Heavy Charcoal Roast Dong Ding

The ‘cigar’ of the Taiwanese tea world, this tea is something special. Masterly charcoal roasted at 140C, four times, for eight hours at a time, this tea is the most heavily roasted tea we have ever had on the site. It boasts a profile of rich, smooth roast hickory wood, high-quality cigar smoke and toasted marshmallow sweetness, great those brave enough to try this dark, dark tea. It is rare to find a heavily roasted tea with this complexity, but thanks to our friends in Dong Ding we are getting used to finding these rare types of tea!

The roaster of this tea is the nephew of the Old Master who makes our Old Master Dong Ding, and he deserves the name Master as well. 360 days a year he roasts tea at his home on the Dong Ding plateau, checking the temperature and profile of his teas every 15 minutes, 8+ hours a day. It is an amazing sight to see, smell, and taste, and one that we will be happy to share with you once our Mountain Stream Tea Tours begin again.

The Dong Ding area is steeped in tradition and has rather rigid agricultural practices. We have looked for years for an agrochemical-free authentic Dong Ding Oolong but haven’t found one. Yet. This tea is conventionally grown and we have chosen to include this tea for its authenticity.