Light Roast Wild Tree Purple Varietal Black Tea of Dehong

Grabbed a sample from a tea box, and I have no idea what harvest year it’s from, so I’ll put this under the general listing. The flavor isn’t too deep or special to my tastes. It could just be not my favorite sort of black tea, but I found it to be too mild and boring. When I had it cold with milk, it tasted decent, and I felt like the flavors came out a little more. I just prefer something bolder.

2020 version. works well as bowl tea with water just off boil.
Dry leaves smell terrific.

I could have sworn I wrote a review for this tea about a year ago, but either I’m wrong or I miscategorized it. I’m working through the last of a 50 g pouch I bought in the spring of 2015. This is a tea that grows on you, with slightly weird flavours you have to get used to. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry leaf has the tangy grape smell of purple Sour Patch Kids. The first steep has notes of red and green grapes, blueberries, flowers, sage, and eucalyptus. The taste is a lot less tangy and sour than the smell, but it’s still a strange combination for me. The second steep is much the same, although the sweetness really comes out when the tea is allowed to cool.

In the third steep, a fuzzy grape skin note emerges in the mouth, and the tea seems to become even sweeter. The sweet, fruity, and herbaceous character continues for the next few rounds. By steep six, it’s lost most of its oomph and is taking on woody and vegetal qualities, which predominate during the last couple steeps.

I won’t have any trouble finishing this tea, but it’s something I wouldn’t normally reach for. It’ll be fun to compare it to the other purple tea I picked up from Yunnan Sourcing in 2017.

A very nice midpoint between Ye Sheng black teas and Wu Yi oolongs. The dry leaf smells of almond/marzipan, while in the wet leaf I can smell more of sauna, pine and light roast coffee. It is also slightly cooling in the nose. The taste is savoury, fragrant and spicy with a very sweet aftertaste. There is also some mild bitterness. A great aspect of the tea is definitely in the mouthfeel, which is fairly soft, heavy and a little bit effervescent. I feel like overall it is growing on me as I get more accustomed to its characteristics. At first, I couldn’t quite appreciate all of its nuances, because it is ultimately different from any other tea I have had, although the base layer is similar to other Ye Sheng varietal black teas from YS.

One from Nicole that i’ve had a couple times now. I enjoyed having it, but it’s a little too close to an oolong/darjeeling taste for me to really get behind it. The few cups i had were a pleasant trip down something i wouldn’t normally pick up for myself which was lovely.

I’m having the 2016 spring version of the tea. I’ve had it a few times now. I prefer the light roast over the plain version. It’s definitely a bit different to me, but is pretty tasty.

It has roasty wine, pepper taste. That’s about all I can come up with.

L&CTTB

somewhat sweet. reminds me of darjeeling or wine. kind of peppery. interesting.

http://www.yunnansourcing.us/store/index.php?id_product=441&controller=product

http://yunnansourcing.com/en/yunnan-black-teas/2908-light-roast-wild-tree-purple-varietal-black-tea-of-dehong-spring-2014.html

From Marco Polo TTB. This is the last of the YS teas I am trying from the box. It was different from the others and I liked it. It smelled a lot like a darjeeling, sort of a grape-y smell. It transfers over to the tea. It isn’t malty at all, but has a sort of darjeeling flavor and a bit of an astringent finish. I enjoyed it very much!