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Well, this certainly tastes like tea…ummm, let me clarify that, I love this tea, not because its sweet or exotic or complicated, I’ve had plenty of teas that are amazing, white/black mixes, oolongs with fruit or edible flowers, ,y last two reviews here spring to mind, tea’s that I love none the less but are so complex they lose that one fantastic aspect of tasting like… well tea.

Yun Nan Dian Hong from Teavivre is probably the best tea I’ve had in a long time, and its all due to the simple fact its uncomplicated, delicious, and amazingly unrefined, its simply good black tea. Simply good if not simple, there is a lot of flavor to this tea, a subtle taste, that’s neither as heavy as my other favorite (second favorite now?) black, Yunnan noir by adagio, a little more delicate, a light smoky almost burn sugar taste, but is still well in the confines of a delicious morning black. I struggle to describe it honestly. One of those things that’s better experienced in the first person rather then the third.

As for the technical I followed the advice of the lovely Strayer (Who also sent me this tea in the first place, and therefore will be loved forever) and steeped for less then four minutes at a nice high temp of 180-185, it steeps into this rich golden brown, amber color that is nearly as pretty as it is delicious, and the aroma of the drained leaves is amazing as well, definitely a good morning tea something to take your mind off the fact you had to roll out of bed before noon.

You do need to watch your time and temp though, this is actually my second attempt at the tea and its well, sensitive, my first attempt was only about a minute or two longer, and ten or 15 degrees less and it didn’t quite ruin the tea, but it wasn’t nearly as good, it may be a black but it behaves like a green, a few misplaced seconds or degrees here or there, steeping it in glass instead of insulated ceramic, this all seems to make an actual difference, its more then worth the effort, but don’t be surprised if your first attempt isn’t exactly prefect, on that note I’m going to toy with the time and temp a bit, and see if I can get even more out of this tea.

In short, because I might of over cooked this review, if you want a pure strait forward, but none the less uncompromisingly delicious black tea, you need to do yourself a service and at least try this, it really is amazing.

I almost feel bad drinking this tea down, its certainly a guilty pleasure, being as I understand it a tea thats slowwwwly going extinct, I might also feel a little bad for shunning the name and drinking it right before bed, probably not the best move as its full of caffeine.

On to the tea though, its quite simply put one of the best black teas I ever had, I might of under steeped it just a little but it still came out strong and sweet, with just a little honey it was amazing, the rose petal blooming as they steeped was excellent, I was a little apprehensive about it being to…. flowery but the cinnamon dominates any inkling of that, the cinnamon mixed with the vanilla (Which I didn’t get much of I think but still…) gives the tea a nice warm curled up in bed taste, far to relaxing to drink in the morning to be honest if I had this in bed I’d probably die of respiratory depression.

Right before bed though, seems to be a fantastic idea, as I write this and finish off the mug caffeine or not I just wanna curl up in bed for a good 8-12 hours. Its too bad this tea will never be blended again, I suppose like in nature, the best things go extinct, or at least the most delicious.

First tea log;

I got a small tin of this back from the lovely Tabby, being one of her favorite tea’s and a snowy march evening I thought I’d run at this first.

I ran the water all the way up to boiling then let it sit for a good 5 and a half minutes in a flush stainless infuser, the first thing I noticed was the sharp scent, all deliciously tangy with the heavy scent of the black tea behind it, I almost felt bad dropping in a small amount of agave sugar.

The taste of it is really hard to put into words, especially this late at night, simply put on a snowy night in what should be spring, it makes living in new england almost bearable, the sweet touch of cranberry and orange is perfect over the black tea, I LOVE black heavy mean tea’s so I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy this but it really is quite a perfect contrast, just tart enough over the lovely body of the black tea.

Highly recommended for anyone who hates snow, and or just wants a nice cup of tea.

Going to try tomorrow without the agave honey, which might of been a little too much sweetness.