It took a while to get to Feng Qing but as usual in China the travel is always worth it. After an 11hour flight from London to Shanghai and then a connection onto Kunming in Yunnan we met our driver for the next few days who estimated 7 hours South West to Feng Qing, Lincang Prefecture Yunnan. The journey took 11 hours culminating in steep climbs and long declines with the obligatory terrifying overtaking but at 1am we pulled into the town passing under the sign reading ‘China Black Tea Capital’ – always a good sign and certainly rejuvenating at the end of a long trip.
I first tasted Dian Hong on my first tea trip to China where I was given some as a gift. Ever since I have wanted us to source and serve this tea as it has a beautiful sweet aroma and, at the right quality, a smooth and delicate infusion, but we needed to find a good supplier and partner. For those of you yet to come across or experience Dian Hong it is a Chinese black tea distinguished from other black teas by the amount of golden tips in the dried tea. This tea is commonly know as Yunna Red or Yunnan black as, directly translated “diān” (滇) is the short name for Yunnan & “hóng” (紅) means red (tea).
