Yingde Black Tea - Ying Hong #9

This fascinating black tea is made from the Ying Hong # cultivar with a honey-floral aroma and hints of maple syrup sweetness. The texture is creamy and velvety without any astringency. The aftertaste is enduring and malty sweet.

From all the Yingde black teas we've tasted, this Ying Hong stood out with its refined taste and excellent endurance: you can easily get 15 steeps of tea with the traditional brewing method. All in all, this is by far our favourite niche black tea from Guangdong province. We highly recommend it to tea enthusiasts who also enjoy black teas from Yunnan and Fujian.

Yingde County

As China's majority of artisan teas are produced in Yunnan, Zhejiang, Fujian and Anhui, it's the Guangdong province which boasts the largest population of affluent tea aficionados. The province lacks a lengthy tea cultivating history, but the humid, subtropical climate and plentiful rainfall make the area ideal for cultivating tea. Thus, it's only natural for locals to produce their own unique teas and cater to local taste.

In the 21st century, Yingde county has emerged as the most reputable region for producing Guangdong's best black tea. Small-scale black tea farms have sprouted up in the area with a bright future ahead of them. The farm owners are encouraged by success of fellow farmers in Guangdong's phoenix mountains, who have successfully produced oolong teas that rival those from the renowned Wuyi mountains of Fujian.

Ying Hong Jiu Hao Cultivar

Ying Hong #9 is an carefully cultivated tea plant variety, developed in 1961 from a Yunnan big-leaf cultivar. Certified as a provincial-level variety in 1986, it has been lauded for its early sprouting, long growth period, and high suitability for black tea production. Its plants are tall with a semi-open appearance, dense branching, and large, oval-shaped leaves. The leaves characterised by a light green color, gloss, slight inward folding, and wavy edges. The petals are yellow-green, fuzzy, and every sprout contains three leaves.