Product Overview

There are two ways to dry black tea: with hot air in a dedicated machine, or under the sun, laid on bamboo mats. Most of the black tea produced is dried with hot air because it is faster to process and adds more bite to the tea as soon as it is out of the factory. Black tea dried with hot air makes great drink-it-now; if it is dried quickly, it can even add light roasted notes.

Sun-dried black teas are less impressive when they're just out of the factory, but the main difference is they have more potential for aging well, just like Pu-erh tea. Their scents are totally natural, only the result of oxidation. The mouthfeel is more similar to Pu-erh tea, featuring thicker soup and some sweet and fresh feeling in the throat.

This special Yunnan Sun Dried Black Tea is also known as Shai Hong, which means "black tea dried in the sun." Unlike other black teas, it is exclusively sun-dried and is handcrafted from leaves harvested from the large-leaf Assamica tea plant varietal in the Yunnan mountains. Creating a tea that exhibits a gentle sweet aroma along with a fresh and full-bodied taste. The amino acids and the polyphenols are retained with the help of the ancient sun-drying methodology. It results in a distinctively sweet and comforting taste that feels like a warm embrace from the sun. It produces an amber liquor with a faint sweet and fruity aroma. The taste is smooth, light yet complex.

This tea will certainly please people who're looking for unadulterated fragrances and want to drink their tea in the long run. You will see it evolve over the months, and we are confident it will remain attractive for a few years or more.

Brewing Guide: The ideal brewing temperature is 90-100ºC (194-215ºF), which is just below the boiling point. You can simply boil the water using a stove-top kettle and then let it cool for 10 seconds or so. Yunnan black tea can be brewed in a variety of vessels, preferably ones made from ceramic or purple clay, like a simple gaiwan or a traditional Chinese Yixing teapot.