DaHongPao (Big Red Robe)

I am a big fan of Yancha, and this one made its way over to me. This DHP has long twisted blackened leaves and gives off a charred wood aroma with some mineral dust. I brew heavy when I brew Yancha, so I stuffed a very generous amount into my warmed gaiwan. The leaves grew damp and emitted a smokey sweet fruit scent. I could take in some ash and a deep cherry note. I washed the leaves once and prepared for brewing. The steeped leaves grew into a heavily sweet aroma, but it still carried a deep wood and char tone. This is some strong Yancha. The brew was smooth and silky with quite a kick. The liquor carries a full mouth-feel and lasting flavor. I could take in a slight burnt sugar taste, stone fruit, and mild wood. The brew finished with a crisp mineral and dark fruit aftertaste. The thing Yancha is best known for, in my opinion, is the aftertaste. It should be a lasting and sweet tone unlike any other. This one has a crisp pear and apricot tone. This flavor stays in the back of the throat and follows the drinker throughout the session. The flavors carry on as smooth char and soothes out after the third steeping. These tastes become less sharp and more rounded. The intense flavors are replaced by a soft smoked fruit and mineral. This was a good Yancha, and it’s a great example of a Da Hong Pao. I really enjoyed my session.

https://instagram.com/p/9DxNbDzGYk/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

I am having a painting dilemma, I have a pile of miniatures on my desk, I have plenty of paint and decent brushes, I have the mood to paint…what I do not have is the ability or inspiration. It is strange, I pick up a model, even on I have started, and I just can’t think of anything creative to do with it, and when I do paint it just looks kinda cruddy. Clearly what I need is to just play Minecraft, and hopefully Ben will have the Xbox put back together this evening, yay! Sadly I had to give up on playing it on my computer, it is just too crappy, but one day I might have access to a decent computer and can play! Even though it is behind the PC and has a limited map, I still enjoy it on the 360.

Today it is time for some Yancha! So do the happy Yancha dance! Da Hong Pao from Cha Ceremony is the tea for today, good ol’ Big Red Robe, possibly the most well known of the Wuyi Rock Oolongs, named because the Emperor really liked this stuff and dressed the original bushes in fancy red robes. Or the tea saved his mom and as a thank you he en-robe-ified the bushes, or maybe it was his wife. Regardless of which legend you choose, this tea is legendary, the original bushes still grow on the mountains, but the tea that we mere mortals drink are cuttings grown on the mountain gardens. The aroma of this Da Hong Pao is pretty robust, blending sweet and woody notes in a potent combination. First off is a strong note of fruity tobacco, cherry and cherry wood with molasses and strong char bring up the middle. Towards there end is the aroma of chocolate and char, giving it an almost burnt chocolate aroma, like if you are making smores and some melted chocolate falls on the fire.

Into the Yancha pot the twisty leaves go! The aroma of the now soaked leaves has a strong char presence, lots of different levels of char, from burnt wood to a touch of smoke, burnt chocolate and grilled fruit, and a finish of pipe tobacco. The liquid is rather sweet, with notes of brown sugar, cocoa, tobacco, and a slight fruity finish. A contrast with the intensity of the leaves, the liquid is more mellow.

The first steeping is intense! Holy crap that is one intense Da Hong Pao, I can see how it cured some ancient royal if the original was anything like this. It starts with tobacco with a slightly fruity edge to it and a nice note of charred wood, this moves to woodiness and cocoa, with a fantastic finish of sassafras. This might be the most intense first steep of a DHP ever.

Onward to the second steep! The aroma of this one’s liquid is a blend of intense char and cocoa, with a nice woody undertone and finish of cherry. This steep’s taste, I notice, is not as sweet as the first, which is funny since the first was not overwhelmingly sweet to begin with. It is intensely woody and filled with the notes of both burnt wood and char, as the initial char fades there is tobacco and cocoa (think dark chocolate over the sweet stuff) and a nice wet slate finish. The aftertaste is where the only sweetness is, molasses lingers for a while.

Time now for the final steep, the aroma is a bit sweet, with a gentle stewed stone fruit note blended with tobacco and char. The taste of this steep can be very easily summed up as the first steep again but much diminished. The char taste has faded in intensity, but the slight molasses sweetness is more prominent, again with a finish of sassafras. Really like that sassafras note, it makes it unique!

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/06/cha-ceremony-da-hong-pao-tea-review.html

Marcus of ChaCeremony sent me this to try! Thanks, Marcus!

I’m still exploring yancha, and haven’t had many, so I decided to use the steeping parameters from Nannuoshan since I remember liking that DHP a lot.

I did two side-by-side comparisons, using two other well-known tea vendors’ DHP. I used about 3g of leaf for each, and steeped them 60s/60s/90s. I noticed a difference in the leaf right away. The ChaCeremony leaf was very dark in color, with long unbroken leaves. The other two DHP were lighter in color, one was actually grayish, and one of them had smaller, more broken leaves including a random stem.

After the rinse, the leaves from ChaCeremony smelled roasty and fruity. The other two DHPs smelled like burnt toast!

The color of the liquor was orange for all, but the ChaCeremony liquor was more rich in color.

ChaCeremony’s tea tastes more roasty than the other two DHPs, sweet, and fruity. Yum! The other DHPs did not have any distinct fruit notes. I love the complexity of the ChaCeremony tea. It’s really delicious, smooth, and satisfying. On the wishlist it goes!!