This is a great companion (and meant to be a brother tea) to the Dian Hong Golden Wire also for sale on this site. Trying both teas can take you to opposite corners of the Yunnan tea map, Fengqing and Xishuangbanna and showcase a world of diversity in Yunnan provincial black tea. As this is a sibling tea the label art is done in a similar style, and of course, the naming scheme as well. The Old Coyote refers to the Aztec god Huehuecoyotl — the god of dance, song, music, mischief, and male sexuality. Fitting, I guess.

This particular tea comes from Menghai county in the Western jungles of Xishuangbanna. It’s a remote area in the extreme south of Yunnan bordering Myanmar which specializes in Pu’Erh production. This is the first time I’ve personally encountered black tea made here.

Dian was the name of a kingdom annexed by the Han empire in 108 BC. Dian has been a major producer of ‘red tea’ (what the west calls black tea) since the concept of red tea came to exist. Due to the fame of Dian Hong, black tea from Yunnan is referred to as Dian Hong even in a case like this where the kingdom of Dian would have been quite far away (about 7 hours driving). Yunnan tea with the exception of Pu’Erh always seems to be very inexpensive for the quality, especially when compared to other provinces of China. Tea (and more recently coffee) are major drivers of the economy in Yunnan, it is very rural, and the people of Yunnan desire a laid back life rather than richness and glory. Of course, I can’t personally speak for any of them, but this is the general consensus I’ve read over my years of research about Pu’Erh tea and Yunnan in general. I consider this particular tea a benchmark for black tea, if it can’t be equal or better than this it isn’t worth drinking.

There is a term here called ‘Gu Shu’ or ‘Lao Shu’ which translates to ‘old bush’. Different areas of China apply this term at different ages, nothing is very ‘official’ about it. ‘old bush’ tea can mean 100 years in some parts of China, but 300~600+ in others. The word gets tossed around but generally denotes tea which is not from a monoculture plantation. Plantations are a business in it for money and after 50~90 years the production speed of the tea bushes slows to a crawl and they need to be replaced. Younger bushes grow more vigorously and have a stronger flavor, but there is no depth to that flavor and not as many peripheral aromas or flavors to enjoy. This tea comes from bushes that are 200 to 300 years old! It has a gentle flavor, but a lot more depth than people may be accustomed to seeing from black tea.

Mono-culture plantations are common around the world, even in most of China. They are much less common in Yunnan province though, and this is due to a couple reasons. First of all, there is no need, tea is everywhere. Yunnan, especially this area of Yunnan is the eastern limit of the tea bushes natural habitat. Tea grows wild, it grows well, and it survives for a long time without any human intervention. Second of all, putting clones of a tea bush on acres and acres of land would not only require a lot of labor intensive work, but due to the nature of plantations they would need to be taken care of with fertilizers. On top of that, the plantation tea would be at a disadvantage to any ‘wild’ competition in the area if for no other reason than the age of the bushes. Plantation tea would need extra work to make an inferior product, and also sell for less money, it’s a lose lose lose.

There are 3 primary facets to its aroma. It leads in with classic black tea maltiness which is recognized in teas from Ceylon and Assam. The malty aroma mingles with a wild green camphor note and an aroma similar to the combination of cilantro, lime juice, and caramelized honey. Those aromas dominate but there is a subtle spice most comparable to allspice or ground ginger which tries to sneak by underneath. Aromatically it foreshadows the flavor of the tea very well.

Flavor wise it immediately delivers a fragrant burst of classic black tea flavor without the accompanying mulched leaf notes or astringency you often find in Ceylon or Assam teas. The malt is followed up by spicy flavors most comparable to dried ginger. It has a sour-acidic brightness like cassia cinnamon which gives the finish a sharp lively feeling as the flavors fade away. It is on the lighter, more elegant side of black tea. It could accept the addition of milk and sugar but needs neither.

In the past few years I’ve spent a significant amount of time drinking black teas from Yunnan. I’ve put a lot of extra work into really ‘honing in’ on how to brew this tea ‘perfectly’ for me. I intend to put out a brew chart one day which explains how I came to this conclusion. If you brew it like this, I don’t think you could experience it better: 1g of tea for 56ml of boiling water, steep for 1 minute and 45 seconds.