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“Another tea from the sampler set. Before I talk more about this tea, I have to say this is probably one of my favorite samplers so far. The packaging is great. Don’t have to worry about the tea...” Read full tasting note
“So I’m working through a few half-finished advents and countdown boxes, and the Volition/Yao Cha Tiger Box Year of the Tiger tea collection is one of them. This is Day 11. The dry leaf smells like...” Read full tasting note
“Gongfu! Definitely stoked I enjoyed this one as much as I did, since it’s the one tea that I also bought a tin of when I placed my Tiger Box order. The liquor is so full bodied and rich, and the...” Read full tasting note
Produced by: Chen Yong Qiang
Cultivar: Bai Ye Dan Cong
Processed on: April 5, 2021
Region: Meizhou, Guangdong, China
Weight: 50g
Farmer’s Note
I had been producing tea in Fujian province for over two decades. As my experience grew so did my mental fatigue. I finally decided to uproot myself and move to Meizhou, Guangdong province, to start over, building an organic tea garden and factory. I had to learn to work with different terroir (that is, the environmental factors that affect a crop) and a different cultivar than what I was familiar with; this challenge re-kindled my passion and curiosity about biodiversity-focused tea farming. I felt rejuvenated, conducting many more experiments with tea making. Though the cultivar white leaf dan cong is normally used to produce wulong, I let the dried leaves reach 100% enzymic browning to create this Red Jade black tea. The result is a beautiful red tea with a robust floral aroma. Enjoy!
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Another tea from the sampler set. Before I talk more about this tea, I have to say this is probably one of my favorite samplers so far. The packaging is great. Don’t have to worry about the tea being squished and it is very nice looking. I also love how transparent they are. The farmer’s name and the place where it was harvested. The only thing it needs is the date.
Dry aroma: Odd… Nothing.
Dry Appearance: Dusty, dark chocolate brown. Tightly twisted. Long, slightly curling leaves.
Inital Aroma: Sweaty, bready, woody. Sweet.
Flavor: Rose. Floral. Honey. Woody.
Mouthfeel: Slight astringency with a nice silkiness
Wet Leaf Aroma: Slightly bready and a bit of resin.
Aftertaste: Woody. Slight petichor.
So I’m working through a few half-finished advents and countdown boxes, and the Volition/Yao Cha Tiger Box Year of the Tiger tea collection is one of them. This is Day 11. The dry leaf smells like malt, yams, and molasses. I’m always torn about how to brew teas from Volition – the instructions say to use a mug, but given the quality of the leaf I feel like it benefits from gong fu brewing. I did the first steep precisely per instructions and it came out tasty but just a tiny bit thin, so I switched over to gong fu after that. Even that first steep tasted like the dry leaf smelled, with absolutely no astringency or dryness. Subsequent gong fu steeps maintained that sweet potato and molasses flavor, but also felt just a little less robust than I’d ideally like for this flavor profile. I got a ton of steeps out of it though, and the good news is that this is a black tea that doesn’t hurt my stomach. If I had more I would experiment with using a bit more leaf than recommended.
Gongfu!
Definitely stoked I enjoyed this one as much as I did, since it’s the one tea that I also bought a tin of when I placed my Tiger Box order. The liquor is so full bodied and rich, and the taste is just spot on sweet potato pie, complete with notes of baked sweet potato, warming spice, toasted nut, and golden toasted marshmallow. Deep, dense, and deliciously decadent!
Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CZ2iVQcuGGH/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nrEaHinGmY&ab_channel=GlassAnimalsVEVO
Sounds like an interesting experience! According to Volition, Red Jade is aka Bai Ye Dan Cong. Unfortunately, some in Taiwan seem to refer to the TTES #18 cultivar (aka “Ruby” aka Hong Yu) also sometimes as “Red Jade” (eg, at Beautiful Taiwan Tea Co.), and the leaf can appear quite similar. So at first, I thought you had a #18 cultivar being grown and processed in Guangdong-China, but it sounds like not.
LOL, I also thought this was a Taiwanese Ruby 18 with some unusual tasting notes.
Yeah the name is bit confusing on that front but the company is very transparent. Ijust interviewed Anne (the lady whoruns Volition) and she is amazing.