Yingde Hong
英德红茶 · Yingteh Black
Black
Yingde Hong owes its body to a borrowed leaf.
Guangdong's own bushes are medium-leaf and would never have made a black tea this deep. In the 1950s growers planted Yunnan large-leaf stock instead, in the limestone hills around Yingde, and the plant carried far more of what a black tea needs.
It was first made by machine in 1959, which makes it very young by Chinese standards, and it still ended up poured for guests by Elizabeth II. Almost no other tea has gone from invention to state occasion that quickly. It runs full and dark, cocoa and malt, closing sweet and long.
- cocoa
- malt
- sweet
- Origin
- Yingde, Guangdong
- Water
- 90°C / 194°F
- Ratio
- 5 g / 100 ml
- Caffeine
- High
- Rinse
- Yes · 5s
One of China's five great black teas (with Keemun, Dian Hong, Yihong, Chuanhong)
How much leaf
Gong fu brewing is leaf-heavy and short. Set your gaiwan or pot size and this is what to weigh out.
Vessel volume
100 ml
Recommended dose
Use ~5.0g of tea
The session
6 infusions after the rinse, about 2m 15s of total contact time.
- Rinse5sWake the leaf and pour it away — this one isn’t for drinking.
- Steep 110sCocoa warmth, still gathering.
- Steep 210sMalt swells, dark and full.
- Steep 315sA honeyed sweetness breaks through.
- Steep 420sThe body thins but stays smooth.
- Steep 530sCocoa fades to caramel water.
- Steep 645sA sweet trace, quietly holding.
Also sold as
Ying Hong, Yingde Hongcha, Ying De Hong
Steaper times this session for you
A countdown per infusion, a gong when each one is up, and the whole library in your pocket. Coming to iPhone.
Get notified at launchThese numbers are a median of independent gong fu sources, not a law. Leaf age, vessel and water all move them. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.