Feng Qing Dian Hong Black Tea Cake 100g

Another tea I put off reviewing. Kind of mediocre. It’s fairly smooth with some light astrigency and bitter notes. Not much complexity here, and a touch on the bland side, but I won’t hold that against it as I prefer my ‘staple’ teas to be smooth and basic. I agree with another reviewer in that it tastes like a black (basic assam) tea….and actually reminds me of lipton tea but with a tad more complexity and some sweet honey notes that finish up at the end. Honestly, this tea isn’t all that memorable or enchanting (no cha qi) so I won’t order again because there are too many teas out there which have more to offer. What could be expected for the price? ….. the economical price might make it good for Kombucha or as a basic staple. It held many steeps.

Hopefully, this is the right Dian Hong cake that Andrew gave a piece of. He complained that it tasted entirely too much like a black tea, and after steeping it for 2 minutes and 45 seconds in water cooling way too quickly, I know exactly what he means. I swear I’m drinking an Assam. Now, this is like a GREAT Assam yielding a very dense complexity, being very malty, sweet, mildly astringent, kinda fruity, leather like, and a little bit chocolaty. I do get some of the same malt notes cocoa notes that are closer to a Dian hong, but with the Assams robustness. I need to steep this one so more to get a definite judgement because anything like an Assam or English Breakfast depends entirely too much on my mood. There are some days when I want a strong tea, but I don’t want to be choking on my dehydrated tongue doing so. With that said, this is a really great candidate for a breakfast tea and for those who enjoy more English style black teas.

First person to review… Well I’ll jump right in! I just recieved this today with my order from scott @ Yunnan Sourcing and it was beautiful. It has filled my cupboard with a sweet cacao aroma. The disk is mostly black with golden “zebra” stripes. It smells of dark cacao and a red grapes. I picked off a generous amount to flash steep in my gaiwan. It can apart easily and smoothly which I enjoyed. Upon brewing, the scent became scrumptious. It smelled of dark fudge and maple syrup. I rinsed the leaves and prepared to consume. I poured out a cup with excitement to taste the delectable brew. The flavor was somewhat disappointing. This is a very decent Dian hong and especially good for the price, but the aroma is misleading. It tastes very bold and robust. The initial flavor is almost identical to Assam. Its a very rustic wood smoke flavor. Its almost difficult to get down with the expectation of a desert flavor. I still enjoyed it thoroughly. Its has a sweetened coffee like flavor. The sweetness does present itself but only until after a few steepings. The flavor of maple sugar and currant fill your senses as a an aftertaste. The liquor is a crimson ruby color and continues this way well into steeping. This is a great value Dian Hong, and its interesting to get black tea in cake form. Yunnan Sourcing never disappoints.