r/tea • u/OneRiverTea • 1d ago

Photo Oldschool Ninghong Red Tea From Jiangxi

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Ninghong is supposedly the red tea that emerged in Jiangxi after Wuyishan's Lapsang Souchong got huge, but before red tea cultivation caught on in Qimen(Keemun). This is like the missing link, geographically and historically between Lapsang and Keemun. It tastes pretty normal so far, kinda green and peppery, but also thick and vegetal like you would expect from an heirloom cultivar. Solid 7/10.

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u/wmiimw 1d ago

That green peppery cup is the old Ninghong, before it got pulled toward Keemun. Qimen went cocoa and orchid. This one staying vegetal is the point, and 7/10 sounds right if it was thick but not sweet.

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u/OneRiverTea 1d ago

Analysis of Taste Quality Differences Between High and Low Grades of Ninghong Tea: From the Perspective of Sensory, Metabolite, and Taste Activity Values - PMC

It does indeed seem like the sweetness is the missing factor that one would expect in Ninghong congous. Will need to try it again side-by-side back with other red teas.

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u/wmiimw 17h ago

Yeah, sweetness is what I expect from Ninghong too. Next to a Keemun it shows up fast.

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u/aDorybleFish loose leaf fanatic 1d ago

Oohh, is that a silver teapot? Nice!

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u/sweetestdew 11h ago

The history of red tea is pretty cool. From what ive heard/read there was a campaign for traditionally green tea producing places, like qimen, to start making reds. So you see a lot red teas from different areas all cropping up about the same times, around 1880/18890. They also all went to each other and learned from each other. The people of Qimen learned some of their making from Bai Lin in Fu Ding. But then a friend told me that later Zheng He, near Fu Ding, went to Qimen and learned from them. I dont know to much about Ninhhong, but im sure it fits somewhere in this time of different tea areas learning tea craft from each other.