Crimson Lotus Teas, who does some amazing puer, made their own Dian Hong black tea cakes! I got all three samples – Roam, Big Red, and Intergalactic. These black teas are blended by Crimson Lotus Tea, all with different flavor profiles.
Crimson Lotus Tea’s Roam Dian Hong Black Tea
Roam is labeled as the daily drinker blend out of the batch. The leaves have a malty and honey straw scent.
All black teas today I gongfu styled at 1 gram per 15ml leaf to vessel ratio, steeped with boiling water. After an infusion, this has a strong tannic fruity scent.
First, Second, Third, and Fourth Infusion: Roam is brisk and floral orange zest, but sips in smooth and malty, with a spongey thick texture. Each steeping gets deeper, richer, and malty, with the zest notes taking a step back.
Fifth and Sixth Infusion: After five infusions Roam is losing steam, with faint notes of parsley, sweet orange rind, with a background of malt. A long 20 minute infusion gave me a tannic hit of sour citrus rind and wood.
Lazy Style: Roam Dian Hong starts off citrus sweet and herbal. As it steeps it has a brisk tannic bite and gentle astringency, with even longer time it develops maltiness with a bit of dark chocolate. With the lower ratio, Roam is on the lighter side and doesn’t get as malty.
Crimson Lotus Tea’s Roam tastes almost classic black tea – tannic, malty, and citrus. It is also a good lazy style too – as much as I like the stronger notes, I think I’ll finish the rest of my sample lazy style with a heavier ratio. Roam is a real treat of one with comforting notes that most tea drinkers can get behind.
Crimson Lotus Tea’s Big Red Dian Hong Black Tea
The wrapper on Big Red is my favorite!
Big Red has a faint woodsy scent. After a rinse, the tea smells of sweet woodsy cedar.
First, Second, and Third Infusion: Big Red starts off having a savory strong cedar note with a buttery background and a dried date and cinnamon finish.
Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Infusion: This tea is overall quite light so I found myself steeping it longer than usual. Big Red is sweet, woodsy, cinnamon spice, and fruity, with some wisps of smoke in the aftertaste. The flavor profile reminds me of one of those oatmeal date squares. Pushed aggressively, Big Red goes rich malty, with a strong aroma of dates and hints of smoke. As Big Red dies, it is bitter and powdery astringent, but satisfying light caramel sweet in the aftertaste.
Lazy Style: Big Red, lazy style, comes out with a buttery caramel rum taste right away. I had this going during the last few infusions of gongfu style and I wanted to abandon the gongfu as the lazy style was that good. As it steeps, Big Red gets smokey and more rummy.
Big Red is a more subtle black tea, the notes being gentle and on the aromatic side. Lazy style is the way to go with this tea as it really highlights the sweetness and rum notes. Either way, an awesomely buttery tea and pleasing to drink when steeped right.
Crimson Lotus Tea’s Intergalactic Dian Hong Black Tea
Intergalactic starts with a faint, nutty leafy scent. Wowza, these leaves have lots of golden fuzzy buds.
Rinsed, the leaves smell of honey nuts and wood, like cheerios for beavers.
First, Second, Third, and Fourth Infusion: The early infusions of Intergalactic are creamy and nutty – like honey cheerios on driftwood with a thick syrupy texture. A few more infusions in, Intergalactic is rich malt, bittersweet chocolate, brandy, and marshmallow poof with a cottony texture, with a tree sap maple sweet aftertaste. Out of all the black teas today, this one is the most complex.
Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Infusion: Intergalactic finishes a bit peaty bitter with a maply syrup aftertaste that shifts into a herbal sweetness. The final steeps tasting of boiled dark raisins, wood, and brandy.
I’ve had so much caffeine that I can feel my scalp crawling and my eyes want to fall out of my head. I’m going to go run around in the rain with heartburn.
Lazy Style: Intergalactic lazy style tastes bright and of maple wood with a syrup sweetness. As it steeps and refills, the tea goes darker with woodsy malt, brandy, and some peaty notes. Despite the longer infusion, the tea doesn’t go astringent and holds onto a thick cotton batting texture.
For the hongcha bud lovers – Intergalactic has lots of personality and richness. Interesting complexity and dark notes of dark chocolate and brandy with contrasting bittersweet and maple syrup. It isn’t a pitch-black strong of a dark tea but has all the notes.
All these teas seem mostly the best lazy style and they all have room to play with the ratios. If I wasn’t broken on caffeine I’d go again with heavier ratios.
I would say Big Red is my pick as that one is the best lazy style, but all are quite good. Each tea has a niche to fill whether it is an office daily drinker or an interesting gongfu session.
(teas provided for review)
