TeaHQ

Jiu Qu Hong Mei

A Zhejiang black tea made near Hangzhou from the same growing area as Longjing, rolled into fine dark curls. It is light-bodied and sweet with a plum-like note, and it demonstrates something useful: the leaf that makes a famous green tea makes a perfectly good black tea when processed differently.

Black teaModerate intensityAccessible to appreciateForgiving to brew九曲紅梅
Brew at 88–93 °CUse 1–1.5 g per 100 mlFirst steep 150sWestern brewing (teapot or mug)Full schedule and equipment →

Character

Delicate for a black tea, with a plum-and-rose character and very little grip. Easy to over-steep into something ordinary.

Flavour
Fruity, Floral, Sweet
Aroma
Honeyed
Mouthfeel
Light, Silky
Complexity
Moderate
Notes
red plum, rose, honey
Aftertaste
Light, sweet and floral.

Moderate intensity: noticeable weight or grip, but neither dominates the cup.

Provenance and production

Origin
China
Oxidation
Fully oxidised
Harvest
Spring
Processing
Withering → Rolling and shaping → Oxidation → Drying

History

Created near Hangzhou in the nineteenth century in a region otherwise devoted entirely to green tea. It survives as a small local speciality and is one of the few Zhejiang black teas anyone can name.

Brewing

No caffeine estimate is authored for this tea. TeaHQ does not infer one from its category, because category predicts caffeine poorly — matcha and gyokuro carry more than many black teas.

If you like this

Grouped by why they were suggested, strongest reason first. Nothing here is a blended score — a suggestion appears under the best reason that exists for it, and never under a weaker one as well.

Editorially linked

Someone wrote down why these two belong together. The note below is theirs.

  • Keemun

    Two Zhejiang and Anhui black teas with a similar fruity, gently smoky profile. Jiuqu Hongmei is far less known and is sometimes sold as Keemun.

  • Ning Hong

    Two Chinese black teas from green-tea provinces, both small local specialities with a sweet dried-fruit character.

Similar sensory profile

Shares controlled flavour, aroma and mouthfeel descriptors. A looser match — two teas can share descriptors and still taste nothing alike.

  • Bai Hao Yin Zhen (Silver Needle)

    Shares 6 descriptors with Jiu Qu Hong Mei: sweet, floral, fruity, light, silky and honeyed.

  • Darjeeling white tea

    Shares 6 descriptors with Jiu Qu Hong Mei: floral, fruity, sweet, light, silky and honeyed.

  • Fuding Silver Needle

    Shares 6 descriptors with Jiu Qu Hong Mei: sweet, fruity, floral, light, silky and honeyed.

  • Anxi Huang Jin Gui

    Shares 5 descriptors with Jiu Qu Hong Mei: floral, fruity, sweet, silky and honeyed.

  • Bai Mudan

    Shares 5 descriptors with Jiu Qu Hong Mei: sweet, fruity, floral, silky and honeyed.

  • Bai Mudan Wang

    Shares 5 descriptors with Jiu Qu Hong Mei: sweet, fruity, floral, silky and honeyed.

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