Qing Xin Red - Red Blossom Tea Company

A unique insect-bitten mi xiang black tea with notes of wildflower honey and canned peaches.

Visual Notes

This black tea is a thin twisted leaf with lighter amber brown tips. Most leaves are uniform in shape and size, measuring about 2cm long. Some leaves have a lighter brown tips that give visual interest. There are a small amount of stems, about 2 stems in this serving.

The infused wet leaf varies between two colors: a lovely tanned leather brown and a darker wood bark. It is interesting how each leaf is a solid color, but different leaves are notably different colors.

The infused tea has good clarity with a deep amber orange color.

Scent Notes

The dry tea leaf gives off a faintly sweet aroma, but still floral, reminiscent of a white tea.

The hot leaf gives of a rich caramel, woody, roasted, and slightly spiced essence. Later on, it gives off a charred not-quite smokey essence.

Tasting Notes

The texture is slightly silky, but a wave of sweetness hits you immediately. To me, the first sips taste strongly of honey, despite there being no sweeteners in this tea. The sweetness spreads rapidly across the mouth. This tea is similar to other black teas in the magnitude of sweetness, but it is fascinatingly different in the type of sweetness. Rather than a molasses or fruity sweetness, this tea takes on a honey-floral sweetness. The tea is very pleasant, coating the mouth with its flavor, and carries its own layers of complexity aside from a sweetness alone. There are notes of wildflower honey and canned peaches. There is zero bitterness and also very low astringency. Sipping the entire first infusion has left very little dryness in the mouth and has a light finish. You can taste the black tea-like liquor on the finish, with a warmth on the breath.
The second infusion is a bit lighter in color than the first. The tea gives off a spiced cinnamon note, like smelling an apple pie, but at a distance. The tea delivers similar texture, but is remarkably more bitter and less sweet. Unfortunately by the second infusion, the tea is already plagued by a bitterness which was lovingly absent from the first infusion. Amplifying the bitterness is the lack of sweetness. The tea has lost its honey-like aroma and devolves into to a deeper molasses like sweetness. By the second infusion, the tea has lost its character and creeps closer to being indistinguishable from other black teas. Sweetness and bitterness aside, the other underlying flavors are still around. The finish has more astringency with increased bitterness.
By the third infusion, the tea has lost a lot of intensity in color, but is still a deeper orange than even a dark oolong. The tea still gives off a sweet aroma to the nose, but is weaker than before. Encapsulated by bitterness, this infusion has quickly become unpleasant. I don’t think that I would choose to drink this infusion.

Rating: 4.5/5

One might call this tea Red Blossom’s signature black tea, given that it is the only red label black tea in their collection. What caught my attention is the way they compare the production of this black tea to an oolong. Furthermore, some initial oxidation is achieved beforehand due to the insect-bitten mi xiang style Qing Xin leaves.

In contrast to my typical tea brewing style, this tea opts for a smaller quantity of leaves steeped for a longer time. Perhaps as a result, there is a steep fall off in quality between the first and successive infusions. In fact, even I was surprised by how much the quality of this tea took a nose dive after the first infusion.

This tea is the most honey-like black tea I have ever had the pleasure of tasting. The tea oozes sweetness, both in the wafting aroma emanating from brewing the tea and also the first sips that touch your tongue. The sweetness, unlike many other black teas, is distinctly honey-like in character. It has a wildflower floral honey sweetness to it that is captivating. Underneath that, there is still a good amount of black tea complexity, brandishing some fruity notes like canned peaches, with some darker spiced and charred notes signature of a black tea.

Despite all that, this tea is a one-infusion wonder. By the second infusion, the tea had lost all character, and by the third infusion, the tea was dead. When rating teas, I give strong consideration to the longevity of a tea. The first infusion of this tea really impressed me, and on quality alone I’d give it a 5.5/5. But taking the sum of its parts, I’d give this tea a 4.5/5.

This tea is very expensive at about $3.75 per serving with the recommended brew settings. This makes this a very expensive tea for a tea that only delivers one good infusion. For that reason, I would be hard pressed to want to reach for this tea outside of a special tasting.

Tea Seller’s Description

Origin: Alishan, Taiwan

Craft: twisted, mi xiang

Flavor notes: stone fruit, citrus, honey

Described by the teamaker as "a black tea with the spirit of an oolong", Qing Xin Red is our rarest black tea. This innovative harvest combines Taiwan's Qing Xin cultivar (revered for it's elegantly sweet, creamy, and floral taste), with mi xiang crafting and traditional oolong production techniques like rou nian to create one of the most balanced, refined black teas we've tasted.

The full oxidation of this insect-bitten crop of Qing Xin leaves deepens their flavor, aroma, and finish, resulting in a tea with notes of citrus, bright florals, rich stone fruit, and a persistent honey-like finish. The flavor profile is similar to our Eastern Beauty, but with an even more elegant, complex, and balanced taste.

This is our favorite way to brew most black teas, since the moderate water temperature and brew time increase sweetness and texture while limiting astringency. If you prefer a more intense brew, try increasing your water temperature. To further highlight sweetness (particularly with our mi xiang crops), reduce water temperature while increasing brew time.

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