It's fine for the price you pay, the only bad thing is a really noticeable amount of stems (like 1/9).
First, I have to say that I love the mixed signal of oolongs; half way between black teas and green teas. Always interesting to discover.
In opening the bag, I found the aroma to be definitely musky. I followed the guidelines for oolongs: I rinsed then steep my first infusion at the right temperature for the time suggested (2-3 minutes). I used 1 tsp of tea in 8 oz. hot water. The musky scent was still there. It was also slightly earthy and vaguely reminiscent of a crisp mountain air early morning. Taste like, this oolong has more characteristics of a black tea. Mouth-watering is right! Very mellow with some astringency.
I did not get any floral aroma at my first infusion, but I definitely did at the 2nd infusion (steeped 6-7 minutes). I could even smell some vanilla and something reminiscence of pin. Wow!
The 3rd infusion was even better, but I got the mineral taste only at the 4th infusion, which also made me think of an early grey (aroma, taste and astringency).
I did make a 5th infusion, and it was still very tasty and mellow, just not as complex anymore.
this is just a wonderful oolong, I drink it all day long iced. it is excellent warm also just luv the flavor!!!
It's not quite as good as the Da Hong Pao I brought back from my trip to China, but has become my go morning tea at work. I stack 5 gong fu style brews in a large ceramic travel mug. I can get 2 460ml mugs (10 infusions) with good flavour.
Professor Levine
September 2024
We have been drinking this style of tea for over 15 years, in America, Asia, and Europe. We have been purchasing from Tealyra for over five years. We prepared the tea exactly according to the recommendations, weighing the amount of leaves, measuring the volume of the water, and adjusting the temperature to the exact specifications.
We found this tea almost indistinguishable from black tea, known as "red tea" in Chinese.
I think this tea is fine for the price and I am enjoying it but the prominent astringency reported by other reviewers is the main downside for a tea like this. The high temperature brewing temp required to bring out the best parts of this tea, also brings out the worst (astringency and bitterness). Tastes more like a pheonix dan cong to me, that the tea makers decided to charcoal roast and do last finishing steps in the style of Da Hong Pao. Clearly not a true Da Hong Pao (not originating from the famous original 5 Da Hong Pao bushes), but tea aficionados probably already knew this by the price point, and non-aficionados probably won't care.
While most of the tea I have tried from tealyra has surpassed my expectations, this particular one fell short, citing heavy astringency when brewed
It’s da hong pao for sure, but unfortunately a very poor quality da hong pao. Having tasted and purchased this tea directly in wuyi mountains, and ordered from other suppliers, the flavour both in volume and intensity in the da hong pao tea leaves from Tealyra is very poor. I will not be purchasing from this provider again.
