High Mountain Red Ai Lao Mountain Black Tea * Spring 2018

Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Black Tea Leaves
Flavors
Almond, Black Pepper, Bread, Brown Sugar, Butter, Cedar, Chocolate, Cinnamon, Cream, Earth, Grass, Green Bell Peppers, Honey, Malt, Mineral, Oats, Orange Zest, Peanut, Pear, Pine, Plum, Red Apple, Smoke, Straw, Dried Fruit, Floral, Grain, Hay, Rye, Sweet Potatoes, Wheat, Creamy, Fig, Smooth, Sweet, Thick, Apricot, Toast
Sold in
Bulk, Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by eastkyteaguy
Average preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 15 sec 6 g 12 oz / 355 ml

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4 Tasting Notes View all

  • “Okay, people. It’s time for my weekly wave of tea reviews. This is one of the golden oldies that I have been meaning to review for some time. I recall this sipdown coming from late August. Unlike a...” Read full tasting note
    85
  • “Sipdown! (21 | 237) I haven’t been doing very well lately with sipping down my oldest teas, mostly because I’ve been prioritizing other things instead. But this one has been my go-to for a...” Read full tasting note
    85

From Yunnan Sourcing

High mountain tea grow at 2000 meters on Ai Lao Shan in Zhenyuan area of Simao. Picked and processed only from the first flush of spring this black tea is lightly oxidized and processed similiar to Taiwanese black tea or Wu Yi Rock tea. There is a still a greenish tinge left to the leaves! The brewed tea is rich and thick with hints of dried Longan fruit with a protracted mouth feeling!

The tea is grown at almost 2000 meters making it one of the highest black teas we offer. Mr. Guo was born and raised in central Taiwan and his father had a black tea factory there. Mr Guo, traveled to Thailand and eventually decided on Yunnan. He was always a big Pu-erh tea fan and decided to spend time learning about Ai Lao area pu-erh since it’s one of the remotest and untouched places in all Yunnan. He met many local pu-erh growers and worked with one in particular (Mr. Feng) to introduce a Taiwanese style processing which marries black tea and oolong in a sweet and fruity style!

April 2018 harvest!

About Yunnan Sourcing View company

Company description not available.

4 Tasting Notes

85
1048 tasting notes

Okay, people. It’s time for my weekly wave of tea reviews. This is one of the golden oldies that I have been meaning to review for some time. I recall this sipdown coming from late August. Unlike a lot of the Yunnan Sourcing teas I had tried up to that point, this one was entirely new to me. I had missed out on all of the previous productions. I’m kind of sorry I did because this ended up being a very respectable offering.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 194 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was followed by 17 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, and 10 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted aromas of straw, cedar, malt, honey, baked bread, and cinnamon. After the rinse, I detected new aromas of roasted almond, grass, and pine. The first infusion introduced aromas of roasted peanut and butter. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of malt, butter, cream, straw, baked bread, pine, and roasted peanut that were balanced by subtler impressions of oats, roasted almond, grass, smoke, pear, honey, and cedar. The bulk of the subsequent infusions introduced aromas of smoke, oats, cream, chocolate, black pepper, orange zest, and green bell pepper. Stronger and more immediately evident impressions of oats, grass, pear, and roasted almond appeared in the mouth alongside notes of cinnamon, red apple, minerals, orange zest, plum, earth, and green bell pepper. Hints of black pepper, chocolate, beeswax, and brown sugar were also present. As the tea faded, the liquor emphasized impressions of minerals, malt, butter, cream, grass, straw, green bell pepper, roasted peanut, pear, roasted almond, and baked bread that were balanced by fleeting hints of beeswax, red apple, honey, orange zest, oats, and cinnamon.

This was a very approachable and likable Yunnan black tea. As anyone familiar with this offering knows, this tea was processed in the Taiwanese style, and it did a good job of approximating the character of many Taiwanese black teas. I could see it being a good stepping stone into the world of Yunnan black tea for Taiwanese tea drinkers. I also could see it being a good option for fans of Taiwanese black tea that are searching for a value offering capable of standing up to both rigorous gongfu preparations and basic daily drinking.

Flavors: Almond, Black Pepper, Bread, Brown Sugar, Butter, Cedar, Chocolate, Cinnamon, Cream, Earth, Grass, Green Bell Peppers, Honey, Malt, Mineral, Oats, Orange Zest, Peanut, Pear, Pine, Plum, Red Apple, Smoke, Straw

Preparation
6 g 4 OZ / 118 ML

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85
3986 tasting notes

Sipdown! (21 | 237)

I haven’t been doing very well lately with sipping down my oldest teas, mostly because I’ve been prioritizing other things instead. But this one has been my go-to for a straight black tea in the morning lately, so now it’s gone!

It’s a delicious tea, it reminds me of a bai hao combined with a Yunnan black tea. It ends up tasting like honeyed toast, so perfect for breakfast! It is a lighter tea, and completely smooth, so would probably traditionally be more of an afternoon sort of tea, but the toast says morning to me!

Flavors: Apricot, Bread, Dried Fruit, Grain, Honey, Smooth, Sweet, Toast

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 0 sec 3 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML

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