Spring 2014 Fu Shou Mei Feng Qing Black Tea

Queued post, written September 19th 2014

This tea was the one that made me place an order with Yunnan Sourcing in the first place. I’ve never ordered from them before, but then someone in the chat room (which you should all visit now and then, you know!) asked if we had ever had it and it was also mentioned that YS were having a good offer up at the time. So, having already fulfilled my requirement for being allowed to order tea (emptying the yet to try box) I decided to just be spontaneous and try it.

The thing about this one is that during preparation it has been roasted with a kind of sugar similar to muscovado. This made me think it must have been sort of caramelised and it’s not really a secret that I am generally attracted to caramel-flavoured things and I love food that has been cooked with sugar and butter. In Denmark we do this with small cooked potatoes as part of the traditional Christmas spread. On the other hand, I don’t like having sugar in my tea. I find it unnecessary and in some cases actually unpleasant, so that was a bit of a gamble.

Quite sweet. A bti too sweet really. underlaying notes of hay, wood (oaky) and a bit of earth. It’s having pu-erh-y thoughts, this tea. Perhaps that’s what it actually wanted to be when it grew up. As it cools it just tastes more and more like a cup of ordinary Yunnan black which has had a spoonful of sugar added to it, and we’ve already established previously that I don’t like sweetenener in my tea.

Re-steep is a bit thin, in spite of having steeped for rather a long time, due to receiving a telephone call from a friend whom I haven’t spoken to in a couple of years. He’s just become a father for the first time. The re-steep is very much a pale imitation of the first steep. It’s the same as the first, only… less. Much less.

I feel a little disappointed by this. It wasn’t what I imagined it would be, although now in the harsh clarity of hindsight I don’t know how I could make this mistake. Sugar is sugar and caramel is not made of only sugar. I love caramel flavour in my tea, be it naturally occuring, manipulated out in processing or added flavour. I hoped this would be more caramel-y.

I’ll give it some points for being interesting though, and drinking an interesting tea is always a good experience regardless of how it tastes, because I’ve never heard of tea being roasted in sugar before.

This is a very tasty but slightly, very slightly bitter tea. Next time I will lower the temperature to 190 degrees. It is a complex tea with a lot of different notes to it. The ones from the list I can notice are malt first and foremost, then dried fruit, molasses, smoke and sugar. The tea does not quite live up to one thing that struck me in the description, it was fried in raw cane sugar. You would think it would be even sweeter. Still it is quite good and rates highly in my book.

I brewed this once in an 18oz teapot with boiling water and 3 tsp leaf for 3 min.

Yay, I got my first package of Yunnan Sourcing samples from fellow Steepsterites! This package is from Nicole and she sent me six lovely black teas. Thanks, dear! I’ve tried this tea before and apparently I loved it. The leaves are very small and thin, almost wiry in shape. Dry scent is sweet and almost fruity.

The steeped tea smells rich and savory and sweet, all at the same time. It’s quite dark brown in color. First of all, I’m pretty sure I overleafed this a bit, as the sample didn’t look like quite enough for two cups, so I used the whole thing and filled my cup about as full as the steeper basket would allow. But it’s a Chinese tea, it can take it! The flavor is rich and somewhat sweet potato-y. This tea has the most amazing dark caramelized brown sugar and molasses notes, I assume because of the way it’s processed. So rich and dark and delish! There’s a wee touch of dark dried fruit as well, but that brown sugar and molasses flavor is definitely the star here. Om nom!

This is a mysterious looking little wiry black tea. Quite magical when steeped! Rich and satisfying and complex enough to keep my interest. Chocolatey, malty, and fruity sweet!

Great stuff. I’m going to hoard the rest of the sample boychik sent me. Thanks!!

Edited to state that I’m REALLY loving the lingering aftertaste of this tea….mmmmm!

This very hay-smelling when dry. Steeped, this is just plain yum. I did it for 1 minute, 1:30 and 2 minutes. Then I left it in the cup for about 5 minutes. All steeps were deep and rich and malty with cocoa. Thanks for sharing boychik!

5/19/14
Dry leaves are tiny, thin, black, twisted eyebrows with scents of brown sugar and raisin. I love this shape,,,,good things are gonna happen here…….
Brewed this Western style at 190F for 4 minutes.
The wet leaves open up to be all needle buds,,smell sweet and are mud-brown clay color now.
Liquor is a deep auburn orange-brown with scent of sweet malty raisin pie.
Flavor- Oh Yeahhh,,,subtle sweet, deep malt, rich, scents of cooked raisin, cocoa. Touch of orange in the finish but very subtle.
As the liquor cools, scents of cream,,,,some whipped cream on the raisin pie,,,,,good stuff.

5/22/14
Tried this on Gong FU style this morning with more great results!
190F 2tsp – 4oz pot
15" rinse
30" golden sunflower colored liquor – creamy, malty, very very subtle notes of orange but no bitter or astringency
45" this is a delicious Yunnan black tea,,,the quintessence of this type of tea,,,so great!!!

6/2/14
Brewed Western style this morning and overleafed a bit. Should have used my scale but I just eyeballed it. This tea needs to be precisely measured bc it is easy to overleaf such tiny twisty threads lol. Still delicious though, I just brewed it strong :)

6/8/14
Took this one down to 160F for 3 minutes. Brewed 8 oz in a Pyrex cup. I have been brewing this too hot as these are very very young and delicate leaves. Even though it is a black tea, I learned to treat these first flush of pure bud leaves and other teas like them with a very low temperature.
Very malty but not super sweet until the tea starts to cool off a bit and then there is a sweet aftertaste. Very delicate tea and maltalicious!!

6/13/14
Had this after lunch, Western style. Low temp of 160 again for 3 minutes. Heavenly ,,, sweet and malty. So good.
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7/3/14
My morning tea, gong fu style!! 190F, immediate rinse, then 15" each time. I love this tea and tea type,,it is one of my absolute favorites !!! Malty, creamy, naturally sweet. Pretty dark golden color. Excellent!!
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7/13/14
Gong Fu this morning!! immediate rinse, 6"-4"- 6" -8" YUMMM!!
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7/25/14
Western style today with a 1 cup style glass teapot with huge infuser that spans the same size as the teapot (my new favorite method). This stuff is smoky, sweet, and malty. Love it. Since it is fired with muscovado sugar, the second steeping is always more smoky than the first and less sweet.
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7/30/14
Western Style today,,,,190F for 4 minutes ,,,,1 tsp tea per 8 oz water. The liquor is deeper red and smells so rich, sweet, malty, and good!! Flavor is also rich, sweet, malty, and good!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love this tea and I’m running low now :(

Fu Shou Mei (Fortune/Longevity Eyebrow)
feng qing (Feng4 Qing4) = (凤庆 or 鳳慶) factory, established in 1939, in the Lin Cang region, that was the first factory to make Dian Hong, now also making pu’ercha; also a Da Ye cultivar suited to hongcha and lücha; also a county in western Lincang bordering Baoshan

A wonderful surprise gift from boychik. This tea is unlike anything I’ve had, I reckon. It’s smooth and sweet and has some satisfying rich black tea flavor, yet there’s a freshness, almost a green element to it too, a little plant-like. The sweetness is a kind I’m not at all used to with black tea; it’s more like the kind I love and associate with greens like Laoshan Green and good bilochuns. I wonder if that’s the cane sugar they describe in the unusual quick-fried process. Whatever it is, it’s delicious and unique (and perfect for the season, which can’t make up its mind if it’s still winter or going to honestly stay spring—this is how I feel right now: https://scontent-b-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc1/t1.0-9/10154100_622880174469069_8744260657632339606_n.jpg ). Later steeps bring out an oat bran smell I’m digging. Man, I may have to procure a bunch of this. Awesome find, boychik! And thank you so much for sharing it (and so much of it! Gosh) with me. :D