2025 'Dark Red' Black Tea
Another crowd favourite from years past, ‘Dark Red’ is a sun-dried ‘dianhong’ (滇红 diānhóng) Yunnan black tea, made from large-leaf material grown in the forests of Xishuangbanna.
This black tea - commonly known as hongcha (红茶 hóng chá) - was made with a high ratio of golden buds, giving it a strong fragrance and thick mouthfeel. When brewed, this hongcha has a rich, fruity fragrance and sweet, malty sweetness reminiscent of ripe stone fruit. It has a thick and smooth body with far less tannic bite than you might be used to with typical 'breakfast-style' black teas from elsewhere.
As is characteristic of many Yunnan teas, 'Dark Red' can be re-steeped many times in a single brewing session. It's versatile and dynamic - when brewed lighter, it results in a very gentle, sweet, and soft tea. When brewed stronger, it yields rich stone fruit flavours and a satisfyingly thick body with no drying tannins or harsh astringency in the aftertaste.
This is one of our favourite Yunnan hongchas of all time. Use the leaves for an afternoon gongfucha (工夫茶 gōngfū chá) session in the park; cold brew it overnight for a delicious iced tea; or add milk (and optional boba) for a fragrant, caramel-malty, and rich milk tea. If you can manage to hold off drinking it for now, this tea will continue to change and evolve as it ages; developing deeper aromatics and more chocolate-like flavours over time.
Wrapper artwork by Jon Marshall.
Pictures by Pingle Pictures.
2025 tea material produced in Yunnan, China.
200g per compressed cake, with 5 cakes per traditionally wrapped bamboo tong. 25g samples are cut or broken from the cakes and sealed into bags.
All orders are shipped from our HQ in Melbourne within 1-2 business days, using Australia Post.
Australia: $9.95 AUD flat-rate standard shipping, free above $75 AUD. $14.95 AUD flat-rate express shipping, free above $100 AUD.
New Zealand: $20 AUD flat-rate, free above $90 AUD.
Asia: $25 AUD flat-rate, free above $150 AUD.
Europe: $35 AUD flat-rate, free above $150 AUD.
Canada: $30 CAD flat-rate, free above $130 CAD.
United States of America: Tiered pricing based on order weight, with a choice of either Standard, or Express with Signature. Tariffs are calculated automatically and collected at checkout.
Use boiling water (100C).
We recommend using approx 1g of tea per 15ml of water for gongfu-style brewing in a teapot or gaiwan. Rinse the leaves once and then brew as usual. You can re-steep the leaves several times until there's no flavour left.
For Western-style brewing in a larger teapot, use approx 5g tea per 100ml of water. You can re-brew the leaves a few times.
To brew direct in a mug, use 1-2g of tea in the bottom of the cup, fill to top with boiling water, and drink once cool. Re-fill the cup with more water when you've drunk 1/3rd of the tea. Repeat until there's no more flavour left.
All of our teas are suitable for long-term storage and ageing.
Keep your tea away from sunlight and strong smells, and somewhere with stable climate conditions.
You can keep it sealed inside the re-usable bag the tea comes in, or another non-porous container.