Hybrid Tea Between Ripe Pu-erh Tea and Yunnan Black Tea

We developed a new tea blended between Gong Ting grade ripe pu-erh and Yunnan black tea. We wanted to create a tea that gives a sweet flavor with a thick and mellow drinking feeling.

Collaboration between ripe pu-erh tea and black tea

Since some time ago, I have discovered that the combination between naturally farmed black tea and naturally farmed pu-erh tea (Gong Ting grade) works extraordinarily well. Last winter, it became my favorite cup of tea. It is not just about adding the flavor of black tea to ripe pu-erh tea, but the synergy effect. I have tried to recommend this combination to many customers and friends. However, not many people are willing to try this blend due to the following three obstacles.

1. Need to obtain two types of tea
2. Not very easy to blend 2 types of tea
3. The compressed pu-erh and loose black tea have different speeds of extraction.

We made mini tuo-cha in order to achieve a consistent ratio

We wished to solve the above three obstacles so that everyone could enjoy the same flavor and taste that I have enjoyed very much. At first, we faced a technical problem in blending. The mao-cha of Gong Ting ripe pu-erh tea is very short as it mainly consists of young buds, while the leaf of black tea is bigger since it is made of whole leaves. Due to the differences in size, it is hard to evenly blend the two teas. So we decided to produce compressed tea instead of loose tea. However, we were reluctant to compress tea into 200g or 357g. It is not a good idea to break black tea leaves when we break the cake. We also worried if the blending would not be consistent. Thus, we decided to compress tea into mini tuo-cha at about 4–6g. Customers can just choose a mini tuo-cha and brew it. It is so simple and easy.

Black tea is made from one bud and one leaf

We selected Yunnan black tea whose leaves were plucked around March 20. The plucking standard is one bud and one leaf. For making black tea, I prefer one bud and two leaves because of the taste. However, I purposely selected one bud and one leaf in order to get a mellow mouthfeel. The tea is collected from a natural tea garden located at 2000m in Lincang. Tea was grown without pesticide and fertilizer. The farmer did not even remove weeds in the garden.  

We used Gong Ting Jin Hao ripe pu-erh

As for ripe pu-erh tea, we chose Gong Ting Jin Hao, one of our existing tea lineups. It is also naturally farmed tea produced in Lincang. This tea gives a fruity note like dried dates when it is matured for 2–3 years. Considering this, it is not only nice to drink when the tea is just produced, but also enjoyable after aging for a few years.

We named it Gong Ting Dian Hong 宮廷滇紅

I was extremely happy when I saw the tea made on a trial-run basis. It looks far more beautiful than I had expected. The golden leaves of the black tea make the overall appearance of the mini tuo-cha very elegant and gorgeous. In addition, I was very pleased with the outcome in taste and flavor. Thanks to the compression, the extraction speed becomes the same between black tea and pu-erh tea. Since we have blended Gong Ting Jin Hao ripe pu-erh tea and Yunnan black tea, we named it Gong Ting Dian Hong 宮廷滇紅. Dian Hong is a classic name for Yunnan black tea. Dian means Yunnan in an old Chinese expression. Hong means "red" in Chinese, referring to black tea as its liquor is reddish.

Very good affinity with milk

Gong Ting Jin Hao also performs excellently when milk is added. You may brew this tea with less water and for a longer time (maybe 3–5 minutes with boiling water). Add a larger portion of milk to the highly concentrated Gong Ting Dian Hong, and it appears a bright beige color. It gives a mellow, silky mouthfeel and natural sweetness thanks to the strong aftertaste. You may prefer to drink tea straight, or add some brown sugar if you prefer it sweet. However, the result with milk is very impressive, and I strongly suggest everyone try it at least once.