This tea is special to me as it was thee tea that sparked my interest and led me west from Fujian to a fascination and love for Yunnan tea and eventually to Puerh.
To me, Imperial Feng Qing Dian Hong is the king of malty black teas. It's what Assam aspires to be. It's chocolatey, malty, strong, 'leathery', mildly earthy, burnt sugar / toa
...Read MoreRead more about This tea is special to me as it wasst character and moderately sweet. It's not nearly as sweet as other Yunnan black teas like Simao pure bud (hipsters!!). It has a remarkable delayed echo aftertaste of chocolate that materializes on the tongue several seconds after swallowing. The cha qi is warming leading to sweaty and seems to pack nearly as much caffeine as coffee without the jitters.
Early in my tea journey I didn't realize tea had such an effect and figured I just sweat sometimes in the mornings haha. My first experience of floaty 'tea drunk' was after drinking this tea gong fu immediately followed by the Liming Golden Peacock raw puerh.
I picked up a large quantity of the Spring 2019 harvest and aged it for nearly two years sealed up as I prefer the deeper flavor of well rested Yunnan black tea. But I've been jonesing for some since drinking through my 2018 FQ from another vendor. The flavor of the 2019 is definitely there, but it seems a bit youthful and could benefit from further aging, but it will get there.
This tea has been a pretty consistent staple morning tea for me for many years and is very satisfying after a bowl of oatmeal. I usually drink it grandpa style as it works really well that way, but when I have the time - gong fu in a gaiwan. Read LessRead less about This tea is special to me as it was