2018 Ruan Zhi Black Tea gr. A, Loose Leaf

Brief steeps (5-10 seconds) in 90 Celsius water.
Liquor is a clear and dark golden caramel in color, similar look to whisky.
Taste is fruity and almost floral in aroma, clean and smooth on the palate, imparts a sweet after-taste that lingers with an earthy note of honey.
Somehow it also feels almost cooling down the throat.
Mouthfeel is ever-slightly dry and sticky, with no astringency and bitterness.
Wet leaves are of dark copper tones, giving off a sweet smell of burnt ripen fruit.
The strength of flavor starts to mellow down by the 6th infusion, thus best to steep longer from here onwards.
As the sweetness lessens overtime, the after-taste seems to be more woody in note.
A longer (1 minute) steep gives a more pronounced woody note on the palate, while the long finish characteristic remains.
This black tea doesn't have the same boldness of a typical black tea in the flavor profile, however, it is a suitable tea for daily consumption, and doesn't impart astringency despite long infusions.
Overall, it is a pleasant black tea to my palate with a taste rather like a mix of black tea with dark oolong.

Very nice red tea. Oolong's raw material is immediately felt, reminiscent of some Taiwanese oolong. Tea is soft, fruity-flowery, with delicate astringency. It relaxes and soothes gently.

I mistakenly wrote a review on the 2016 premium version,
which now I have to try since this one is so good!

this is a rich and engaging black tea, and If you like Taiwanese black teas than give this one a try,
as here too you can feel the oolongy origins and complexities..

a very nice tea, and I usually keep to my puers and oolongs :)

This is in line with what I expected, both on sight and smell. I anticipated something close to, say, a Taiwanese black tea (like Ruby 18), and that’s what it mimicked. The leaves are long, full, plump, dark red-to-brown, and gave off a scent of menthol and sweet butter. In all but one measure, it resembled an Ali Shan strip-style black tea I favored.

The liquor colored dark amber, but far softer than most Taiwanese inspired black teas I’ve come across. I think the lighter brew color had something to do with the fact that whole leaf material was used. Nothing appeared broken up. The aroma was also not very black tea-like. I didn’t detect malt, wood, or any of the other usual suspects.
On the flavor front, both the intro and top note didn’t give off much nuance, other than one word that appeared in my mind: “smooooooth”. Yes, with all the extra “O”-s. The aftertaste and huigan was where the true identity of this black tea came through. Sweetness and custard-like creaminess remained long after the sip.