact, so uninteresting that I decided I was doing something wrong. So I spent some time reading about Da Hong Pao.

As a result, I upped the leaf to 5g for a 100ml gaiwan. I also upped the water temp to over 205F.

It’s better this way for sure.

The tea is an apricot color. First steep @15 secs. has some roasty notes, but also something floral and fruity, which was all but lacking yesterday.

Second steep @20 secs is amber colored with a stronger floral roasty scent and a woodsy flavor. Also, for the first time, I understand the “wet rocks” thing. It’s a hot mineral-y note sort of like rain on hot pavement.

Third steep @ 25 secs continues to have a floral aroma, similar to what I usually find in much greener oolongs.The flavor has a woodsy note with some fruitiness, like sucking on a peach pit. And the wet rock thing again. The aftertaste has a surprising sugary note.

Fourth steep @30 secs is a little less strong in the floral aroma, with a sweet toastiness in the flavor. I’m not getting plum, but I can see why people do. The aroma turns a bit plummy/raisiny as it cools.

Fifth steep @35 secs has a similar aroma and flavor to 4. The empty cup smells of plums/raisins. The wet leaves smell like hot minerals.

It wasn’t as interesting to my tastes as the JK Teashop one I had recently, but based on this experience and the other I had recently with hotter water for an oolong, I’m thinking I could go a bit hotter than 195F with the water for all my oolongs at least as an experiment and see what happens.

I might try this in the dark oolong yixing next time, which I fear still needs to suck away a fair amount of flavor before it can start giving back.

Actually not too bad, fruity and sweet but not worth $20/oz in fact not worth $5/oz.