From the previous “Rock Tea” article, we had discuss on What is Rock Tea & the Grown Location of them (https://teatimeguy.com/2021/01/19/rock-tea-yan-cha/). Therefore, this article would adding some more information about Rock Tea type and how can we notice the differences between each of them.

There are many types of “YanCha” (aka “Rock Tea”), those products are include RouGui (“肉桂” aka Cinnamon Rock), ShuiXian (“水仙” aka Narcissus Rock), QiLan (“奇兰”, Orchid aroma), Qilan (奇丹),BanTianYao (“半天腰” aka Half Way Demon), QianLiXian (千里香), Huang MeiGui (“黄玫瑰” aka Yellow Rose Rock), QueShi (雀舌), ShiRu (石乳), etc. Each one of them has their own special ability to make you fall in love.Among all of these YanCha, There are 4 famous cultivars or Si Da Ming Cong(四大名丛)of Rock Tea: DaHongPao (“大红袍”aka Big Red Robe), TieLuoHan (“铁罗汉” aka Iron Arhart), ShuiJinGui (“水金龟” aka Water Cockchafer) and BaiJiGuan (“白鸡冠” aka White Cockcomb).You might have heard about DAHONGPAO famous story, and “Yes” they are one of Rock Tea Type as well, this types has also been use to represent Rock Tea products in some market place.

At the first place, you might feel the taste quite similar to one another, but I can tell you they are not all the same. You just need sometimes to feel differentiate between them. Therefore, How to identify differentiate between each “Rock Tea” type? 

To identify the differences, I would like to classify them into 2: Tea Aroma Concentration &Tea Soup Concentration.

The Aroma concentration

The Aroma concentration: Rock Tea types that locate in this group have got highly aromatic, but lower concentration on tea soup. This does not mean that they tasteless, but they just provide better, clearer & thicker fragrance of smoky, mineral either floral or/and fruity and more. However, their flavor is lower concentration and may stay shorter for the aftertaste. These types are normally light to mediumcharcoal roasted rock tea. 

“Unprecedented Aromatic”  （香破天）

Example: HuaXiang RouGui (“花香肉桂” aka Floral Cinnamon Rock), QiLan (奇兰), Huang MeiGui (“黄玫瑰” aka Yellow Rose Rock), etc

The Tea Soup Concentration

The Tea Soup Concentration: Rock Tea that belong to this group got a strong dark chocolate fragrance and long lasting aftertaste that lingering longer in mouth. Their tea soup is woody, nutty, rich & sweet, soft & spread wider inside mouth. However, their tea fragrance is not highly like the one from “aroma concentrate group”.

“Mellow & Rich Mineral in Liquor”

Example: Laocong ShuiXian (“老枞水仙”, Old Bushes Narcissus Rock), Qidan (奇丹), ShuiJinGui(水金龟), TieLuoHan (铁罗汉), FoShou(佛山), BanTianYao(半天腰) etc.

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