DRUNK ON RED! DRUNK ON RED! I’d be lying if I said I bought Spring 2013 Drunk on Red Sun-Dried Feng Qing for the description and not its sweet name. Who would pass up a tea called Drunk On Red? I’d get tea drunk on teal or purple if I could!
This tea is a Spring 2013 first flush Feng Qing black tea that has been sun dried, then pressed into 100 gram cakes. There’s a few different years to choose from on Yunnan Sourcing (both yunnansourcing.us and yunnansourcing.com site – if you are in the US I suggest shopping at the .us site to save on shipping).
Dry Leaf
The cake has a strong sweet fruity scent that I associate with delicious black teas. The cake is very dark with ripples of gold leaf.
Steeping Instructions
Nothing exciting here – gaiwan + boiling water, then rinse, starting with 10 second infusions. I have a 100ml-ish gaiwan and used 5 grams of leaf.
Tasting of Yunnan Sourcing’s Spring 2013 Drunk on Red Sun-Dried Feng Qing Black
First and Second Infusion: Holy hoot cakes look at that red! The scent is divine with raisins and mouth watering fruity scents.
Drunk on Red sips in with loads of flavor! It is sweet and fruity, like raspberries, and currants. The background has a deep cherry woody note with a brief mystery floral aftertaste. The texture is super smooth without a lick of dryness. I drank all these cups in record time, totally burning my face off. I’ve been reviewing so many creamy malty caramel straight blacks that having a strong woodsy fruity black is a nice change of pace.
On the second infusion the color became a darker deeper red. Dang so pretty!
Third, Fourth and Fifth Infusion: The flavor is staying at a constant woodsy cherry and fruity notes. Drunk on Red is super easy to just chug this tea as it’s so smooth and fruity.
If I had to binge drink tea like a teenager and wanted something that tastes good like soda I’d be drinking this tea. Am I tea drunk yet? I’m totally not feeling it. Or maybe I am tea drunk and just so tea drunk I can’t tell. Or am I not actually tea drunk and this is like a psychological game from reacting to the expectation of getting tea drunk? Oh man I gotta be messed up on tea right now if I’m having this argument with myself right now!
Sixth and Seventh Infusion: Huge jump and noticeably lighter now with little flavor. The heavy woodsy leaves taste now more distinctly currant in flavor. The color has gotten lighter too.
Eighth Last hurrah 8 minute infusion: Quite similar to the sixth infusion and really light. Nope, it’s dead Jim.
Comments
Black tea lovers and tea drunks – get your DRUNK ON RED on! Yunnan Sourcing’s Spring 2013 Drunk on Red Sun-Dried Feng Qing is a tasty, easy to drink fruity woodsy black that is easy to love. I could see casual tea drinkers loving Drunk on Red and would make for a great presentation for guests.
I quite like this tea, I would probably purchase this one again, especially since it is inexpensive ($4.50 for 100 gram cake at this time). There are other Drunk on Red cakes on sale as well – from 2011 to 2014, and a 2014 cut with Chrysanthemum.
