Ning Hong
One of China’s oldest black teas, from Xiushui county in Jiangxi, and a major export tea in the nineteenth century before Keemun eclipsed it. It is tightly rolled, dark and sweet, with a character between Keemun’s fruit and Dian Hong’s malt.
Character
Sweet, dark and fruity, with a dried-longan note that is common in Chinese blacks and rare elsewhere.
- Flavour
- Sweet, Fruity, Chocolate
- Aroma
- Malty, Caramelised
- Mouthfeel
- Full bodied, Smooth
- Complexity
- Moderate
- Notes
- dried longan, malt, cocoa
- Aftertaste
- Sweet and slightly drying.
Moderate intensity: noticeable weight or grip, but neither dominates the cup.
Provenance and production
- Origin
- China
- Oxidation
- Fully oxidised
- Harvest
- Spring
- Processing
- Withering → Strip rolling → Oxidation → Drying
Brewing
Western brewing (teapot or mug)
1–1.5 g/100 ml · 95–100 °C · 1 authored infusion
Gongfu brewing (gaiwan)
4–5 g/100 ml · 90–95 °C · 5 authored infusions
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 Hao Ya
Keemun’s fruit-and-pine aroma, then the older Jiangxi black it displaced commercially. Ning Hong is darker and simpler and was once the more famous of the two.
- Chuan Hong Gongfu
Two twentieth-century Chinese black teas created for export, from different provinces and to a similar brief. Both are sweet and dark and neither has a strong regional identity in the market.
- Jiu Qu Hong Mei
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.
- Assam golden tips
Shares 6 descriptors with Ning Hong: chocolate, fruity, sweet, full bodied, smooth and malty.
- Aged Baozhong
Shares 5 descriptors with Ning Hong: fruity, sweet, full bodied, smooth and caramelised.
- Aged GABA oolong
Shares 5 descriptors with Ning Hong: fruity, sweet, full bodied, smooth and caramelised.
- Aged Gong Mei
Shares 5 descriptors with Ning Hong: sweet, fruity, full bodied, smooth and caramelised.
- Aged Shou Mei
Shares 5 descriptors with Ning Hong: sweet, fruity, full bodied, smooth and caramelised.