Hunan Black Congou

This tea is quite different than the Chinese blacks I’ve been drinking lately. For one thing the spent leaves are huge, with the one I measured being 5.5cm long or around 2.25 inches. Secondly it’s flavour profile reminds me a little bit of a cross between a Indian and a Taiwanese( I haven’t had many of these though) assam. It has the thick rich texture of an Indian assam, replete with malt and biscuit, combined with the bright fruit and spice notes, of mint, nutmeg and cinnamon I’ve had more in the Taiwanese versions. Really interesting and nice flavour notes which were not exactly what I was expecting as the dry leaf smells mostly of chocolate and cinnamon.

The leaves themselves look exactly like the picture, dark, thick, glossy and twisted. I used around 1.5 tsp for 225ml and brewed at around 95*C.

50s brewed to a rich reddish brown
scent: red fruit, malt, cinnamon, nutmeg note, hint of biscuit, honey,

flavour: fruit ( a cherry, currant like note), honey, malt, slight floral note, hint of chocolate, cinnamon and nutmeg.

faintly astringent, rich makes a nice breakfast tea,

45s above notes with a slightly minty fruit note (reminds me of creeping snowberry (northern peat bog plant with white berries tasting of blueberry and mint)). It’s smoother with more cocoa and a stronger nutmeg note. Feels cooling.

60s spice, nutmeg, cinnamon fruit, cocoa, malt fruit and honey.

90s faint fruit malt, biscuit, hint of cocoa.

Next time I’d like to try a longer western style brew to see what notes come out.

This was a really interesting tea that I think would make a nice breakfast tea. Thanks again to Capital Tea for their generous opportunity to sample this tea. http://www.capitaltea.com/shop/product.php?productid=224&cat=6&page=1

I tried this one a while back but never was able to log it, think Steepster might’ve been wonky. Yet another treat from Dexter3657 (seriously, that swap box was ginormous), thanks!

I think I messed it up, just went with my default black tea parameters, the ones I use if I don’t know what to do. Boil/208F, 3 or 4 minutes. It was fine, but I didn’t get the strong flavors people are talking about, alas, and there was, as Dex and others mention, a light-bodied astringency that grew with each sip. I agree with Dex that this teeters between one kind of Chinese-style black and lighter astringent stuff a little more like darjeeling…I do usually find teas that do that fascinating (it’s one of the things that sold my heart to Verdant’s Zhu Rong) but here it was like the flipside of that coin, where I get the aspects of each I don’t love without the components I do—the body read as wimpy, disappointing, and the flavor wasn’t Chinese-sweet enough to make up for the astringency, if that makes any sense. I am going to try a lower temp though, combined possibly with a longer steep time. Intriguing.

Another tea from the lovely dexter that i was drinking this morning. I don’t get quite the same intense flavour profile as YYZ and she do, but this is a good cup of tea. It’s malty and sweet, and there are cocoa notes in this one that make me smile. Saving the last little bit of this to share with the BBB Box ladies since it might be one that really appeals to them. If i ever place a capital tea order, this one will likely be on the list of teas to pick up :) Thanks dexter!

I just read the tasting note that I wrote about this tea a year ago – wow have my tastes changed. I rated it 95 and said LOVED IT – one of my fav black teas. Hmmmm I’ve tried a lot of black teas since then and this is no longer a 95 and no where near the top of my list of favorites.
Don’t get me wrong, this is a quality black tea. This is the 2nd 100g package that I’ve drank – so obviously I don’t dislike it, it’s just not special. Great tea for work – you can do anything to it and it doesn’t get bitter or astringent. Decently priced, afford to drink it everyday – that’s what this – fantastic everyday black tea. Yep – that’s how I feel, great affordable everyday tea, nothing really special though.

Another from Dexter3657! THANK YOU! I actually wanted to try this one when I saw the tasting note! The leaves are dark and twisty.A little over one teaspoon went into the infuser. I went with Dex’s suggestion and waited for the water to cool and then steep for longer than usual! Unfortunately, I went to do dishes and the wait accidentally went for 32 minutes! A steep of six minutes and I wouldn’t really call the flavor chocolate. But I definitely see where the CONGOU flavor is happening. (I think I’ve only tried one other Congou from Butiki.) The fragrance of the leaves seems like cherry to me, and there are hints in the brew. But it’s also plum. Definitely not astringent at all, of course with that 32 minute wait. But there is a juicy/watery quality to it, if that makes sense, that seems like it’s the flavor of congou.

The second cup was boiled at four minutes, but I think I much preferred the first cup… as the leaves were getting that “overbrewed” flavor. Not bad though! And still no astringency. A nice one and I think I needed a tea to represent Congou in my collection!

This came in a surprise package from Dexter3657 – thank you!

I am liking how good this tea is – sweet and malty. I have not yet found those cocoa notes, which I really enjoy in black tea’s. I’ll give this a go with Dexter’s lower temp, longer steep recommendation. Despite the fact that I can’t taste the cocoa, I appreciate the malty profile in this tea.

Dexter sent this to me a while back and it got lost in my cupboard and forgotten until Ost brought it to my attention when I asked if there was anything in my cupboard she wanted to try. As a result, I decided I should finally give this a try and I’m glad I did. It is a quite lovely cup of tea. Some amazing cocoa notes are in here making for a sweet and malty dessert tea that’s pwrfect for after dinner. Thank you so much for sharing Dexter and I hope Ost enjoys this like I did.

First tea of the day! This one came from Dexter’s amazingly generous care package. The leaves are quite pretty. They’re long and twisty and somewhat thick – similar to Taiwanese black teas but a nice warm chocolate brown in color. Dry scent is mildly sweet and raisiny with a bit of malt. The amount of leaves I had left looked like more than enough for one cup but not quite enough for two, so I used it all and made a 10 ounce cup instead of 8. :)

Steeped, this tea smells very fruity with some bread and floral notes. I think I may have overdone it slightly on the leaf, it’s just on the edge of being slightly bitter. However, the flavor itself is quite tasty. There’s definitely a heavy raisin influence here along with an overall strong malt flavor. I’m getting a tiny bit of floral as a top note, and while I could do without it it’s not ruining the tea for me. Touch of astringency as well.

A sipdown on this tea, sent to me from Sil, who got it from Dexter. Thanks ladies!

I drank this earlier this morning, & I’m gonna confess right now that I over-tea-ed it. I’m at Tony’s. No scale, larger cups, also the leaves are kind of big & wild, so I went for it, just dumping the sample in there. I should have gone with shorter steeps, but it got 3 min.
The resulting cup was drinkable, but not my favorite taste combo, if you know what I mean. It was kind of astringent, with an acidity to it that some people might translate as cherry or plum. I get the biscuit taste, especially as it cooled, but didn’t really get any chocolate.
In retrospect, I wish I’d gone with a gongfu setup for this one.

Giant dry twisted leaves; rich dark brown in color. Delicious flavor found in the medium brown brew—-honey + malt + biscuit flavors all mixed in together. Western style brew was strong for a steep plus resteep. This is one I’ll be keeping around and restocking.