Red Jade

Red Jade is a Taiwanese red tea (black tea) from Sun Moon Lake with nice intact leaves. First try with Oolong-like brewing parameters (much tea, longer initial infusion) in a rather big Zisha pot was giving me a very oily, full-bodied brew with lots of umami and some spiciness. It reminded me of broth, a bit too much of everything.

Retrying it with flash infusions in a small Gaiwan. The heavy savoury notes were lowered to a less oily bread crust aroma. I found some discreet fruitiness, like heated lemon juice and raisins, and an after-mouthfeel typically associated with mint. Still not so much my preferred flavours, although doubtlessly interesting.

From a Steepster Select box I obtained around a year ago.

Brewed semi-Western style with a gongfu glass tea pot. Steeping times: 20 seconds, 40, 60, 120.

The session begins with a complex and strange savory aroma. The most savory I have thus far experienced. The dry leaf smells of cloves, a number of other blended spices, and oregano. Spiced brownies and cinnamon initially arise from the wet leaf, then red meats on which black pepper is sprinkled, then broth.

The liquor is very beautiful against a porcelain white cup. Clear amber. I haven’t had a visual pleasure of a tea’s liquor in a while. It has a smooth texture and full body. The first and second infusions are malty, chocolately, and a little peppery. There is an aftertaste of chocolate mousse with a little more than a touch of dark rum. The third infusion is SWEET POTATOES. Sweet potatoes return in the fourth infusion, which also has notes of cedar and malt.

Comforting and mellowing throughout the session. At the end, I felt a little tea tipsy. Reminiscent of early autumn. I enjoyed this through and through. It made a good first experience with a Taiwanese black tea. (Hence no recommendation in spite of my being in favor for its being).

Eco Cha has consistently had some of the finest taiwanese teas I have tasted, this one is no different. It is one of the best hong yue I’ve tasted, the dry leaf are of noticeable quality as well and the tea lasted 4 gongfu style infusions.

If you not familiar with red jade, google “tai cha #18” but basically is it a hybrid cultivar that is known to have the cinnamon/clove front and a cooling camphor/mint backend all with malty/astringent “assamesque”. Truly unique so much so that I made the personal decision to not but it in my hong cha yixing. I am sure a few steepings wouldn’t hurt the seasoning of the pot but it also wouldnt add to the tea or display it’s aroma subtitles either.

Only compliant I think oxidation went a tad too far some of the complexities of past hong yue (rishi tea has had the best one i’ve tried to date) seemed to be lacking. All and all a good representation and noticeable quality in both infusions and dry leaf.

I was pleased as punch when Eco-Cha sent over some of the new harvest of this one (thank you so much!) I seem to disagree with much of Steepster on this one – I love it. I’ve been trying to steep this one up various ways, trying to capture that amazing flavor of the roman nougat candies I tasted before (cherries, nuts). But I think this harvest is a bit lighter on flavor this time around. The leaves continue to have that sort of flavor profile (that is very unique to me), just on a lighter level. It’s such a light brew for these ominous looking leaves. The flavor this time around is a lighter roman nougat flavor, honey or maple syrup, juicy stone fruits with sweet potatoes taking over. It’s perfect when you’re looking for a light black tea. I’ll enjoy what’s left of this tea but I will miss the complex flavor of earlier harvests. I’ll try using just boiled water with more leaves next time. It could be I’m using less leaves than I should.
Steep #1 // 13 minutes after boiling // 4 minute steep
Steep #2 // 10 minutes after boiling // 3-4 minute steep

Another day another steep session trying to use more leaves: I intentionally measured out the leaves and weighed them — 4.75 grams. Eco-Cha suggests using three grams but I wanted to see what would happen with more leaves. Really, it’s too bitter and the uniqueness from the last steep session is gone. I will NOT be using this many leaves again. I’ll try measuring out three grams next time.
Steep fail // 4.75 grams of leaves // 5 minute after boiling // 4 minute steep

I found this in one of my boxes. I really don’t recall who sent it to me. Apologies.

This is an interesting tea on many levels. The dry scent is awesome – malt, honey, sweet potato. The leaf is beautiful. The first sip is Mmmmm. It starts honey, sweet potato, and woodsy. Then after reading BrewTEAlly Sweet’s review I realize I am tasting cinnamon and clove, but without the sugar I normally associate with it. So, I am chugging this cup down when I begin to notice the white wine dryness. I’m still thinking where is the mint. That is when the cheek tingle kicked in. It has staying power. My cheeks tingled long after drinking. The first cup went straight down and immediately I started number two. What I thought was woodsy in the first is now much stronger and it is like apricot without the sweetness, surrounded by the spices. The mint sensation is also amplified. So this cup went straight down as well.

I am left perplexed. I just drank two cups straight down – that means I had to enjoy it, right? Yet, I find I am not craving any more of it. I’ve never had this experience before.

With the remaining leaf I will add sugar or honey and see if additions change my view one way or the other.

This tastes like a dark tomato soup. It’s crazy!

There’s the fruitiness and tartness of a nice grape tomato. There’s some herbal medicinal thing going on as well. I can possibly imagine the mint. I can’t imagine any clove or cinnamon.

It’s not a bad cup but I’m not keen to repeat the experience.

Red Jade Tea from Taiwan (also known as No. 18):
This is a prize-winning tea from Eco-Cha, using little to no fertilisers or pesticides. I believe the leaf comes from a hybrid of the assam plant and wild tea plant.
The character of Red Jade is unique among black teas. The taste is complex and lacks the astringency or bitterness of classic blacks.
The smell of the dry leaf was strongly of ‘warmed spaghetti (from a can)’, but there were notes of mint beneath. The leaf is long and large, twisted tightly along middle vein, reasonably intact. Once water is added the leaf slowly unfurls, unlocking each layer of the taste.
The scent comes through into the flavor of Red Jade. It is slightly pungent: savoury with winter vegetables (mint) and spices (cloves, cinnamon). The after-taste is of brown sugar and lingers long in the mouth. There is no dryness.
The infused leaf has notes of minty sweetness, sandalwood, cinnamon.
This is a good winter tea, but its strong unique taste may take some getting used to.

Spring time mean tea harvest for those lovely places in the world, one of those parts in the lush island of Taiwan. One of my favorite tea companies (Eco-Cha Arisan Teas) was awesome enough to keep a record of their tea production this year in a series of handy Harvest Reports and Facebook Photos. I certainly suggest checking it out of you have a passion for tea or a love of beautiful photography. Consider it a journey into the secret world of the tea leaf, experience the process it goes through from ground to cup!

Speaking of journeys to cups, today’s tea Red Jade Tea by Eco-Cha Artisan Tea, is a very fascinating red tea. Also known as Taiwan Tea No. 18, this particular tea is a hybrid of wild tea treas that grow on the mountains of Taiwan and the Assam tea plant. Created by the Tea Research Extension Station in the Sun Moon Lake region of Nantou, this tea’s hybridization gives it a natural immunity to some of the buggies that enjoy munching on tea plants. The aroma of the curly long leaves is nothing short of complex, blending rich cocoa, roasted peanuts, cloves, a bit of barley, and a woody quality. The aroma is more savory than sweet, in fact it is all savory instead of sweet, with a strong and heavy presence. This is a tea that will be noticed!

Adding the tea to the gaiwan and giving it a bath brought out some very interesting aroma notes, a strong showing from the cocoa and cloves, but also mint and cinnamon. This might be one of the more complex and unusual red teas I have experienced. The liquid’s aroma is lighter, with creamy cocoa and rich cloves, there is a finish of licorice and mint. If I could use any terms other than aroma notes to describe the way the tea smells I would say it is bold and snappy, it makes itself known and has a bright cooling affect at the same time.

With the first sip I am immediately struck by the complexity. At first there is a smooth woody and roasted nut quality with a hint of cloves. This fades to a mint and licorice midtaste that has a cooling sensation, not like actually eating or drinking mint, but the way your mouth is cooled when you switch from breathing through your nose to a deep breath through your mouth. I found it to be an incredibly refreshing sensation. The arftertaste is a tiny bit sweet and a bit like sassafras.

The second steep’s aroma is much sharper and snappy, there are still strong cocoa and clove notes, but the mint is much more prominent, as is the aroma of sassafras. The taste is rich and I would even say herbaceous but more woody herbaceous than leafy herbaceous. Think sassafras bark and roasted peanuts with hints of cloves and mint. It has a malty beginning and a malty finish. This steeping has no sweetness at all, it is all savory and rich.

The third steep’s aroma is much the same as the second, I did not notice any differences between the two. The taste however is different, it still has the same flavor notes as the previous steep, but instead of it being all savory and rich, it is milder and has a subtle sweetness. I really enjoyed this tea (but I don’t say Eco-Cha is one of my favorite companies lightly, I have loved all of their teas) and found the unusual and complex notes to be both exciting and relaxing.

For Blog, Photos, Links to Harvest Notes, and a bit of spring time: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/04/eco-cha-artisan-tea-red-jade-tea-tea.html

There is a warm aroma to this tea. I can’t quite say if it is cinnamon or clove, but it is similar in the heat that is detected. There is a lot of the cinnamon and clove flavor in the tea as well as a slight spiciness. There is a pleasant earthiness to this tea. There is a distinct mint, like spearmint, undertone which gives the impression of cooling the spiciness. There is less tannin than I would expect from a black tea which helps round out the complexity of this tea. I could see this tea paired with a coffee cake or alone as an evening night cap with a touch of honey.

So, it’s been a long while and I’m a bit out of practice of writing these. I signed up for steepster select, and this being the first one listed when I opened my package gets to serve double duty containing my impressions of the package. I got a tiny little box in the mail, packaged inside was this really plain but cute steepster labeled bag packaged in cardboard shavings. Inside the bag were 10 little brown packages of tea and a postcard telling me a little about each of the teas. Also included were a number of simple tea-bags. Very nice in my opinion, first impressions and all!

Red Jade from Echo-Cha is from Nantou, Taiwan and the blurb about it reads

A hybrid of the assame cultivae and a wild growing cultivae, this black tea is the product of the Tea Research Extension Station and is naturally immune to local pest, requiring little to no pesticide.

Well, interesting facts, but, makes me think I’m drinking some mutant off-shoot of tea and tells me little about the expected flavor.

On the brown package of tea it includes the name of the Tea, what store it came from, the type of tea, region it’s from, a small tasing note blurb, and brewing temperature and time which I followed. The tasting notes on the brown package read

A complex combination of cinnamon, clove, and mint.

Interesting to say the least! After brewing and having a sip, I’m not so certain I detect those flavors myself, but, my taste buds have had a long vacation from tea. The aroma of the tea is absolutely delicious though; I had to fight with myself to actually drink the tea instead of just sniffing it all evening like some possessed tea-fiend. After a few sips, I did suspect I could taste hints of cinnamon and mint flavors mentioned on the package, but a little unsure of if that’s simply the power of suggestion or not. A lot of the taste is very similar to one of the english breakfast teas I’ve tried, I suspect because they’re both Assam teas.

I like it a lot and it’s definitely gonna go missing from my tea stash quickly!