Yunnan Gold Tips (Limited Edition, Chinese New Year 2014)

I’ve been a cranky ragebot all week long for various reasons, but as one of those small silly things that can talk you off the ledge last night before bed I reminded myself I’d be able to try this today (and thanks boychik, your review today made me even more excited!). I was a tad worried I’d find it too mild and straightforwardly sweet potato like I was just talking about with Golden Monkey, but this is great, a lovely balance of that sweet smoothness tips give with more robust but still smooth malty dark flavor I crave. The cup color tells it; it isn’t that warm orange-gold-brown hue of the sweet potato teas but instead a deeper more burgundy-tinged affair, as I like. And as it cools there’s a lingering aftertaste of dark chocolate, yum—I imagine it comes from the very faintest hint of bitterness I crave giving it a depth of flavor, but the smooth sweetness the tips provide rounding it out. Was prepared to send a lot of this off to my IRL tea buddy or Steepsters who might lean towards the general Yunnan style if I didn’t love this but I do. So there’s a win for the day, woo small triumphs!

ETA this is a resteep champ, yes even Western style. Had a second cup, 5 minutes just like the first, just as good maybe in some ways even better (lighter yes, but sweeter too, and still with enough heft to make it deliciously satisfying). Woo hoo!

Last night I did my monthly tea count, re-organized my shelves a bit, etc.
I’m starting the month at 362 Teas, which is down from 389 last month, so progress, not perfection, right?

My first cup of the month, although my sense of taste & smell is coming back, it’s still not where I want it to be, and I’ve been avoiding all of my favorite teas (all 277 of them, LOL), because…well because! Although there is a lot to be said for mouth-feel, tea buzz, etc, I hate to miss those subtle flavors. I just remembered that Sheng sometimes seems to help with allergies, so maybe I should quit messing around & bust out a brick!

All I’m getting from this tea today is a nice milky mouth, some baked bread, maybe a little chocolate (Which I’m probably imagining, not actually tasting), & cannibis. Yeah, you heard me. It’s been over 30 years since I toked up, but you never forget that taste.
:)

Oh. Mah. Gawd. Sulu. This is good tea.

Smells fantastic, looks nifty. Cute package.

Heavily baked bread flavor, sweet, malt, smooth…golden. It was probably a mistake to have an entire pot this late in the evening but I just couldn’t stop. No time for a resteep tonight, but will definitely try tomorrow. Though my pots are kind of like resteeps… I steep 16 ounces then another 12 ounces or so with the same leaves and combine them in the same pot.

It’s not a desert island tea, but it’s Damn Fine.

Really smooth. Brewed this one a little lite, only 3 mins for some reaason (Mike’s fault). I like this one a lot though. It’s not crazy in your face with the flavor but still easily stands on its own. I could see this being drinkable on a frequent basis.

Honey-sweet, bread-like, with a bit of malt in the back. This is one fine tea!

I used 1 heaping teaspoon in an 8 oz cup with 200 degree water and steeped for just 1 minute and it was delicious. Resteeps for 2m, 2.5m and 3m were almost as delicious but the flavor declined a bit with each steep. The next time I’ll try boiling with a longer steep just to compare.

I’ll keep this tea around for sure and plan to enjoy it frequently.

Year of the horse! I won’t save this tea until the next year of the horse in 2026 hahahaha
I’m a dragon. Year of the dragon starts on Feb 10th.
I just started steeping this now. So excited to drink it! The description sounds great!

I steeped 3 short times. Sooooo nice!

Sipdown 142/395

This is probably going to be my last new tea of the day. I have plans to resteep my Strawberry Rhubarb Cheesecake leaves after this, and then hopefully get another couple of cups out of this leaf, too. I had originally planned on trying to use up three more samples, but I can feel a migraine coming on and it was going to be a very Nina’s Paris heavy day, so I think I’ll save them for tomorrow or Monday. I’m aiming to have my cupboard at or below 350 by Christmas.

What a lovely straight black tea! I remember drooling over reviews of this back when it was first released, and immediately adding it to my wishlist despite rarely drinking straight unflavoured teas back then, especially loose leaf without milk or sugar. I’m a true English girl, at the end of the day. Sil sent me this along with a few other unflavoured black teas, when I told her I was trying to expand my horizons, and this tea was truly one that helped me appreciate more unflavoured teas, particularly without additives. It is strong and bold, but with very little astringency (something I abhor and the main reason I still add milk to certain teas). It has a malty flavour and bready note which just make me want to curl up in a ball with a thick jumper, a classic novel and a cup of this tea. It’s comfort tea! There’s a honeyed note somewhere in there too, but it’s not as prominent as the more savoury, bread and malt notes so I think that this would be a perfect breakfast tea. I’m not getting any chocolate notes as others have mentioned, and I’ve never smoked so couldn’t say if there are tobacco or cannabis notes, but it does sound interesting. I wonder if they’re there and I just didn’t pick up on it… Either way, this is a delightful, hearty tea which I am particularly enjoying in this crappy weather.

Thanks for helping me try yet another wishlist tea, Sil!

Sweet and malty with good mouthfeel.

I got this with Cavocorax probably around 2 years ago and am only trying it now. What a shame because even aged, it is really quite nice. It would have been interesting to compare it to the brew when the leaf was fresher but c’est la vie. Nonetheless, this is still been a lovely accompaniment to my avocado toast “breakfast” (at 1pm), with its bready notes and touches of stone fruit and caramels. It’s a solid cuppa that is flavorful enough to not get boring while being simple enough to not tire of quickly (as many tend to do with over-the-top flavors).

1000th tasting note! It only took me six years to get here. :-)

I wanted to steep something really special for this occasion. I thought about one of the various wonderful French teas in my cupboard, but decided I had had enough flavored black for one day. I’ve been on a Yunnan kick for a few days now, so I thought I’d look for a highly rated Yunnan I have but hadn’t yet tried.

I have tin no. 23 of this limited edition of 150. Inside the tin, long forest green leaves predominate with some lighter blonde colored tips adding visual interest. The dry leaves smell a bit chocolate-y, a deep, dark, rich fragrance.

I decided to steep at the average preparation parameters rather than the five minutes at boiling recommended on the tin.

I got a clear, dark maple colored liquor with a warm sweet aroma — a bit less sweet than the other yunnans I’ve tried recently but still reminiscent of molasses with some chocolate notes around the edges.

The flavor is quite smooth. No back of the throat grab with this one. Medium bodied, and a bit lighter than I’d expected (might try boiling and longer steep next time). The flavor isn’t overly sweet or sugary in the sip, but has some sweetness in the finish and aftertaste. The funny thing is, I can’t really identify a flavor note in this. I can mostly define what I don’t taste. Unlike some yunnans, I’m not getting a peppery flavor, nor am I getting something I’d call malty. There is something bready about it, maybe a rye note, and while the cocoa note in the aroma gets stronger as the tea cools I only taste it a tiny bit. I’m not getting tobacco or cannabis or any of the other things folks have mentioned.

Some of the other yunnans I’ve tasted recently have had more depth and complexity, but part of that could be preparation, and a lot of it could also be that my expectations of this one were exceptionally high. I’m going to withhold final judgment until I’ve played with it more, but right now, I’m thinking this is quite good but not as spectacular as I was hoping. Ah, well.