Hong Mao Feng - Yunnan Black Tea - Spring 2011

As seems to be the trend among many of the teas being produced recently from Wuliang Mountain source materials, this Hong Mao Feng is, to my taste at least, an absolutely stellar black tea.

Our Hong Mao Feng comes from the Wuliang Mountains of Jingdong County in Yunnan's Pu'er prefecture. It is made up of an attractive mix of golden bud material and dark-colored, twisted larger leaves. When steeped, the liquor comes out to a beautiful deep reddish-amber color with very good clarity (which makes it an ideal candidate to be used in iced tea).

The flavor profile of the infused tea delivers a truly unique yet familiar blend of "leather and lace" with its malty, bold & assertive front end balanced with the more refined hints of dried fruit and subtly floral elements in the finish. The liquor has a medium to thick body (depending on how strong you make it) that coats the mouth nicely, and the bittersweet aftertaste of this hong cha is truly long lasting and seems to hang out in the back of the throat for a surprisingly long time, especially for a hong cha.

To steep this tea, I recommend treating it Gong-Fu style using water at a full boil with a relatively high leaf to water ratio (5-6 grams of leaf in a 100 ml gaiwan) and a series of short steepings. I have noticed that when I make it "western style" in a larger teapot with a lower leaf to water ratio that the malty/leathery/"Yunnany" aspect of the flavor is a bit less pronounced, allowing some of the more subtle nuances to shine through in the first steeping.

Weight: 0.025 lb
11.34 grams
0.4 ounces