Yuchi Competition Grade Ruby 18 Black Tea from TheTea

Yuchi Competition Grade Ruby 18 Black Tea

Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Cherry, Dark Wood, Drying, Forest Floor, Honey, Malt, Malty, Savory, Tannic, Thick, Varnish, Wintergreen, Woody, Asparagus, Astringent, Bark, Bitter, Cannabis, Cinnamon, Cookie, Eucalyptus, Menthol, Mineral, Mint, Nectarine, Spicy, Sweet, Whiskey
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Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by derk
Average preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 3 oz / 100 ml

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2 Tasting Notes View all

  • “2021 harvest A Ruby 18 with heft. The mouthfeel of this tea sets it apart from other Ruby 18s I’ve had. Thick and fluffy with a big character of dark, varnished wood and some savory malted...” Read full tasting note
  • “I really like this black tea, its complexity adds a nice layer to the woody menthol profile that I look for when reaching for a Ruby 18 tea. The dry leaf aroma is minty and meaty at first, then in...” Read full tasting note
    87

From TheTea

The garden where I found the best Ruby black tea I have ever had was also one of the most beautiful gardens I visited during my autumn trip to Taiwan. First impression when you entering the garden is the sound – pleasant noise made by flies, insects and birds hiding in the trees nearby. Organic garden is like a natural habitat – where spiders, snakes, bugs and other can live safely without the risk of killing by pesticide or herbicide spraying. The tea trees look natural – with spider’s nets between the branches, bug bitten leaves and life spreading everywhere around. This garden, located near Yuchi, cultivates three tea cultivars: native Shan Cha, Assam#8 and finally Ruby #18 (called also Red Jade or
Hong Yu). Taiwan Tea Experimental Station spent over 50 years perfecting the breeding program in order to release this cultivar in 2003.

This is a unique cultivar created from an existing Taiwan native cultivar crossed with an Assam cultivar from Burma. The main feature of well made Ruby black tea is the flavour – with strong menthol and camphor and olibanum notes mixed with vibrant tannic mouthfeel and long, cooling aftertaste.

The Ruby you hold in the hand is a masterpiece – It won the main prize during one of the 2019 national competitions. And it was awarded in 2020 too…

Please use boiling water and a little bit less leaves than you usually use (recommended 4,5g/100ml).

Origin: 800 m. above sea level, Yuchi Township, Nantou county, Taiwan,

Harvest: Summer 2021

Cultivar/Tree Variety: Red Jade / Ruby 18 / TTES. 18 / Hong Yu /

Temperature of water and amount of leaves: 100 C 4-5g/100ml.

Suggested brewing method: Yixing clay teapot or gaiwan of low capacity. First, you should pre-heat empty teapot/gaiwan and tea cups with boiling water. When the teapot is warmed, then you put the tea leaves in. After smelling hot and dry leaves in the pot, gently pour the boiling water to the pot. First infusion should be very short- not more than 10-15 second. We suggest to increase brewing time for 5-10 seconds in each next brewing.

We recommend to brew this tea also in the bowl-style- then please use around 1,5g of leaves for 100ml of water.

About TheTea View company

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2 Tasting Notes

1604 tasting notes

2021 harvest

A Ruby 18 with heft. The mouthfeel of this tea sets it apart from other Ruby 18s I’ve had. Thick and fluffy with a big character of dark, varnished wood and some savory malted barley. Restrained tones complement the bold, woody flavor; black cherry rounds out the bottom and Ruby 18 wintergreen mintiness comes through in the top. Mild honeyed malt aftertaste. Tannins are prominent after swallowing, leaving the mouth very dry, but with that sensation comes a penetrating calm felt deep within my body that causes my eyelids to droop in warm intoxication.

This tea is quite the contrast to the cheekier and fruitier character of other Ruby 18 reds out there. Those are easier for me to appreciate with lighter body and bolder cherry and wintergreen character. But this is pleasant in its own way. The tea has power over me, rather than me having power over the tea. It feels nice to drink on a wet December morning, squishing around the backyard while taking care of my tea plants.

Above was gongfu preparation, with multiple short steeps (15 to 25 seconds) to mitigate the tannins. Would recommend this way over western.

Flavors: Cherry, Dark Wood, Drying, Forest Floor, Honey, Malt, Malty, Savory, Tannic, Thick, Varnish, Wintergreen, Woody

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 3 OZ / 100 ML
5 comments
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Nattie
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You’re growing tea plants?! That is so cool!!

tea-sipper
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I’m still so happy that you’re growing tea plants, derk!

Leafhopper
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It sounds like I might have made the right decision not to purchase this tea in our group order. Wishing your tea plants well!

derk
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I am, Nattie (and me, too, tea-sipper!). I don’t have an official count but somewhere between 70 and 100 first-year plants from seed, a few older from a local nursery and 1 clone from a tea farm in Alabama. It’s a slow process to start a tea farm when you don’t yet have land to plant on a large scale :P

Nattie
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That is very, very cool! I wish you all the best with your tea farm, I can’t wait to hear how it goes!

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87
Recommended
992 tasting notes

I really like this black tea, its complexity adds a nice layer to the woody menthol profile that I look for when reaching for a Ruby 18 tea.

The dry leaf aroma is minty and meaty at first, then in a preheated gaiwan I get various notes such as white asparagus, cannabis, and gasoline. Surprisingly, the smell is also a little grassy and floral. Once the leaves are wet, their aroma reminds me of eucalyptus, wild honey, durian, and cookies.

The taste is mineral and sweet, and mentholy. There are notes of cinnamon, tree bark, nectarine. When brewed stronger, it can get astringent and woody. The latter half of the session is marked also by increased bitterness and a spicy finish. The aftertaste is a bit numbing and definitely long-lasting. It is somewhat sour relative to the tea taste and has a whiskey undertone to it.

Flavors: Asparagus, Astringent, Bark, Bitter, Cannabis, Cinnamon, Cookie, Eucalyptus, Honey, Menthol, Mineral, Mint, Nectarine, Spicy, Sweet, Whiskey, Woody

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 3 OZ / 100 ML
1 comments
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Martin Bednář
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Not sure if gasoline is something I want to notice in my tea :) .

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