Brewed gongfu style. Dry leaves smell like sweet potatoes, cocoa, slightly floral.
Steep 1: Very malty, but with some sweetness from the sweet potato note. The mouthfeel is smooth yet thin. This reminds me of Teavivre’s Yunnan Gongfu which I had earlier in the year, which makes sense considering they’re both Fengqing blacks. That one was a little fruity at times, so I wonder if this will be similar.
2: Tastes like a simpler, less sweet version of steep one. I didn’t brew it as long, so that could be why, but it seems like quite often the second steep of a Dianhong when brewed gongfu style is the least sweet.
3. Sweet cocoa and wheat. The mouthfeel has thickened a lot since the first cup, but it’s not creamy, more soft like some kind of fabric if that makes sense.
4. Smoky. Otherwise about the same.
5. Smokier. The mouthfeel is starting to get thinner, and it’s mostly just malty now, with a hint of sweet potato. There’s a bit of that typical black pepper spiciness too, which I hadn’t noticed in earlier steeps.
6. Smoky, malt flavored water. Interestingly, there’s still some spiciness. I wish this had started earlier instead of appearing just as the tea finished.
For the price, it’s quite good. It’s probably more suited to western style brewing than gongfu, but I like trying all new Chinese blacks this way.
Flavors: Black Pepper, Cocoa, Malt, Smoke, Sweet Potatoes, Wheat
