Wild Hong Cha

The wonderful Chinese Tea Company of Portobello Road, London has a small basket of wonderful samples, each one containing enough tea for one session, and each one costing £1. The teas are packed in convenient small clear plastic bags, so you can see what you are getting before you purchase anything. I got two samples during my last visit, and this is one of them. The lovely proprietress didn’t charge me for them, as I’d bought quite a lot of tea and tea ware while there.
Anyway, the leaves reminded me of Norbu’s Ye Sheng Hong Cha, but they are small and darker. They clearly contain a leaf an a bud, or two leaves and a bud, and great care has been taken not to break them during their processing into black/red tea.
The liquor is reddish gold, like maple leaves in the fall, glowing in the sun.
This is a smooth, smooth tea, with almost a creamy texture, and no astringency. It is sweet, with hints of sweet potato, and honeycomb.
I wish I’d bought an entire pouch of this, but it wasn’t in stock.
As it is, this is a sip down, although I do hope to get at least two more steepings out of these wonderful leaves.
A great introduction to Chinese red/black teas, and a great lazy morning/early afternoon tea.