Dark Fired Malawi 2011

Name; Dark Fired Malawi 2011

Type; Black, Africa, Malawi, OP 1
Price; £ 3.20 for 50 grams from Anteaques. 

http://anteaques.co.uk/blacktea/darkfiredmalawi

Brewing; 4 grams for .6 litres, 3:30 minutes at 100 degrees.

Review; Africa is perhaps the newest and biggest player in the tea world.  Most everyone has had an African black tea and simply not known it.  Most tea bag tea can trace its origins, or some of their origins to Africa.  Kenya is the number 3 tea producer of the world (FAO 2010), following China and then India.  Malawi accounts for roughly only 1.5% of the world’s tea production at spot number 14, however as the world of tea knows, small is sometimes better.

This Malawi tea has beautiful toasted caramel notes, sultanas and raisins, burnt citrus rind, and iron are all characteristics.  Africa is responsible for taking much of the Ceylon tea market away (when the Ceylon tea board doesn’t drive its customers away like it did back in the 90’s when it advocated the CTC, or better known in recent years when the scandal of importing African teas and then re-labeling them as Ceylon). 

What I particularly enjoy about this tea is the long whole leaf nature of it.  One can see how this tea does compete with the Orange Pekoe that Sri Lanka became so famous for, and won.  Mild tannins and now astringency also serve this tea well.

A new take on a classic tea!

Enjoy

-Tea Fan

Darjeeling 1st Flush Supreme 2011

Name; Darjeeling 1^st Flush Supreme 2011
Type; Black, India, Darjeeling, First Flush.  Okayti Estate (?)
Price; £ 16.00 for 50 grams from Jing.

http://jingtea.com/tea/type/black/darjeeling-first-flush-supreme

 “Appearance: long unbroken leaf and bud showing typical brown and green leaves and silver tips
Infusion: fawny gold
Aroma:  fragrant, warm, fresh and light
Taste: clean, crisp and clear with a rounded, satisfying and quenching finish”

Review; Ah what did I say in my last First Flush Darjeeling entry, they are my favourite?  If the reader(s) haven’t caught on yet, I ordered quite a bit from Jing tea recently.  Trying their Darjeeling 1^st flush Supreme now; this comes from the 2011 batch, so unfortunately it can’t be taken to compare with the link to the 2012.  Also I foolishly did not write down the tea estate name, nor can I seem to find it online, so we’ll assume this comes from the Okayti or Goomtee estate (as I know Jing has lots of dealings with both of these).

The leaves were a bit crushed for my liking, but hey, all that matters is the taste.  Aroma standard hints of plastic that I am growing to associate with Jing.  The tea has a nice muscatel aroma, and the peppery aroma that I love.  But smells green.  This is my biggest complaint in first flush Darjeelings, but seems to be a growing trend. 

In the past 5 years, many of the estates in Darjeeling have taken to making their first flush Darjeeling green.  It’s still technically a black tea, but the leaves are green, and the brew could almost be mistaken for a raw pu-erh or an oolong.  When making first flushes in this less oxidized manner, I believe the tell tale muscatel aroma is lost, and often times just aromas of hay, and bitterness remain.  

Now on to this tea the leaves confirm, far too green for my usual liking but, hey all that matters is taste.  And what a surprise, it carries much of the tell tale Darjeeling signs.  Slight muscatel aroma, bitterness, freshly dried hay in the sun.  I let a cup of this cool and I could taste lilies, which is a development on this tea.  Astringent and bitter, but most darjeeling’s have this.  As I drink more cups of this tea, it does grow on me.  A soft fruit edge, and it is light enough to be drunk easily.  

All in all, its passable.  My only complaint would be the price.  First flush Darjeelings are more expensive than second flush usually.  This is no different.  16 pounds for 50 grams though is taking the mick.  At most this Darjeeling should be worth 5 or 6 pounds.  

Enjoy

-Tea Fan 

P.S. Did anyone notice the incredibly vague description Jing did on this tea? Clean crisp and clear.  That could describe anything from window cleaner to bleach.

Yunnan Gold 2011

Name; Yunnan Gold 2011
Type; Black, China, Yunnan.  Yunnan Pure Gold (金芽滇紅)
Price; £ 8.00 for 50 grams from Jing.

http://jingtea.com/tea/type/black/yunnan-gold

Yunnan Dian Hong Cha

“Appearance: Long, olive-gold twists dappled with orange
Infusion: Bright yellow-brown with mustard-green rim
Aroma: Sweet, graceful golden straw and meadowsweet notes with a little haunting dried mushroom and spice

Taste: Dark, rich, tangy and deep, with lots of tapered liquorice spice notes to lend the rich fruit gravity. Some gentle tannic grip provides textural brightness and bite”

Review; Last week we went for the silver, this week it’s time to go for the gold.  Another tea from Jing, Yunnan Gold is also often called Yunnan Pure Gold.  Fine tips that are picked not necessarily in spring, processed in a delicate manner to give it just the right level of oxidation.

Yunnan produces a wide array of teas.  Claimed by the team at Camellia Sinensis to be the birthplace of tea (which there is no scientific data to support that claim), Yunnan is home to Pu-Erh teas.  Teas that will remain mostly un-touched in this blog.  (There are many wonderful Pu-Erh websites, this one is the best http://half-dipper.blogspot.co.uk/).  Yunnan also produces green and white teas, but these teas while nice are in much less demand from this distinct province.

And once again Jing has succeeded.  When I first opened the bag it smelled of candied apples.  That sickly sweet caramel aroma, with hints of apple or other fruit. As it brewed in the pot you get that traditional spicy-sweet aroma.  And now as I drink the cup I am in heaven.

Yunnan black teas to me are characterised by a lovely “barn-yard “ aroma, a clean barn yard.  The smell of a freshly brushed horse; musky, and sweet, and hints of hay and grass in the aroma too.  Due to the high number of tips in this tea, or at least following a level of logic, there is little bitterness or astringency to this tea, though a slight kick at the end.  Full-bodied and full flavoured in the mouth, the tips that are present in this black tea make it truly wonderful.

I did not taste any liquorice, or notice a mustard-green rim to my cup.  What is olive-gold?  Can we stick to colours that are actual colours please? Otherwise it just comes off arrogant. (Pot calling kettle black, yes I know…) Congratulations Jing, you pass the test again. (Though you could do with lowering your prices a little.)

-Tea Fan

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