It's time to write a few words about, what we call, our "Lamborghini" Kombucha.
We are jokingly using the automobile terminology, to refer to our most expensive, but also most exclusive of our Kombuchas.
Expensive, as the tea is in the range of over 300 Euro/kg, and exclusive, as we additionally age it for one year before we offer it for sale.
Let's start with the tea!
It's name is Sanxia Hong Cha. Sanxia part refers to a district in southwestern part of New Taipei, Taiwan.
Hong Cha, although considered as black tea in the west, is a Red Tea 紅茶 in China.
So what exactly is this Red Tea? "Some Tea with Me" explains it like this:
"RED TEA 紅茶: known as black tea by rest of the world for reasons we do not understand"
and also...
"Let’s start with the basics. As you all probably know from reading these posts, the six categories of tea mainly differ by oxidation, but each category is so broad that it really does a disservice to group them all together." "... Black tea is no different. And as Tea Drunk’s menu so clearly explains, this heavily oxidized category is actually called “Red Tea” (Hong Cha) in China. The main difference you’ll find is between black tea made in China or Taiwan (let’s call this “Chinese” style), black tea made in Darjeeling or Nepal (I generally call this “Darjeeling”), and black tea made in Assam, Sri Lanka, Kenya, or basically anywhere else (let’s call this “Assam”). Although all tea production began in China, their concept of black tea is quite a long way from what most westerners are used to. Skillfully made Hong Cha is rich and malty, sweet without any additives. Notes of caramel and chocolate can be found in the aromas of black tea made in Yunnan, Anhui, or the famous Sun Moon Lake region of Taiwan. The color of the liquor is usually a deep ruddy red with a bit of a golden hue and yet clear enough to see the bottom of your cup through the broth."
This Sanxia Hong Cha that we use is over 300 Euro/kg, but we have seen more exclusive varieties, like Dan Cong Hong Cha that go up to 600 Euro/kg, or even more.
The variety that we use has a very intense chocolaty scent, with wood and citrus notes.
At the same time, it is also quite malty with the sweetness between caramel, mixed with pronounced plum notes.
Now let's look into the second aspect - the aging. Currently the batch that we offer was made on December 21st, 2017.
Yes, at the time we write this it's 10 months old and we're still aging it.
By aging, we mean keeping the bottles in a controlled temperature, under 5 degrees Celsius.
We have had this Kombucha before, as a special brew for special occasions.
Each and every time we tried it, regardless whether it was after couple of weeks, or after one year, we could not believe how well it aged and how magnificent it tasted.
Couple bottles "survived" even for 16 months and they were simply amazing.
So, we hope that you will have a chance to buy some of those precious bottles,
An update!!! 2022
We kept few of those bottles for a couple of years now.
As a matter of fact, we have celebrated two separate New Year's Eves with this Kombucha.
The first one was in 2020. Below is a pic with a 3 year old bottle.
We also had a 3 year old bottle of our Classic Kombucha.
And again, in 2021 we repeated this feast. This time both Kombuchas were 4 year old.
Both aged extremely well, and both were superb in flavor.
We only wished we had more. Unfortunately, this was our last bottle of Sanxia Hong Cha.
Also, within couple of years, the price of this tea went up and now it hovers over 400 Euro per kg.
Ingredients: Filtered and Revitalized Water, Live Kombucha Cultures, BIO Unrefined Brown Sugar, Sanxia Hong Cha