My 3 China Black Teas

Here's the thing~ China Black Teas are actually called Red Tea in China...not to be confused with the Red Tea from the Rooibos bush, but it's always been China's practice to name a tea after the brewed color of the leaf's liquor, not the unbrewed color of the leaf, as is the Western way.

Not right, not wrong, different.

*aside* This also allows the famed Pu-erh tea of China to have the name "Black Tea", thus giving it a category all of its own, instead of the Western way of making Pu-erh a subcategory of Black Tea, even though it's processing goes beyond that of Black Teas, being the only truly fermented tea. As I am an American, I'll stick to the Western way of categorizing tea :)

Back to China Black teas...

China Black teas tend to be rounder, gentler and even sweeter than other black teas. This is due to the Chinese tea makers "slow[ing] down oxidation as much as possible" which allow the tea to consist of mostly thearubigins, which are milder flavonoids. (The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea, 2008, pg 105).

If I may, I'd hazard a thought that the smaller leaf, smaller plant Camellia sinensis var. camellia of China verses the larger leaf, larger plant grown in the areas of India called Camellia sinensis var assamica may have something to do with the difference in taste. But, again, I can only conjecture this point right now.

I do wish to correct a mis-step of mine. In my previous post on China Black tea, when I indicated Assam and Ceylon tea leaves were only for blending and not teas which could stand on their own. This is not so, though I've yet to have the opportunity to try a worthy Assam/Ceylon, I've been told they do exist and can be quite nice. A rude example I suppose would be Lipton bag teas of fanning verses Lipton's loose leaf tea available in most stores.

Regardless, I look forward to sharing an Assam/Ceylon experience when it chances to come my way. Judging from my reading, the inexpensiveness of many company's online non-blended, non-Chinese black teas, and the lack of focused attention, they are on my "to DUE" list in the future, but not now.

These are the 3 China teas, from Teavana, I enjoyed DUEing with my 6 year old and, believe it or not, we had the BEST side ever with black tea. It's Skippy Peanut Butter with Smuckers seedless Strawberry Jam on a crispy Thomas' English Muffin! Mouth watering Yummy!

In order of the picture above, left to right, we had
Nine Dragon Golden Needle,
Golden Copperknot, and
Imperial Lotus.

Both my daughter and I enjoyed the Golden Copperknot the most, Imperial Lotus second and, also appearing, the Nine Dragon Golden Needle.

The Nine Dragon Golden Needle is a nice afternoon tea when you want a light black tea...Which I never do. To me, black teas NEED milk and sugar (excepting 2nd flush and Autumnal Darjeelings which I'll post about soon enough~ I even have pictures :).

This tea has a well known name and it's characteristics were spot on ~ even the powdery finish on the unbrewed leaves was true, and got all over my hand as I was fishing out the long, thin leaves. But, either I don't have a trained enough palate...or I just like what I like. And I don't like weak black teas. I'd rather have a white, green or even a roasted Oolong than a weak black. So, there you go.

Next, I so enjoy the ease of the bundled Imperial Lotus Chinese Black tea. (I even took it on a couple of day trips with me last week). You can see it in the center of the tea picture above, the "bundle" to the center right next to the stainless steel infusers, directly behind the middle tea.

In learning about teas and sometimes their natural sweetness, I was thrilled to not only taste, but smell the wondrous sweetness of this tea. It's an aroma present even prior to being brewed! Now, again, because I like my black tea strong, I use 2 bundles at a time in 8 oz of water, but I get a fabulous second steep out of the two, so it's a good trade off.

I'll mention this, I sometimes leave my tea in various places and forget them...only to find them hours afterwards, cold and, in the case with blacks, undrinkable. When I left this one, it was both undrinkable, AND had taken on a rather gross greenish/gray cast. I, of course, had to try it. Not my best idea to date...

The Copperknot Chinese Black is beautiful prior to brewing. Its shape is much like Chinese Gunpowder green tea, only dark brown/black with strips of a deep tan (copper) running through it. Its taste is unique and full, just shy of smoky with a richness of flavor unlike any other black tea I've ever had.

I LOVE this tea and as it is TOO deep of flavor to enjoy as a simple good morning cup of tea, it is a perfect staple in my tea stash for special occasions...like a late lunch with our sophisticated styled PB&J.

~Standard preparations for brewing black tea, just or nearly boiled water, 2 minutes, milk and 1 packet of Splenda.~