Mi Xiang Hong Cha

Happy Friday! I made this tea for a 3a Zoom for school this morning (Martin was thinking maybe I’d see you here :)).

I don’t know if it was the tea at this specific unearthly hour, but it tasted just like a dream. This really does remind me of my all-time favourite Yuchi Wild Mountain Black from TTC, but with some subtle differences. That honey sweetness just sings and there’s hints of maltiness that break through as well. Such a winning combination.

I should really make the two side by side for a direct comparison. I have a few teas I’d like to do that with adding up…

I’m headed back to bed for a couple hours, then off to start the workday!

I bought this back in 2018 based on the catalogue description. I have a well-known weakness for Mi Xiang black teas—and anything else with pronounced honey and fruity flavours. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of honey, malt, stonefruit, and muscatel. The first steep has notes of honey, malt, cookies, wood, nectarine, blood orange, and muscatel. The second steep adds plums, apricots, brown sugar, and additional malt. The tea is a bit drying in the mouth. In the third to sixth steeps, the plum, apricot, and muscatel notes get stronger and the tea has a typical Mi Xiang profile. The final rounds feature honey, malt, wood, tannins, faint plum, earth, and minerals.

Compared to the Mi Xiang Hong Cha from Cha Yi that I drank a few days ago, this tea has more pastry notes and a wider variety of fruit, but the flavour peters out more quickly. This could be due to the fact that this tea is two years old now. Honestly, though, this is a minor fault and I’d be happy to drink either of these teas.