China Fujian Zhangping Shui Xian Black Tea Cake

It’s a lovely fall Sunday here in the middle of nowhere, and predictably, I’m sick again. Our weather has been fluctuating from very warm, rainy, and humid to cool and dry every few days, and as a result, I have been dealing with constant allergy and sinus flare-ups. Yesterday I was so drained of energy and felt so awful that all I managed to do after dragging myself through the workday was plop down on my couch with my cats and watch Spirited Away on dvd. Some people with real jobs and lives go out on Friday nights. Clearly, I am not one of those people. Anyway, as I’m stuck home sick today, I figured I may as well be somewhat productive and crank out a few tea reviews.

Before I get to the meat of this review, I should state that I very likely did not get to try this tea at its best. I normally try to consume every tea I buy or am gifted within 12-36 months of harvest, unless it’s something like pu-erh, which I know I can just throw back for however long I want or need. Unfortunately, that did not happen with this tea. This black tea mini-cake was produced during the 2017 harvest, and I just got around to trying it a little less than two weeks ago. It was supposed to be consumed within 36 months of production, as opposed to 4+ years. Luckily for me, it seemed to have held up well in storage, though I could tell it had lost some vibrancy and complexity. I’m not sure that was a major loss, though, as I kind of doubt this tea would have done much for me had I tried it when it was younger and at or closer to its prime.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a standard 10 second rinse, I steeped the 6 gram mini-cake in 4 ounces of 203 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 17 additional 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, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, and 10 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry mini-cake presented aromas of malt, chocolate, lemon, and orange zest. After the rinse, aromas of honey, maple syrup, sugarcane, blackberry, blueberry, and roasted almond appeared. The first infusion introduced a baked bread aroma. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered thin notes of malt, raisin, chocolate, lemon, sugarcane, blueberry, and baked bread that were chased by hints of honey, brown sugar, tobacco, roasted almond, blackberry, and maple syrup. The subsequent infusions quickly brought forth aromas of raisin, cinnamon, brown sugar, black raspberry, tobacco, and mulberry. Stronger and more immediately detectable impressions of maple syrup, blackberry, roasted almond, and honey came out in the mouth alongside mineral, black raspberry, and mulberry notes. Hints of orange zest, earth, cinnamon, sweet potato, and wood were also present. As the tea faded, the liquor began to emphasize notes of minerals, malt, baked bread, chocolate, lemon, and roasted almond that were balanced by subtler notes of sweet potato, sugarcane, honey, earth, wood, tobacco, and orange zest.

This was an interesting offering, but it did not quite satisfy me. I liked a lot of the aroma and flavor components that were present in this tea, but they never fully came together. This tea also faded rather quickly (perhaps due to its age) and displayed a little roughness around the edges. It produced a very uneven drinking experience overall.