San He Zhai Autumn Shai Hong “Sun Dried”
Black Tea, Yi Wu, Yunnan, fall 2024
Yahara Chocolate & Tea
Notes:
This black tea is made from large leaf Yunnan tea trees in San He Zhai village. The very loose leaves are large but steep quickly. There is a fruity bite from the sun aging but there is also an earthy backbone. On the 2nd and 3rd steeps the fruit begins to seperate in pear, raspberry, and something else I missed. This tea can be steeped many times.
- Tea: 5g
- Water: 5oz., 190°
- Steep: 1, 2, 3, 4
- Time: 10, 15, 20, 25 sec.
Maker’s Notes:
Sun dried black tea, known as Shai Hong, is simply processed with light oxidation,
rolling and dying on the sun (directly or in the drying glass house ). The initial flavour spectrum is rather sour, due to not complete fixation which in time will transform into the jam fruity sweet notes.
Shai Hong tea can be further aged and it is also sold in pressed form. This type of processing is commonly used by tea farmers who do not possess special equipment for making the fully fixed (heat processed) black tea.
