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Another lovely Yunnan tea from TeaVivre! I’ve learned to have very high expectations for their teas, whether they’re premium, superfine, nonpareil, or just regular. They’ve definitely become one of my top 5 favorite companies for tea. I’ve tried three of their other Dian Hong teas, and I have a sample of the last one on the way. So I was curious to see how this compared, and where it fell between the Gold Tip and “regular” Dian Hong versions. The leaves are long and straight, and quite thin. I would estimate the golden bud content to be about 40%. Dry, the leaves smell quite sweet with lots of honey and apricot, and some mild malt in the background. Did the usual 3 minute steep. :D

Wow, the aroma! This is definitely the strongest honey scent I’ve ever found in a tea, and it’s accompanied by lovely apricot and raisin notes, and the ubiquitous malt.

I was so surprised by the taste that it deserves a new paragraph… Lol. It has the lovely bread flavor that I’ve come to expect from good Yunnans, but it also tastes like creamy oatmeal and chewy raw grains. This is reminding me a lot of Shang’s red teas with their combination of white and black tea flavors. It has that grain note that borders on being a white tea-like sweet hay flavor. The honey really starts to come out near the end, along with the apricot, and these two form a lovely aftertaste with a bit of graininess still present.

I have to say, this is not at all what I expected! I was prepared for this to fall somewhere between the bready/honey/stonefruit of the Golden Tip and the earthier and more robust “regular” Dian Hong. But this definitely has a flavor profile all its own, and it’s very delicious.

Thanks Angel and Mary at Teavivre for giving me to opportunity to try so many of your teas at little to no cost to me! You have an amazing company and your service is always fantastic!

Edit: Totally forgot to mention that I took a huge mouthful of this, and then there was this pesky tingling in my throat. Of course, I ended up coughing and spewing tea everywhere… Luckily, it was mostly just all over my pajamas and not my laptop. Such a graceful moment.