Spring 2022 Feng Qing "Classic 58" Dian Hong Premium Yunnan Black Tea

Because it’s a negative review, I’ll quickly state that this is definitely a good tea if very sweet and malty is pleasing to you. It’s a bit cloying and gross to me, though, hence the negative outcome. The processing technique looks great and the leaves are surely a high quality version of this tea.

Sesh 1:
Generally disappointed with the experience. I don’t really like the super malty and sweet taste that this tea has. It’s not really balanced by anything else, relative to my palate.
It doesn’t have a bready, starchy, baked goods, toasted, or even chocolatey kind of taste like some other blacks. It’s mostly that sweet malty taste, which I find slightly gross to be honest.

Sesh 2:
Letting this sit with some fresh air after opening the vacuum sealed bag did it a lot of good for me. Aromatics are great. More complexity and intrigue to both the smell and taste than the first session. Some of the missing notes started to show up, such as a baked starchiness and possibly a muted chocolatey note. The maltiness may have even diminished a tiny bit, but it was still dominant, especially in the hui gan. So each sip left a somewhat unenjoyable aftertaste in the mouth.

It’s just not for me, which is fine. I won’t get any more of it, but maybe I’ll continue to randomly drink the rest of the 100g bag until it’s gone. It may be that I like a more aged version of Dian Hong, so I’ll randomly come back to it as a very low priority option down the line. Maybe I’ll toss it, maybe I won’t. There are many other blacks that are better than this one to me.