Da Hong Pao Red Robe

The aroma of this tea what I think when I thing Oolong. After the tea cooled a bit I picked up a nice floral aroma mixed with a slight tobacco The first flavor I get is similar to homemade biscuits with a slight sweetness at the end. The sweetness is similar to agave. This is a great breakfast tea in my mind that would work itself into regular rotation. Now just to convince Steepster to start selling some of these teas

Love oolongs, love Da Hong Pao, love Steepster. Enough said.

Very flavorful, earthy tea. Tobacco notes with tangy tannins, warm sweetness with mild spice. Nutty aroma is soothing and comforting, perfect for a rainy day. Can’t wait to have the other sample when we have another cold snap. 8.5/10, would recommend and drink again.

First tea out of my first Steepster box! I brewed as recommended on the package. I am not very versed with drinking that many oolongs. I will say that I agree with the tasting notes on the package, there was a very slight caramel sugar/grain taste and I couldn’t put my finger on what the finish was but floral seems right. I drank this with no milk and sugar, to start my day. I usually have English Breakfast with sugar and cream but I am expanding my horizons. I enjoyed this but I am not a tea drinking purist if you will so because of my own personal tastes, I did not rate it higher. If you are into oolong tea, straight up, I think that you will enjoy this more than myself.

Backlog:

The aroma of this tea reminds me of the smell of the air here in the Pacific Northwest on an early evening in autumn. You step outside and there is a crisp edge to the air and it is scented with the fragrance of smoke rising out of chimneys … it smells rustic: like wood and smoke and crisp, cool air. Not overly smoky … just like this tea.

In my first cup (infusions 1 and 2), I got that burnt hazelnut caramel sort of flavor that Steepster suggests in the tasting notes. There is a deep, nutty note. A lovely caramel-y flavor to this. There is some smoke to the flavor too, but not an overpowering presence of smoke. This Da Hong Pao has a pleasing, clean finish.

Subsequent infusions offer more flavors. I still taste the smoke and woodsy tones, but they are softer now. A sweet-tart fruit note in the distance that begins to emerge and come closer in later infusions. Those fruit notes later reveal themselves to be a bit like a cross between a nectarine and a plum … there are some tart notes but mostly sweet.

A really nice Red Robe.

This does smell sweet and sugared- when raw. More of a cotton candy lightness than, say, a sweet bread pudding. However, once steeped (gaiwan style, but following the package directions for time and temperature) a roasted grain note that screams hojicha takes over the smell. This is sad – I would have preferred the candied sugar scent to remain.

Sigh. The first steep is ALL toasted bread. Incidentally, I am eating freshly baked bread with it and the two mirror each other well. It is also REALLY strong, because I’ve never quite figured out how many cups each envelope in the Select box is meant to serve. I’m going with each envelope being for 2 servings, since whenever I use just one on one cup its come out too strong. So that could be why I’m being walloped over here with the toasted grain notes. At the same time, though, its not like there’s any bitterness or astringence, so…I don’t know! I like a lot about the steepster box but that’s a huge frustration for me.

The second steep – done for 2 minutes in boiling water, is surprisingly much lighter than the initial one. That punch of roasted wheat has gone away so now I smell and taste a much milder, more honeyed tea. I much prefer this, actually, so I’ll give it another go to see where the tea evolves from here.

Third steep, 3 minutes – the spent leaves smell like toast again, but the liquor smells very spun sugar sweet. Unfortunately the taste doesn’t measure up – there is definite astringence now and not much else flavorwise.

So I wasn’t really impressed with this one. It could have been user error, but I know I’ve had Da Hong Pao before and the fact that I’ve not had it since could be that it just isn’t the tea varietal for me. Eh. Put me in the camp of people that consider this ‘just ok’.

Hmmm, new tasting note procedure, it has thrown me all off, tea good? tea has taste? Might remember by second steep

Had to say I was a little surprised by the instructions to steep an oolong with boiling water. Glad I did, though – what a lovely cuppa.

Good amber color to the tea, with a nutty aroma. On drinking it the caramel notes and very faint floral taste did come through. Very drinkable – really the only bad thing about this tea is that as a unique sample you can’t order it. Maybe soon?

PS – A note on the temperature: I did try a resteep at 195° just to see what was up. Floral notes were definitely stronger, but an astringent taste crept in there. Stick with boiling on this one!

I thought this tea smelled a bit better than it tasted. Earthy and robust smelling, but a bit weaker tasting. Maybe I had too much water for the pouch? It was a very nice example of Red Robe, but I wouldn’t say its one of the best I’ve tasted. Still all around a nice cuppa.

I’m a pretty big fan of oolong so I was looking forward to try this one, especially since I tend to prefer Chinese oolong over Taiwanese. It brews as a very dark liquor with a smokey aroma, and tastes toasty and lingering hints of sugar without the sweetness. I never sweeten oolong and this is no different, not needing anything added at all. I’ve never had a red robe and I’m very pleased.