Banyan Da Hong Pao

Tea type
Oolong Tea
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Caramel, Char, Grain, Honey, Mineral, Nutty, Tobacco, Walnut, Cannabis, Dust, Heavy, Roasted, Sweet, Tannin, Tea, Toasted, Toasty, Smoke, Floral, Sour, Astringent, Earth, Fishy, Mango, Peach, Wet Rocks, Wood
Sold in
Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Lindsay
Average preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 2 min, 0 sec 4 g 11 oz / 338 ml

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6 Tasting Notes View all

  • “I’m finally getting to the end of my Zen Tea samples. I steeped 5 g of tea in a 120 ml teapot at 200F for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds. This is a toasty, nutty...” Read full tasting note
    80
  • “I found this overly roasty and smokey/tobacco last time I tried it plain, so I decided to finish off my cup by making a soy milk latte. It is very good that way.” Read full tasting note
    81
  • “Hmm, this one didn’t quite do it for me. It had some good qualities, but it was really kind of just a “meh” tea. The leaf smelled a little bit roasty and chestnutty, maybe a bit of autumn...” Read full tasting note
    60
  • “.. ugh Steepster crashed just as i was finishing off my review, so I’m gonna try to recreate it.. The first steep was wonderfully complex, with notes of earth and rock, as well as peach/mango...” Read full tasting note
    85

From Zen Tea

Da Hong Pao (大红袍, literally: “Big Red Robe”) is a premium variety of the Wu Yi Yan Cha (武夷岩茶, Wuyi Rock Tea) group of oolong. During the Qing Dynasty, Da Hong Pao was given the title, “King of Tea.”
According to legend, the mother of a Ming Dynasty emperor was cured of an illness by a certain tea, and that emperor sent great red robes to clothe the four bushes from which that tea originated.
Due to its high quality, Da Hong Pao tea is usually reserved for honored guests in China.
Our Da Hong Pao offers rich aromas of roasted vegetables, sweet honey and wet river stones. You especially you won’t forget the sweet aftertaste which lingers for a long time.
We strongly recommend that you compare our Da Hong Pao to other companies’ Da Hong Pao offerings. Our premium grade Da Hong Pao has a richer and far more pleasant aroma and taste than other low grade options, and ours can be steeped many times without losing its rich flavour.

Origin: WuYi Mountains, Fujian province, China
Harvest: 2015 Spring
Picking standard: One bud with two leaves
Preparation

Regular steeping (8 oz cup): 2 teaspoons (2 grams) of tea, 95-100 °C (203-212 °F) water temperature, 1 min 20 sec. Re-steep 2-3 additional times. Gaiwan steeping (Gaiwan or small teapot under 6 oz): 95-100 °C (203-212 °F) water temperature, 2 teaspoons (2 grams) of tea
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
1 min 10 sec 2 min 2 min 30 3 min 20 sec 5 min

(120 ml small Gaiwan used)

About Zen Tea View company

Company description not available.

6 Tasting Notes

80
413 tasting notes

I’m finally getting to the end of my Zen Tea samples. I steeped 5 g of tea in a 120 ml teapot at 200F for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

This is a toasty, nutty Da Hong Pao. I get toasted grain, honey, caramel, charcoal, walnuts and other nuts, and tobacco in the first to third steeps. It’s drying without being bitter, with a persistent nutty and charcoal aftertaste. The tea acquires a mineral taste by steep four, but otherwise remains consistent.

By steep seven, I find, like other reviewers, that this Da Hong Pao starts to peter out, with the nuts and grain becoming attenuated. This tea thins out into a charcoal and mineral finish around steep ten.

This Da Hong Pao had a promising beginning, but faded quickly. What there was of it was good, though. Still, I’ve had other DHP’s with more staying power and complexity.

Flavors: Caramel, Char, Grain, Honey, Mineral, Nutty, Tobacco, Walnut

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 5 g 4 OZ / 120 ML

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81
2955 tasting notes

I found this overly roasty and smokey/tobacco last time I tried it plain, so I decided to finish off my cup by making a soy milk latte. It is very good that way.

Flavors: Mineral, Roasted, Smoke, Tobacco

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C

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60
485 tasting notes

Hmm, this one didn’t quite do it for me. It had some good qualities, but it was really kind of just a “meh” tea. The leaf smelled a little bit roasty and chestnutty, maybe a bit of autumn leaf.

The flavor started out a little bit sour, which I would attribute to the roast most likely. Also some nutty, a bit of floral as well. After the sourness went out, around the third steep, a bit of a nice mineral note came in as well, along with just a smoother feeling in the mouth. Unfortunately, just as it was getting a little bit nicer, the flavor died…like it only went for around 5 or 6 steeps. I’m thinking this one wasn’t a huge fan of the boiling water that I hit it with, so I got some roughness and a shortened session.

The flavors for this one were much “higher” than other DHP that I’ve had. I think that could be part of why this one just didn’t seem to have the depth I was hoping for from it. I don’t have a whole lot of experience with Da Hong Pao or even Wuyi oolongs, but I would consider this a lower quality DHP than the others I have tried.

Flavors: Floral, Mineral, Nutty, Roasted, Sour

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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85
141 tasting notes

.. ugh Steepster crashed just as i was finishing off my review, so I’m gonna try to recreate it..
The first steep was wonderfully complex, with notes of earth and rock, as well as peach/mango notes. It tasted kinda like a black tea, with mild astringency. there were some fishy notes that I’m not sure how i feel about but it’s not overwhelming in any way, so I quite liked the first steep.

The second steep was a bit less of everything, and somehow the fishy notes became way more prominent. This kinda upset me, but I pushed through. As it cooled, the fish was replaced with peach, and the second half of this cup was delicious!

the package said it would go for 2-3 steeps, but i also put a bit less leaves in than it wanted me to so I guess it’s fair that the 3rd steep didnt really work out to all too much, it was pretty empty with a few of peach notes still lingering.

If you’ve got this tea and you’re planning to steep it western style, I’d recommend either doing the 2tsp/8oz that Zen tea recommends and then steeping for maybe a minute and then incrementing your steeps, or going for what i did at 1.5tsp/8oz and steeping maybe 90s → 120s.
I may update with a gong fu style review; overall a very enjoyable tea :)

Flavors: Astringent, Earth, Fishy, Mango, Peach, Wet Rocks, Wood

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 1 min, 30 sec 3 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML

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88
350 tasting notes

Oh, yum. You know when a tea just really hits the spot? That was this tea for me, tonight. After sampling a whole bunch of straight black teas in a row, I wanted to try something different and decided on a roasted oolong. This is one from my Zen Tea order that I hadn’t had a chance to try yet. The scent of the dry leaf is sweet and floral and definitely roasted. The liquor is also roasty-toasty and sweet, with an underlying minerality as one would expect from a rock oolong. It’s like… toasted multigrain bread drizzled with honey. So far I’ve steeped it three times: 2min, 3min, and 7 min (I checked after 5min and it seemed light, so I gave it another couple). I’ll probably give it one more ultra-long steep via the “pour boiling water on and then forget about it” method to see if I can wring the last bit of flavour from these leaves. I’m drinking the 3rd steep right now, and it’s noticeably more mineral than the first two, but still very sweet. Nom nom nom.

Flavors: Honey, Mineral, Roasted, Toasty

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 2 min, 0 sec 3 g 10 OZ / 295 ML
Fjellrev

Nice flavour profile!

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