Taiwan Red Jade 2011

Name; Taiwan Red Jade 2011
Type; Black, Taiwan, Nantou, Sun Moon Lake
Price; £ 20.50 for 50 grams from Jing.

http://jingtea.com/tea/type/black/taiwan-red-jade

“Taiwan Hong Yu Hong Cha

Exceptionally fresh black tea from Nantou in Taiwan. Red Jade Black Tea delivers the concentrated sweetness and depth of baked fruit with uplifting eucalyptus aroma.

Infuse: 1½ tbsp of boiling water for 3 minutes
Appearance: Large brown twists of leaf.
Infusion: Deep auburn-red with a faint green edge
Aroma: Fresh eucalyptus combines with rich notes of baked fruit.
Taste: Full bodied and rounded with rich notes of caramel and hint of mint.”

Review; Beware reader(s) we’re heading into unknown territory.  I must confess this is the first black tea from Taiwan that I have tasted.  The appearance is so light that at first I thought it might just be an oxidized oolong.  I went to a tea tasting the other night, and contrary to one the inexperienced staff, black tea is not the most common form of tea.  Taiwan specializes in Oolong, and Greens.  Not blacks.  These be dangerous waters were in.

Again from Jing.  And thankfully Jing does do 10g packets (but still makes a mint off of you/me the customer), £ 20.50 for 50 grams of tea??  This is rivaling the price of some very nice Darjeelings (and at least there I can pretend I am drinking the champagne of teas). 

The dry leaves have a beautiful long leaf twirled appearance to them.  Very elegant and I am happy to see survived the journey from Taiwan to England, and from England in the postal service.  The dry leaves have a nice aroma to them, and remind me of sultanas.  Not that muscatel note, but more of the sweet prunish nature.  As I put the leaves in the pot, my first aroma that comes to mind is an assam/maltyness.  I’m presuming this is what Jing calls caramel.  But to me is distinctly malty.  I also detect maraschino cherries next, and lastly as the tea verges on over-brewing I get that wintergreen essence that one gets from a Ceylon.  (I guess this is also similar to the Eucalyptus taste in ceylons so maybe I just haven’t chewed on enough eucalyptus trees.)

All in all, and I hate to say this before I taste it, but this Taiwanese tea is smelling exactly like a nice OP1 ceylon to me.  Which isn’t really a good thing for Taiwan especially when Jing is making customers pay 20 pounds for 50 grams. 

Tasting the tea, it’s a bit soft.  Mild.  None of the previous described aromas are dominant really.  No astringency, and little bitterness its more or less a pleasant tea.  Maybe there is a hint of nuttyness to it, which would lead to the terroir of Taiwan, but all in all this is actually disappointing. 

I hate to sound like a tea snob (who am I kidding, I love sounding like a tea snob), but if I wanted to pay this much for a tea, I’d save my money, and buy a nice Ceylon tea and still probably have 10 pounds left over. 

Enjoy or Don’t, guess it depends on how much you love Taiwan, or how much money is in your bank account.

Taiwan my advice?  Stick to what you do best, Oolongs.  The world needs more good oolongs.

-Tea Fan

Organic Jade Sword

Name; Organic Jade Sword 2011

Type; Green, China, Zhejiang Province, Fengwukou Village Garden, Harvested between May 5^th- May 20^th.

Price; £ 4.95 for 50 grams from Jing.

http://jingtea.com/tea/type/green/organic-jade-sword

“Mao Jian Lu Cha

Grown in misty mountains in China's Jiande green tea terroir. Jade Sword is a bright and fresh tea. Picked between the 5th and 20th of May 2011 from Fengwukou village garden.

Appearance: Fine, long and neat dark seaweed-green twists, turning a vivid, fresh forest green on infusion

Infusion: Vivid, pale lime-green liquor

Aroma: Rounded, full, complex aromas combining dry grass back notes with sweeter floral notes in the foreground

Taste: Clean, rounded, full and grassy with faint seaweed complexities. Brisk and refreshing with a textured finish”

Review; To quote Alicia Keys “how do you give me so much pleasure cause me so much pain”.  Chinese greens can inspire you, and make you switch to infusions for a month.  This particular falls square in the middle of sour end. 

Which is frankly a shame.  First impression on opening was that it smelled stale, and very much of dry grass.  When I was brewing it smelled a bit of chlorine, and now as I taste it I can’t help but notice a coppery taste.   Yes this tea is almost a year old, but Jing prides themselves on their storage of vacuum sealing the packets so that shouldn’t really be the issue.  To be fair you can get the standard roasted chestnut taste in it, but this tea is far too bitter.  Because of the metallic nature of the teas, I don’t believe the fault lies with Jing (well just how they sourced it), but with the garden and probably an over oxidation. 

Jing describes themselves as the premiere tea distributor in the UK, with prices that are often higher than your average local tea shop.  This tea is a fine example where I could easily buy 2 others in my local area for less than I paid.  Yes it is clear, and crisp, but not really in ways one should be proud of. 

I particularly enjoy when tea distributors describe what one should see in a tea.  What is more amusing is first to write what you think, and then see where the tea distributor’s imagination takes off.  I’m particularly amused by the “textured” finish.  Sounds a bit like someone is full of themselves as they try to pawn this mediocre tea as grand. 

Don’t Enjoy!

-Tea Fan