Tie Lou Han 2011 (Tea Urchin)

I have to admit, I was drawn to the Tea Urchin website and the story behind the business.  They don't sell inexpensive, or even moderately-priced tea, but you get the impression that you might just get an experience worth the price if you give their products a try.  Here's my impression of their Tie Lou Han.

This dry leaf is bold and nearly charcoal black.  Clearly, it was heavily roasted, but there is no burnt aroma, just the relatively mild scent of an aged rock tea.  The wet leaf is similarly dark, falling somewhere between black and deep mahogany.  There is no green or any significant variegation in color.  This is not necessarily a bad thing, as very traditional, unblended rock teas can be uniformly dark, but the wet leaf on the website shows much more diversity in leaf color, and for me, that disparity is disappointing.

The tea brews up a very dark amber/brown, and is impressively fragrant for a heavy roast tea.  The aroma is big, deep, and very traditional, with sweetness, roast aromas, dark fruit, woody resinous notes, and a hint of mustiness.  In short, it's rich and complex. 

The tea is very smooth on entry, and transitions to big and fat at mid palate.  It manages to have a great mouth feel and be almost velvety soft at the same time.  It's full flavored and quite deep, with  dark roasted fruit flavors, the woody/resinous flavors of traditional processing, noticeable Tie Lou Han varietal flavor, and some of the flavors associated with aging.  After the swallow, there is a noticeable coating in the mouth and a nice tang.

Not surprisingly, this tea has a fairly deep and persistent aftertaste, with notes of dark plum, caramel, roast, cocoa, and wood.  

The dry cup aroma is sweet and rich.

You can brew this tea many times. The tea leaves unfurl very, very slowly.  They're still  dark brown and in the process of unfurling after 8 infusions.  This is one of the most durable rock teas I've tried.   

Tie Lou Han is probably the most masculine of the rock teas, and this is probably the most masculine of the Tie Lou Han I've had.  It's a big tea, with the kind of aftertaste and dry cup aroma that you usually experience only in true Zheng Yan tea from the scenic central area of Wu Yi.  For lovers of big, traditional rock teas that possess some aged character, this tea should be on your short list.  For lovers of clean, nuanced and floral teas, this one might be too bold and straight at you.  While I think $29 for 100 grams is a lot to pay for any tea, considering what you're getting for your money, you might just consider it a bargain.