Big Red Robe Fancy Grade Dark Roast

Tea type
Oolong Tea
Ingredients
Oolong
Flavors
Berry, Fruity, Marshmallow, Mineral, Roasty, Rooibos, Thin, Autumn Leaf Pile, Dates, Dried Fruit, Fig, Honey, Roasted, Roasted Nuts, Smooth, Sweet, Dark Chocolate, Floral, Malt, Roast Nuts, Brown Sugar, Cherry, Cinnamon, Clove, Peach, Caramel, Chocolate, Nutty, Grass, Spicy, Espresso
Sold in
Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Cameron B.
Average preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 1 min, 15 sec 6 g 8 oz / 238 ml

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37 Tasting Notes View all

From Mandala Tea

Big Red Robe is an open leaf, or twisted, oolong tea. It is more heavily oxidized which make the leaves look darker brown in color in their dried form. It produces a smooth, malty, full-bodied cup of tea. Hints of chocolate with an overall rich and roasty flavor.

Known in China as Da Hong Pao, it is one of the most famous oolongs in their country. The tea bush is grown in the Wu Yi Mountain area which is very rocky. Over centuries, developing methods to grow tea bushes in such difficult conditions has created a specialized style of oolong tea (“rock tea”) that is highly revered and sought after around the world. Try some today!

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37 Tasting Notes

80
4170 tasting notes

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge Wednesday, February 17th: Random Acts of Kindness Day Tea #2
Courtesy of Kawaii433 a while ago!  Thanks very much!  I’ve been neglecting this one a bit because I’m not usually seeing the specialness of a roasted tea, but this one isn’t too bad.  There is a hint of green under the deep red leaves and the brew is fairly light orange.  The roast isn’t too bad, but also tastes like a hint of stevia which obviously isn’t there.  Maybe I’m just now making this connection that roasted teas taste like stevia to me.  The second steep is much the same, light roast flavor which I like, starchy, maybe hints of squash.  Not oversteeped at all at three minutes. The third steep is also great but I can never notice nuance after the roasted notes. But the roast is light, so I like! I definitely wouldn’t consider this “dark roast”.
Steep #1  // 2 teaspoons for full mug // 30 minutes after boiling  // 2 minute steep
Steep #2  // 28 minutes after boiling //  3 minute steep
Steep #3 // just boiled // 4 min

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85
3986 tasting notes

This is a swap sample, I believe from Kawaii433. I wonder how she’s doing… Thanks for the sample, lady!

I steeped it Western-style, about 2 or 3 teaspoons for my mug. The leaves are huge and twisty, so it’s hard to measure by anything but eye.

This is mighty tasty! Very sweet and roasty, reminiscent of a mellow houjicha. There are light honey and sticky dried fruit notes that make me think of figs or dates. And a comforting gentle autumn leaf pile flavor that makes this a perfect tea for fall…

Ahhh…

I have plenty of houjicha at the moment so I don’t feel the need to rush out and order this one, but I will definitely put it on the list for the future.

Flavors: Autumn Leaf Pile, Dates, Dried Fruit, Fig, Honey, Roasted, Roasted Nuts, Smooth, Sweet

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML
tea-sipper

I’m also wondering how Kawaii is doing! She also sent me some of this I should drink up. :D

Cameron B.

I miss her! Hopefully she’s doing well.

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80
379 tasting notes

Additional notes on this one:
Got my smell and taste abilities back. Not sure 100% but I’m much better today. Only lasted 3 days or so. I rarely get a cold/flu. Maybe once every other year but this is the second time in the last month or so. It must be a bad year cold-flu wise…

So last time I tried this I used 5g and thought maybe I needed to add more to get the rich full taste of it. Even at 7g (gongfu cha with roughly the same parameters as the first time), I didn’t get want I was hoping for. I think their Medium Roast Da Hong Pao is far better. This is a sipdown by the way. I’ll try the Medium Roast again soon.

Additional note: 7g in 12 oz for 5+ minutes was best I think for this tea. One more thing (I keep adding, sorry lol)… Preparing it this way, it was more floral (that part I didn’t like).

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 15 sec 7 g 4 OZ / 110 ML

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80
15 tasting notes

This is a luxurious tea, that would pair well with a bubble bath, or sitting by a fireplace reading a book.
I brewed this in my ruyao 100ml gaiwan, with 5 grams which was plenty as this tea is packed with flavor! I have brewed this with both 208 F and lower temperatures (180) and have leafed it as high as 8g per 100ml. I find that making it the way I did this time (5g/100ml/180F) brings out the best qualities of the tea.

Mandala’s Big Red Robe is pretty steady throughout steeps, and doesn’t really change it up much besides fading to a gentler taste at the end of the session. However, this doesn’t take points away from it. This is a tea for easygoing sessions, a stroll along a beach instead of a roller coaster ride.

The sweet honey fruit taste, like peach juice and spices (cinnamon? clove?) is luxurious with a thick feeling coating my tongue on each sip. The flavor lasts quite long after each sip, lingering a while before fading to ready you for the next sip. The sweetness is strong with a spicy quality to it, and has a warming quality as well. The nose carries on the sweetness almost pushing it, being a little edgy in the sweetness, before relaxing back again.

Not a very complex tea (that is, tea which has a flavor that changes steep by steep), but not every tea needs to be. Mandala’s Big Red Robe holds its own against more complex teas with its rich texture, spicy sweet taste, and long lingering aroma. A tea for relaxation, contemplation, and unwinding after a long day.

EDIT: After watching Mei Leaf’s video on Da Hong Pao on youtube, who recommends brewing da hong pao at high heat I brewed this again at 6g/100ml/208F which brought out some different qualities. Very chocolatey, brown sugar, cooked fruit like cherries when you make jam, very juicy, still has that lingering aroma, and a taste that washes back and coats the tongue after each sip, a little bit of astringency but very very light, some charcoal smell on the gaiwan lid, forefront taste is mineral like stone or concrete (this was subtle brewing at a lighter temperature so I didn’t notice it especially compared to the very strong taste on the nose). Over all this fits with the description of a very high quality da hong pao as described by Don at Mei Leaf.

Flavors: Brown Sugar, Cherry, Cinnamon, Clove, Dark Chocolate, Fruity, Honey, Mineral, Peach

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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16 tasting notes

I brewed this in a 140ml unglazed clay teapot
15, 30, 45, 60, 1m30, 2m, 3m

After a rinse, the scent on the gaiwan lid was really interesting. Fruity, spicy, dark and roasty, so many things going on at once. My first infusion was fruity and sweet, really reminding me of hot chocolate. It’s got a subtle spiciness. In later infusions it starts to give up the roasty/chocolate flavor for for a milder sweetness that’s really nice. This one really does live up to the reviews. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to buy some more of this ;)

Flavors: Caramel, Chocolate, Dates, Roasted

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 0 min, 15 sec 9 g 5 OZ / 140 ML

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92
63 tasting notes

This was a sample sent with my order. I think this is the one, as it’s a darker oolong than I’ve had. The leaves are a lovely dark colour. The taste was roasted and nutty with some sweetness. The floral tones was noticeable when I let it cool a bit. I made this in the gaiwan with a 15s rinse followed by two 40s drinkable steeps. Quite enjoyable.

Flavors: Floral, Malt, Nutty, Roasted

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 0 min, 45 sec 5 g 6 OZ / 177 ML
Garret

Yep! That’s the one. I’m really happy that you enjoyed it. I’d say about 80% the coffeehouses, restaurants and delis we sell to offer this tea. It simply works so well almost any way that it is brewed. Thanks for writing up your experience! Grateful, Garret

TheArchivist

And grateful to you Garret for including this as a sample. I’ve had a big red robe from somewhere else before and didn’t think it was anything special, so I wouldn’t have chosen to try this tea if you hadn’t included it as a sample.

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3226 tasting notes

Today is mine and the Ashman’s 33rd anniversary. We are simple folk who like simple pleasures, so to celebrate we split an everything bagel from Panera at home. He picked up while I made tea.

Da Hong Pao teas can be so different from each other. I had one from a Chinese friend that was almost like drinking a cup of hot cocoa. This one reminds me more of a roasted Dong Ding.

We made three steeps Western style in an 18 ounce pot. Temp was about 190F and I kept it to 3 minutes.

This one really isn’t chocolate-y at all. The texture is thin but silky and goes down smoothly. It is heavily roasted as promised but isn’t smokey, just roasty. It is also a bit nutty, so toasted walnuts are coming to mind for me.

This is an older tea and I will be working on it as my next sipdown. I am eager to try it gongfu because I don’t think I have done that yet with this one. I bet it will be awesome.

Song pairing, cuz it is my anniversary and I am listening to this song over and over this morning. (He isn’t home right now so the repeat doesn’t bother him! I am not that cruel!)

We watch very little tv but we are enjoying this gentle little show.

https://youtu.be/Q5LbTeti0sw

Roswell Strange

I’ve never heard of the TV show, but the song was lovely! And happy anniversary :)

Leafhopper

Happy anniversary! Sounds like a pleasant way to spend it.

Kawaii433

Happy Anniversary <3

mrmopar

Happy Anniversary as well. We are spending ours in the mountains of West Jefferson this weekend.

derk

Happy Anniversary, to you and yours ashmanra and mrmopar.

A heart-warming post and beautiful song on this Sunday morning. Thanks for sharing :)

ashmanra

Thank you, everyone! And happy anniversary to mrmopar and mrsmopar as well!

mrmopar

Hijacking a bit but thanks back to you all as well!

LuckyMe

Happy anniversary!

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149 tasting notes

I chose this as my first tea to try out of my AMAZING box from Dexter (THANK YOU!). Since she thinks so highly of this tea, I had to give it a try… and I am so very glad I did!
It’s so roasty and full bodied…so rich and decadent.
There are honey notes and almost fruity qualities, too… It really is just absolutely marvelous. Tobacco and dark roast coffee I’m also picking up… So good!!
Yup. This is getting added to my restock list. :)
I can’t thank Dexter enough for sending some my way to try!!

ETA: After my second steep in my gaiwan, I had to go fold some laundry. During this break between steeps, I really noticed the chocolate note left in my mouth… It’s really fantastic! yes… definitely purchasing this one at some point. :)
I can’t thank Dexter enough for sending some my way to try!!

Dexter

YAY!!!!! This is my favorite dark oolong and it always makes me happy when others like it too. :))

DeliriumsFrogs

OH, it’s Soooo good, Dex! I made sure to write it down on a paper list in my tea drawer with the heading “RESTOCK!” lol. It really is just absolutely delicious.

TeaExplorer

Sounds great! I added it to my wish list.

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91
103 tasting notes

I get a feeling that it takes a while to truly get to know this complicated tea. On first impression – this is a more well rounded cup than my other favorite oolongs. The flavor is strong altogether, but it doesn’t have a bitter or astringent note that other strongly flavored teas sometimes have. Also, I’m tasting a lot more grassy green flavors than I usually do in a ‘dark’ oolong. It coats the tongue somehow, but also manages to stay light.

Flavors: Grass, Malt, Roasted

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 30 sec 2 tsp 10 OZ / 295 ML

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88
6105 tasting notes

Awwwwwwww yeaaaahhhhh. This is delicious. Wonderfully roasty and dark, with an aftertaste of cocoa. As close as you can get to black tea without it being in that category, and so very smooth, as well. Love it. Definitely a cold day comfort sort of tea. Thanks again Sil!

ETA: Oh man. I forgot how delicious gulping down a cooled brew of a dark oolong is. Intense chocolate deliciousness. OM NOM NOM.

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 0 sec
Sil

haha glad you enjoyed it :)

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