Feng Qing Ye Sheng Hong Cha - Wild Tree Purple Black Tea

Tea of the (late) morning! Another lovely black tea sample from boychik. I’ve had one other purple tea from Yunnan Sourcing, and I’m curious to try the others they offer. The leaves of this tea remind me of Taiwanese black teas – they’re long and spindly and twisty. The definitely have the creepy tree branch vibe, and they’re jet black in color. Dry scent is very mild but there are some sweet, malt, and fruit notes. I steeped about two teaspoons of leaf (roughly) for 3 minutes at 200 degrees.

Hmm… I’m finding the aroma kind of hard to describe. There are some obvious elements, like malt, sweet, fruity, but there’s something there that’s a combination of tangy and herby and I have no idea what it is… I hate that! It’s definitely there in the taste as well. There’s a nice dark grape flavor here, as well as other dried fruit, along with a touch of smoke and mineral and an interesting fuzzy mouth feel, like eating a peach skin. Then there’s that odd tangy/herbal note that I can’t identify. I see that yyz mentioned musk in her note, so maybe that’s it? I can’t help that think that maybe it’s that elusive cannabis that others seem to find so often in teas?

Anyway, this tea is tasty, and definitely complex. I can’t really compare it to any other black tea I’ve had except say that perhaps it’s closest to a Darjeeling? :P

This tea has wonderful and unusual tones of blue fruits (Loganberry, blackcurrants and concord grapes), tempered by honey, cocoa and an unusual tone of musk. I was attracted to this tea by its description promissing tones of rum and chocolate along with the fruit. The chocolate and fruit are definitely there. The rum is mildly apparent in a kind of boozy sugar cane tone that I found in one steep.

This was my first purple tea, so at first I was careful with temperature because I’ve been told they can be astringent but I have found that this tea is fairly forgiving so I have used water in the upper 90°C on it before. What you do need to be careful of is the amount of leaf you use. This is one of those teas that has long, wiry loosely folded leaves and it is easy to under leaf it. I made sure to cover the bottom of my Gaiwan with it. The leaves themselves are almost black and smell of chocolate and fruit, but mainly fruit.

I brewed this tea 6 times this time. The first four ( 30,50,90,&120s) had a pretty consistent flavour profile of blue fruits, honey, cocoa, musk, and cream, with sugar cane and fruit in the aftertaste and an occasional deeper tone to the honey. Starchy notes appeared in these steeps that ranged from faint grain notes to white potato. The tea has a light walnut colour and a creamy texture in the mouth.

The later steeps (170, & 240s) were still fairly rich in flavour but the musk notes were fading and the other tones mellowed and mixed with an artichoke note.

Altogether I have grown quite fond of this tea when I want something with a complex, creamy and fruity nature.

I went to bed at midnight, slept like a vampire at dawn, although I vaguely remember a zombie walk to the bathroom at 6 or so, Ms Theresa trying to convince us to get up & “get things done”. Little Terri flipped her off, somebody set an alarm for 10 am, & we returned to deep sleep & weird dreams, finally waking up at 9.

Shower, pick baskets full of produce from my neglected garden, (photos sometime later today on FB, for those interested), breakfast, & this tea.

I love this tea. I need this tea. A nice long relaxed gongfu session, loaded with serious chaki, as if I were drinking a good sheng. This tea is savory, like Master’s Han’s Wild picked, but fruitier, like concord grapes, & juicy. There’s much more to it, & I’ve reviewed it before, & now I have a student warming up, so I’m gonna go teach. I’ll be multitasking all day: Seasoning yixings, washing laundry, roasting tomatoes, making food for tomorrow, hopefully knitting on my newest pair of socks, playing my harp a bit, & then sleeping like a vampire again. I’ll be drinking tea throughout (except for the sleeping part, LOL)

Origin: Spring 2014. From Feng Qing area of Lincang prefecture. This wild tree varietal grows in the mountainous areas, west Feng Qing township near the Da Si village at an altitude of 2000-2200 meters.
Dry leaf: Very beautiful, appear blackish brown with a purple tint. Look flattened and then twisted. Scents of malt, cocoa, dried fruit.
Method: 4 oz Gong Fu pot 190F 4 grams tea
20” rinse / 45” / 45”
Wet Leaf: More flattened ribbons of dark brown with a smoky cocoa scent.
Liquor: Deep Golden
Flavor: Bright, fresh, lighter flavor than expected. Not too thin or thick on the mouthfeel, just right. Citrus, cream, tiny hint of smoke. Cha qi,,, SHENGadelic !!!!
Absolutely delicious, beautiful, complex, fragrant, fantastic!!!
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7/24/14
Have had this lots of times now, gong fu style but today I tried it Western style in a new little Western teapot that is cup size with an infuser the same size as the pot so it really lets my leaves have room. This tea is always delicious and one of my top ten favorite teas. It is just as good Western style. The flavors are so balanced. You have a lovely citrus note up front, then a creamy note takes you to a smoky effect but very subtle smoke on the nose. This tea is really fantastic to me.
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7/30/14
Brewed this Western style again today. I am waiting for my Gong Fu tray from China to come to me in the mail and I should only brew this tea Gong Fu style. This tea is delicious Western style but it is so perfect to me that it deserves Gong Fu as all teas do really. As soon as I get my cool and large tray,,,I really don’t want to Western brew too much bc Gong Fu is the way!!!!!!!
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8/8/14
My favorite day, my favorite tea. Gong Fu style with my Yixing dedicated to this tea!!!!!!!!!!

Ye Sheng is the tea varietal. Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze var. assamica (J. Masters) Kitam." is a primeval varietal that pre-dates Camellia Sinensis var. Assamica and is a naturally occuring non hybridized varietal. (from Yunnan Sourcing)

ye (Ye4) = leaf (叶 or 葉), or whole-leaf grade of hong cha

hong (Hong) = (红 or 紅) 2 Red, usually in hong cha; or (烘) 1 Bake[d]