Da Hong Pao (Big Red Robe) Wuyi Rock Oolong Tea Fujian

Continuing my floral tea route tonight I decided on an Oolong and chose Da Hong Pao from my Teavivre samples. I have a bag from Canton Tea Club that I have yet to brew but I haven’t been in the mood so this will be a test. If this goes down well tonight then maybe tomorrow I can blog it.

Still brewing in my gongfu tonight with my 7g sample.
3 steeps:30s,1m,2m 100ºC/212ºF

The raw tea consists of large, thinly rolled dark brown leaves with light tips. They smell floral and sweet with a wonderful musky autumn leaves scent blended in. I can also note there were no sticks or stems amongst the leaves.

Steep 1 – 30 seconds
Orange gold in colour with a roasted, sweet and floral scent. Lightly roasted in flavour balanced with sweet floral highlights and a little nuttiness. Only a hint of perfume but overall well balanced.

Steep 2 – 1 minute
The orange colour is wonderful to look at. Dominance wise the flowers have taken over the roasted flavour with the dry perfume after taste remaining at the same level. Sweetness still lingers to create a light tea overall that’s smooth and delicate.

Steep 3 – 2 minutes
Now it’s a similar strength as the first steep. It’s still smooth with no bitterness and the dry perfume flavour is at a minimum. There is also still a little sweetness amongst the floral tones and that wonderful roasted almost baked warmth.

I found the quality of the leaves to be very good which was shown in appearance and taste. It’s not my favourite Oolong but as a floral tea it’s great. My mouth is left with a sweet floral after taste that is sitting very nicely with me. I can definitely see why this is so popular.

Thanks YET AGAIN to LiberTeas for this one, too!!!

This was Charcoal-like with a sweetness and a dry taste in the after taste. I actually like this one chilled or iced a bit better than hot. It’s sweeter and seems more complex as it’s cooler. Puts a smile on my face!

Whoops, this is yet another overdue review on a tea from Teavivre. Out of the package, this one has a very bold aroma, roasty and rich with some completely unexpected cocoa notes, but also an earthy, mossy smell. That last note is one which I have grown to appreciate – this is a tricksy oolong, putting me more in mind of a black tea. I love black tea!

I used the whole sample in my perfect tea mug with water that’s probaby around 90ish degrees. The steep was around 3ish minutes, yielding a liquor that is dark for an oolong but would be light for a black – a warm yellow, reminds me of an IPA or similarly styled beer in colour. The steeped aroma is subdued cocoa, with some dark earthy notes – almost reminding me of peat and cocoa. I don’t know why I say peat as I’m not completely sure what that smells like, but that is what comes into my head.

First sips are rich, earthy. I get a fairly bold roasty oolong flavoured, with a hint of spice at the end. Maybe something cinnamon or nutmeg? It’s a little sweet at the finish, unexpected but really nice. I get the sense that there is a bit of bitterness lingering underneath at all, but it isn’t fully developing, so it just gives a sense of complexity. This is a fairly bold tea and could handle additions if you were so inclined but certainly doesn’t need them – the mark of a good tea, in my books.

I have had a couple Big Red Robe oolongs now, and I must say that I really enjoy them. The flavours remind me of black teas more often than not and they’re nicely complex but still drinkable. This one almost has a savoury aspect, it puts me in mind of of a nicely seasoned roast. What is going on in my head today?! IF I can get teavivre.com to finally accept my credit card, this one might get slipped onto the order. Very yum.

EDIT to add that as it cools, I get a smokey note. It explains the sense of tobacco I was getting earlier. This is the second tea I’ve had recently with that slightly smoke that develops late in the game and I am liking it. Maybe I’ll be able to try a Lapsang some day.

PS – This reminds me a lot of the Teavivre Dragon Pearls. What’s up with that? : )

Thank you to Angel and Teavivre for this delicious sample!!
My samples came today, yaaaaaay! This is the first one I picked out to try. It smells amazing, both the dry leaf and the brewed tea. I thought the leaves smelled rather chocolatey, but the brewed tea aroma reminds me distinctly of honey on a warm, soft freshly baked roll. I am currently on the third steep and it still smells this way.
Taste is roasty and sweet. I really like it, and I’m super glad I picked this one first. Another one to put on the shopping list!

Fiance and I finally finished off the tea soda mixture today (yay!) It was probably good for 16 or so 14 oz cups, so it definitely lasted a good bit.

This is a sample I got from TeaVivre. Thanks so much to Angel and the TeaVivre team!

Dry, this leaf has such a wonderful cocoa smell, with a small amount of autumnal notes, like wet leaves and moss. This is the perfect tea for the kind of brisk weather we’re having now!

I brewed this western style (mostly because Fiance insisted on a cup too!) so, I popped two heaping tablespoons for 16 oz and went just over two minutes at 212F.

First Steep:

Steeped like this, there are very strong notes of cocoa and a rich earthiness. A toasty, nutty note pops up when the tea hits the roof of my mouth and then lingers through the sip. There’s a slight sweet fruit flavor (kind of peachy, with floral highlights) that hangs on the throat and becomes the aftertase. There’s a slight drying feeling but it’s not distracting.

Fiance said this cup had a really comforting, pleasant taste.

Second Steep (~3 min 30 sec):

This cup is more floral and sweeter, like carmelized sugar sweetness. The highlights are brighter, and the flavor is more nuanced in general. The cocoa is slightly less defined, and gives way to a more mossy earthy flavor. Such a smooth cup! The astringency is also less here.

Fiance has now decided that it’s the toastiness he likes.

Third Steep (5 min):

This one is more caramelized sugar and mineral than nutty or chocolatey. There’s stil a lovely subtle floral aspect to it, the fruit is more apple than peach now. The aftertaste is like a lightly toasted wet rock.

A delightfully warming cup and a great floral oolong when I want something less green tasting. Yum!

This is another sample from Angel and Teavivre. Thanks! I remain very impressed with Teavivre after tasting this one.

I brewed this up gringo style since I was making a bazillion gallons of iced tea while I was in the kitchen. Brewing in the gaiwan takes far too much concentration to be multitasking like that. I weighed out my sample and decided it was enough to use in my ingenuitea and I followed the directions on the back of the package.

I found this to be excellent, a complex tea with different hidden flavors to surprise me. At first I thought it was mineral with a hint of that floral taste I got with the high mountain oolong. I let it cool down a bit. I generally don’t drink my tea very hot. Now I’m getting a toasty roasted, nutty flavor. It still has the mineral quality to it, but there is a new sweetness wrapping every thing together. There is a pleasant aftertaste which lingers on for quite some time.

This tea deserves a permanent spot in my cupboard. This is one I can curl up with and enjoy all day long.

First off THANKS TO TEAVIVRE FOR THE WONDERFUL SAMPLE!!!

Dry smell: The first thing I noticed was the deep, earthy, chocolate aroma. It has a slight pungency but not in a bad way.

Wet leaf: When steeped the leaves get an earthy smell but also has tones of lilac coming through.

Flavor: The tea is very floral but still has a deep earthy flavor when left for a longer steeping. It has a slight tartness in the back of your throat when you swallow, but the aftertaste is a nice, light floral note.

I got 10 6 ounce steeping with 5 grams of this tea and probably could have gotten more. It is a nice summery/spring tea and I’ll definitely be buying some to have on hand. It isn’t going to be my every day tea but, on the right occasion, it is really nice.

This is so sweet! Like brown rock sugar! I love the floral aroma. It’s also got the something that reminds me of autumn. I find that this is common in dark oolongs. If you close your eyes to inhale the aroma and then sip, it’s really like being outdoors in the woods when the leaves have mostly fallen to the ground. I’d even say it’s out in the woods during late morning after the dew has dried but before it gets too hot. It’s one of the warm autumn days with chilly mornings and evenings. One of those beautiful clear days where you don’t know if you need a jacket or not. Mmm…makes me long for fall…which is almost here! I know this because even though I have a giant pot of Oriental Beauty in the fridge, I woke up craving hot tea, which is why I brewed this. It was so chilly this morning, my puppies were sticking their cold noses into my armpits and backs of my knees. They’re lucky their cute.

Back to the tea! Where was I? Sweet, autumnal, floral and woodsy (but not woody. Wood is a funny word when you think about it.) Very tasty and warming. The second steep is proving to be as delicious as the first. The first steep was sweeter and more floral, but this second one has a more prominent roasty woodsy taste. I really think I’m starting to enjoy darker oolongs. At least when they are smooth and tasty like this one. :)

I really love hot tea on chilly days. soon…

On an unrelated note, I’ve been playing Magicka with my sister. Are any of you familiar with this game? It’s sort of really hilarious. Especially when it’s me and my sister playing because we have this terrible tendency to accidentally kill each other because we thought we hit the “heal” button when we actually hit the “Fire” button. We both learned the revive spell pretty quick. :)

Tea provided by Teavivre for review

After trying this with short steeps, I brewed it in a teapot today. The result was a bit different, and better in some ways. I noticed a lot less strong charcoal flavour, and more of a smooth and sweet liquour.

Overall I prefer the flavour of short steeping this, but it’s still nice from a teapot. If you drink a lot of tie guan yin western style, drinking this da hong pao might be a nice change of pace. It’s a very different experience, but still a good cup of oolong.

I’ve never really been charmed by da hong pao before, but I can see why people like it. With my limited experience tasting this type of tea, I cannot vouch for it’s quality. That being said, I didn’t find any of the flavours to be off putting.

400ml, 5g, 3 steeps (1m, 2m, 3m)

My first wuyi, thanks to Angel at Teavivre!

The leaves are fragrant and dark, almost like a black tea. They’re rolled into narrow, pointed strips and are the color of dark chocolate. They smell like an oolong, but nuttier and with a hint of hay and cocoa. There’s also a scent that reminds me of new wood.

I let this one steep for three minutes. In that time, the water brewed up to a lovely golden brown. The color of a perfectly toasted marshmallow. The scent of the brewed tea is very different from the dry leaf. It smells toasted, like unsweetened cereal. Again, I think of Cheerios when I smell it. As far as the flavor goes, it’s very similar to the scent. However, I’m getting notes of roasted seaweed, too, but it’s faint. For an oolong, this is a pretty hearty cup!