Bai Lin Gong Fu

This is the last of the red tea samples I got from Jing Tea Shop – I have not had the chance to try this particular one yet.

I decided to go for two short steeps in the gaiwan – for around 30 seconds. Its a very smooth tea which is characteristic of Chinese reds, very malty and chocolatey with a slight floral note. I like it.

Second two round of steepings were for 60 seconds. Now the tea is a bit gentler and has some light caramel notes which are great. This is an easy tea to drink straight. I will have to try steeping it the traditional Western way as well.

Definitely a good tea but I don’t think there’s anything about it which makes me want to buy any more…

Tried this again with several short steeps, and one long steep. Last time I logged this, the water I used for the short steeps was too high.

Starting with the short steeps, I can taste a sweet honey caramel flavour right away, with a bit of something zesty. The flavours were fairly consistent with the first 5 steeps, but the tea body is mild.

It started winding down at the 6th steep, and I started to taste the original water flavour on the 8th steep. I had a bit of hot water left so I made a 9th steep, which wasn’t very flavourful but not bad at all, just weak. The change in water temperature, really helped turn this from a “meh” experience, to a good one.

Then I used the rest of my tea leaves for a long steep. Which is always a bit hard with this tea, I always have a hard time using a teaspoon to measure it out. So I had to use a scale.

I think it’s kinda funny how different the two methods turned out to be. Here the tea liquor is much darker, with much of the flavour from the other method but with stronger black tea base. I realize a longer steep makes stronger tea, but here it made a big difference for me.

Overall, I like Bai Lin black tea but it’s usually a bit too sweet for me. Even with my bias, I love the flavours these leaves have to offer. This particular one has a lot of golden buds, which lends itself to a beautiful short steeping experience. Looking forward to trying my other Jing Tea Shop samples.

100ml gaiwan, 2 tsp?, 9 steeps (30s +10s resteep)
&
200ml glass teapot (filled most of the way), 2tsp?, 1 steep (but prob more after I upload this)

Fantastic black tea – for someone who doesn’t usually enjoy black tea!!!