Vietnam 'Shan Tuyet' Black Tea

Brewed some of this in a Pyrex measuring cup before pouring it into a plastic travel mug like a sophisticated person last night. Didn’t want to waste my last chance to have a cup of caffeinated tea even though I had to run down to the barn after work for horse activities. It’s a really interesting brew, even with the notes of polymer that you get from pouring hot tea into a “microwave safe” plastic cup and letting it sit in there until it’s cool enough to drink.

First of all, the dry leaves are beautiful. Spindly and long like antlers, they hook around each other with the curled ends and lift out of the bag in gnarled clumps. The scent is peppery and dark with hints of grape. When you brew them, they smell… like a classic black tea. Heady and brisk with a hint of tannins that you don’t actually end up tasting.

The flavor is completely free of astringency—I think. The plastic notes were overwhelming some stuff in the flavor, but I’ve had it once before in a proper mug and recall it being terribly smooth—with a definite brandy taste. Red grapes, aged wine. Nothing sour or tart about it. It’s easy to forget that you’re drinking this because there aren’t any potentially unpleasant or out-of-place notes that grab your attention. I think the best way I can describe it is as a polished Lipton. It tastes familiar and I wouldn’t hesitate to offer it to someone who likes a plain black cup of tea without any frills.

I had it Western style. The dry leaf is long, remarkably wiry and gnarly, which is pleasant. Its smell is restrained, with notes of fresh hay,malt, honey and pepper. The wet leaf acquires undertones of ash, earth, molasses and overripe berries.

The liquor is pale and it takes some time for it to darken appreciably. The taste is similarly understated: baked bread, malt, molasses, smoke, dark cherries, citrus zest. It has a good lasting power and could be sipped for a long time at different temperatures. A nice and balanced aftertaste.

Overall, it is a very enjoyable restrained tea with the profile of mostly baked bread + cherry/molasses sweetness. No astringency whatsoever. It could be a reliable daily drinker.

This is a truly delightful black tea. Intense red grapes fruitiness but with delicious charred notes. I haven’t tried petmez/pekmez but that’s how I imagine it would taste – grape must that has been boiled down until all the sugars are nice and caramelized and resemble sticky sweet molasses. Then there’s some roasted cacao beans on the finish and maybe just a hint of rose. I should order some more of this.

What a lovely leaf to look at and hold. A wild and clumpy pile of large-leaf tendrils. They smell mostly of red cherry, malt and pine with hints of cedar and cacao.

Gone western. What-Cha recommends 2tsp, yes, but how I am I supposed to measure that? The leaves in the teaspoon are the arms of an octopus trying to escape man’s confines. So I brought out my scale and 2g of octopus arms roughly translates to 2 heaping teaspoons? 8oz, 205F, 2 steeps at 3/5m.

After the first brew, my nose is going wild picking out all the aromas coming from the leaf: baked bread, dark cherry, dark honey, cedar, malt and pine foremost with hints of cocoa, juicy red grape, red wine, mandarin orange and grape must. The aroma of the liquor has less strength yet is still satisfying with medicinal cherry, alcohol (brandy?), mandarin orange, baked bread, malt, cedar and pine.

The sip is light and smooth yet robust with an interesting astringency. I’m not sure I mentioned this in my note a few days ago about the Vietnam Wild Boar black tea but that tea’s flavors hit mostly mid-mouth and back with very little happening up front. I’m having the same experience with this tea. Dominant flavors of baked bread, cedar and minerals with hints of cherry, dried orange rind and woody cocoa appear mid-mouth. As I swallow the tea, I notice a stronger mineral presence and tartness. The aftertaste is tart much like a sour orange and lingering with some grape fruitiness and faint cocoa. A light oiliness lines my mouth and I’m salivating, which I love.

I have to thank Togo for the opportunity to try this lovely tea. This is yet another tea to add to my impressive experiences with teas coming out of Vietnam. Oh, this Shan Tuyet black was a great complement to a dessert of coconut ice cream and sticky rice. It cut the sweetness nicely and cleared my palate in between bites.

Black but refreshing. Not bitter. Good with cake not a bacon butty.

This is one of my favourite black teas, it compares very well with the “Feng Qing Ye Sheng Hong Cha”, another favourite of mine.

It has a beautiful smell, full body, pleasant and decently strong taste, and no astringency. The price is very good too. Really, it’s hard to imagine what more could you want.

As for the particular characteristics, it is quite a malty tea, but not as sweet and lacking the chocolate notes (I nevertheless do get a bit of cocoa beans flavour, especially in the finish) of many tippy Yunnan and Fujian red teas. The taste is definitely more balanced compared to those. It is tart, robust and sweet. I aslo get woody notes of cedar and barrel aged liquors. The aftertaste is strong and protracted, with hints of spices like star anise and cinnamon.

Importantly, the mouthfeel is not lacking in any way either. It is soft, velvety and full-bodied! If you like black tea, definitely get this one, the price is more than adequate!

I finally got around to starting on a sample pouch of this tea last night. On that note, I really must get out of the habit of drinking tea in the evening as it is starting to interfere with my sleep patterns. Fortunately, I still work for my family and I’m in charge of my own scheduling, so it’s not that big of a deal right now. Anyway, I greatly enjoyed this tea. It was perhaps one of the smoothest black teas I have had in some time.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a very quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 203 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was followed by 15 subsequent infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted aromas of malt, molasses, honey, and wood. After the rinse, I found new aromas of cocoa and toast. The first infusion then brought out hints of smoke and spice on the nose. In the mouth, I detected smooth notes of malt, toast, cocoa, cedar, and pine underscored by hints of black cherry and plum. What-Cha described this as being a very fruity tea, but my experience to this point suggested that it was going to be more malty and bready. Subsequent infusions brought out hints of honey and molasses in the mouth that were accompanied by slightly stronger notes of plum. The black cherry remained subtle throughout. Black pepper and smoke began to appear on the palate while new impressions of baked bread, cream, butter, caramel, minerals, and orange zest began to appear. The later infusions mostly offered lingering impressions of minerals, butter, baked bread, and cream with hints of cocoa and orange zest in the background.

Although this tea did not change a great deal from start to finish, it was very appealing. I loved how smooth it was and all of the aromas and flavors it displayed worked well together. Surprisingly, it was lacking in astringency. That struck me as being very unusual for a Vietnamese wild black tea of any sort. I would definitely recommend this tea to fans of Vietnamese black teas and Yunnan black teas alike. It made for a pleasant break from the usual assamicas on offer.

So far, I’ve been reviewing only teas I love, and this is no exception. I thought it had just a little bit of astringency, which I like in a breakfast tea, but it still was very smooth and malty. I tried this one as a sample and then promptly ordered more. Like other teas that I enjoy, it has a light cocoa flavor.

I’ve given this tea another go, using more water and a slightly lower temp.

The leaves are not very aromatic, but there is a scent of dry chocolate perhaps.

The tea is very light and smooth, slightly malty with a sweet white grape juiciness and a hint of chocolate and wood in the background. There’s a lingering white grape flavor.

The second steeping is all malt, pear and white grape, with a light fruity-floral after taste. I find myself licking my lips as the flavor lingers for minutes after each sip, it’s lovely.

It’s almost as if the tea showcases the juicy flavors hiding behind the usual curtain of tannins that black teas typically have, resulting in a quite refreshing and gentle brew. I definitely recommend this for those who enjoy lighter, fruitier black teas.