Product Overview
Type: Black
Packaging: Bag
Origin: China
Description: This delicious, richly-flavored black tea is from one of China’s best-known locations among tea afficionados, but not because of the tea gardens or any historical reputation for finely-plucked loose leaf tea. Rather the region from which this incredible leaf comes is well-known for the world-famous, small-size teapots that are made in this eastern China village: the Yixing teapots that are used primarily for steeping Pu-erh, other ‘dark’ teas (such as heicha), and also oolong. This region is best known for its deposits of ‘purple clay’, the dense, concentrated and intensely-colored clay that is fabricated into many simple, elegant, whimsical, and fanciful teapots, that do not need a glaze to accomplish the task of holding leaf and water together while steeping.
We are currently blessed with a delicious and uniquely special black tea from this region. We have been hinting at its arrival for a month or so now… Made from the same leaf plantings as the green tea in the area (though not the Bi Lo Chun plantings) this leaf is on the small side with a delicate turn that curls nicely in a graceful twist. As with the Keemun tea growing region (Qimen), whose leaf was historically made into green tea, Jiangsu Province has wonderful plantings now of both green and black tea bushes.
The flavor is jam-packed. It is rich, full-bodied, quite ‘raisin-y‘, and is best drunk neat, or plain, but it does accept milk quite readily so if that is how you prefer your liquid tea, then try it both ways. Because of the incredible terroir of the area the growing conditions are superb and this tea reflects that. It has a bountiful amount of the cacao-like aroma and flavor that is so reminiscent of its black tea neighbors to the south but none of the spicy, winey flavor of the Keemun teas to the west.
The leaf is slender, whole leaf, and beautiful to look at. The aromatic qualities of our Yixing Black are bright and intoxicating – mostly in the wet leaf – with nuance of raisin, cacao, and dried fruit.
Our supreme grade Yixing Black tea is elegant, richly aromatic, and has a finish that lingers. The liquor is clear but with high soluble solids, and is a deep, rich claret color.
Brewing guide: Brew the special Yixing black in your favourite yixing clay teapot, you will feel the pure flavour from Yixing. The preferred method of brewing is an Yixing teapot or a gaiwan. After boiling the water to 212°F ( 100° C) rinse the gaiwan or teapot once. By rinsing we ensure the teaware is free of any unwanted matter as well as create optimal heat conditions for brewing. We suggest 5-7 grams of tea per 150 ml of water. However, these parameters have more to do with personal tastes than any sort of scientific groundings. The lengths of the infusions are also dependent upon personal preference for either a weaker or stronger infusion. As such we suggest starting with shorter infusion times of up to one minute for the first and second brews while gradually increasing infusion times by one minute for each consecutive brew.
