Zhu Rong Yunnan Black

The Zhu Rong has been a wonderful companion. It came to us almost by surprise. We had gone back and forth with Weiwei and Wang Yanxin about different Dian Hong samples, and then suddenly, 15 pounds of this arrived at our doorstep with our last shipment. We were so glad to have it.

The stock has been dwindling each day, now slightly less than a pound. At first I was not going to attempt reordering this one. Some things are best left to chance, and trying to reproduce the serendipity of happenstance is not always best. But people have loved this so thoroughly, and Geoffrey has been concernedly been asking me how we would replace this when it ran out. I gave in and talked with Weiwei about finding more.

When our last shipment came yesterday, I thought this would be a simple restock. Alas, it is not the case. There is no more of the current Zhu Rong. One pound, and then it’s done. But do not despair, an equally serendipitous treasure arrived in our shipment in the Zhu Rong’s place. It is another Dian Hong with more golden buds, but very similar savory spicy flavors. It is like a cross between the Zhu Rong and the Golden Fleece or Jin Jun Mei. I love it. The tea is so exciting to have.

On Friday August 24th, at 12 noon CST, the current Zhu Rong will be discontinued and replaced by the incredible new tea, which will be named in honor of the first edition Zhu Rong. There are 12 pounds total on this edition.

The drawback of working with such small scale farmers and businesses in China is how little the editions I can bring in are. They sell out so fast! The beautiful thing is being exposed to so many nuanced complexities from so many different angles. Here’s to all the wonderful things that tea can be, and to many more wonderful harvests.

Aroma of dry leaves: sweet and creamy chocolate
Wet leaves: tangy cocoa, leather, coffee

Taste: very malty and woody; beer-like. Tangy/pointy orange peel, more beer, soft cocoa, hint of cream
Aftertaste: orange peel, cloves

Additional flavours in later steeps: cloves Version 2.0, pepper finish… so much pepper. This isn’t chai? Burnt wood

Awesomeness level: pretty awesome.

Can CrowKettle handle the manly power of this tea? Nope

Objective level of this note: going down with each additional word

Prevailing thought while sipping: where did the chocolate go??

This was one of the teas in my tea of the month package for May. I thought I’d give it a go while i was at work today. I tend to love Yunnan Black teas and this one sounded interesting to boot. I was not expecting to be blown away by a tea, but I was. This tea is very bold and savory… may be in love. I must add it made my snickers bar taste out of this world too. ;) Kudos to David and his team for this find that is going to cause me to place another order in under two weeks.

You know it will be a good tea when you open the bag for the first time and the tea leaves are light, fluffy, and curly. You cant even get them scooped up in your tea spoon because they are all entangled together. It actually “hurts” to use a metal spoon to get the scoop because you can hear the tea leaves crunching into smaller pieces. And because it is so “airy”, 1 teaspoon is not really even 1 teaspoon.

This tea is as delicious as expected. It is heavy and thick, roasty. Hints of roasted nuts and also roasted hay. There is a slight honey sweetness to the tea. Just a subtle hint o astringency at the end o the sip, it quickly disappears. A pleasant, thick, roasted aftertaste lingers for a long time.

Finally! A Yunnan where I taste that sweet potato everyone always talks about!

This is a simply lovely Yunnan. Sweetish, dark, honeyed, sweet potato. Smells strongly of baked sweet potato, in fact.

Yes, this does need to be on my shopping list. Thanks for the chance to try before buying, Sil! :)

This Tea is too damn good, I don’t know what to say right now but I will soon, just too good.
chocolate

First of all – the name of this tea is awesome and empowering. I love strong woman characters – pair them with tea and I’m passionate.

Short steeps in the gong fu teapot.

The first steeping was so sweet! Wow – it took me by surprise and brought a smile to my face after a long day of visiting with the inlaws (they’re here all week) AND I had a very important job interview today – have to figure out how to rearrange my life from jobless blogging to 40 hours a week, 9-5 super stressful job (if I get the job). So that’s where I was before i took the first sip. Afterwards was just a goofy grin, sipping the syrupy fruit/chocolate notes out of the first steep.

2nd & third steep – super savoury. It changed way more than I expected – but I’m definitely getting a well seasoned, thinly cut potato – fried crispy. I’m even getting the sensation in my chest of when I eat potatoes – a filling and satisfying feeling with an earthy, but savoury aftertaste. Homemade kettle chips! It really hits home and now I have all sorts of kitchen memories.
Oh at the end of the sip there’s a hint of sweetness in the 3rd steep – it almost tingles and when I breathe in with my mouth open it feels so refreshed! Like after chewing a piece of mint gum – but no mint flavour. Just the sensation.

On to more steeps :)

(My rating is based on the fact that Yunnan Blacks aren’t my favourite flavour profile right now – but this tea is so nuanced and full of surprises that is it by far the best I’ve tried so far! A great experience.)

Another awesome sample from caile! I may have been excited about receiving this swap today in the mail haha.

This tea is fascinating! The smell is that typical comforting black tea scent, but the taste is different altogether. Is that a berry taste? Berries? Fascinating. It’s also a bit woodsy. Not like the forest, like wood hah. I’m quite enjoying it, and the different taste for each sip is keeping me on my toes.

I’ve been researching all night, attempting to narrow down a topic for a proposal due Friday, and rather than narrow anything down, I’ve managed to expand my topic choices. Why must everything sound so interesting? Sigh.

Thanks caile :)

This is one of those teas that would be great for drinking on a stormy night. It’s flavor is toasty and deep with notes of dark chocolate. There’s a little bit of a tang to it on the aftertaste, and it almost seems a little bit acidic (but in a pleasant way). I also get little hints of pepper like in Verdant’s description. I am loving this tea. It’s so “dark” tasting and complex, it’s the kind of tea that gets you a little buzzed purely off of the excitement of having such a great cup available to you. This is tied with the Golden Fleece for my second favorite tea I’ve tried from Verdant, right behind the Cornfields Shu.

What a nice day yesterday! Hopefully not the last until spring… I was sitting out in the yard reading the amazing ‘The Lies of Locke Lamora’ by Scott Lynch. I’m grateful to Terri Harplady for getting to try this lovely tea! Verdant suggests two teaspoons at boiling for a minute and a half, increasing each steep by a minute. I’m surprised by the short steep time for a black tea. The leaves are very long and thin… The dry leaves smell have a very sweet scent!

Steep #1 // a few minutes after boiling // 1.5 min
Oh this one is nice. For some reason the top of the cup has a tobacco like fragrance, that then disappears. Otherwise, this has very much so the profile of Laoshan Black but with a slight deeper flavor, both chocolatier, sweeter and creamier. So of course I like it more than Laoshan Black! I can see how others like this sort of black tea better than the tougher, bolder black teas, but I still like those a bit better. the more I have teas like Laoshan Black though, I think I’m liking them better. I guess there is a time for both sorts though!

Steep #2 // just boiled // 2.5 min
This cup is even better, probably because the water was hotter. The flavor is a bit deeper and stronger than the first cup. This tea is odd, because it’s almost like I’m eating solid food, even though this is not nearly a strong tea. But it seems like I’ve eaten a meal.

Steep #3 // just boiled // 3.5 min
You know what? This one was pure maple syrup! Both in sweetness and texture! It’s like the chocolate flavor disappeared and it left just the sweet. Very odd. And like no other tea before! I’d definitely go for a third steep next time, note to self.

Steep #4 // just boiled // 3.5 – 4 min
I filled the cup up about half way this time, sadly this cup lost the magic, maybe the third steep was perfect though. A bit too cedary.

Cup 1 = creamier Cup 2 = chocolatier Cup 3 = sweeter
I love how this one evolves! I definitely like this one more than Laoshan Black! I’m glad I have enough for two more steep sessions…