96

Thank you Angel from Teavivre, for writing to me and generously offering to send me samples to try. This is by far my favorite of the 5, and have already ordered 100g with my first Teavivre order.

So I started my tea journey trying mostly flavored teas. I am now in the next phase, of attempting to find unflavored teas to love. This one falls in the “love” category. Btw, I am still using honey to sweeten most teas, but this one requires only a minimal amount. Don’t forget that my first love is Coke, so my taste buds are sweet trained. But I’ve found local honey, and using it will help with allergies too (so it has 2 purposes). But the tea itself carries a sweetness to it, that requires little help.

Yun Nan Dian Hong Golden Tips is really smooth and has absolutely no bitterness to it. Being sensitive to bitterness, this already gives it high praise. Someone called it “Lipton but better” and I concur … much much better. Some mention the sweet potato association. I’m leaning more towards caramelly, but see where those associations are coming from.

Teavivre says that this can be resteeped 12 times. I’ve only gone as far as 3, and on the third the flavors were weakening. Perhaps I need to be more precise with my temps and times. I’ve also tried it cold, and that is where the Lipton comparison comes from. It’s very nice cold, in a Lipton (but better) kind of way. Teavivre is now offering this in the 50g size. Angel sent me a sample of the full-leaf version of this tea, and it will be nice to compare the two. Teavivre’s customer service rocks btw. My order was put into the mail system Upton/Adagio-style (next business day). This and Upton’s Imperial Golden Monkey (ZP85) are my current unflavored favorites (so far).

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 2 min, 30 sec
TheTeaFairy

great review cheryl! Glad you’re starting to really enjoy unflavored teas! ( funny we call them «unflavored», this one is so sweet and tasty!)
I agree with you, it will hold 3 steeps easily, but would never strech to 12!

TeaBrat

perhaps 12 steeps is for Gong Fu method of brewing tea with very small cups. :)

kOmpir

I enjoyed 5 steeps. It did start to wear off on 3rd, but last two showed some nice sweetness to it. I compare that with reading a good book for hours.
How does the full-leaf tastes like?

Cheryl

@TheTeaFairy – “unflavored” only in contrast to the obviously altered flavored ones.
@Amy – branching out to other brewing methods is in my future, but not yet : )
@kOmpir – I haven’t had a chance to test the full-leaf yet (so many samples, so little time/bladder capacity) : )

Dylan Oxford

Less-adulterated ;)

TeaVivre

you can try this tea with Gaiwan.

SimplyJenW

One of my favorites, too! I ordered 100g on my first TeaVivre order!

Cheryl

Dylan – exactly!
Angel – when I move to next phase of journey, in the plans
Jen – should we start an Ohio chapter of tea-nonymous? or is it shop-nonymous?

kOmpir

@Angel, What would be Gaiwan preferences for this tea (mine is 3 Oz)?

TeaVivre

Kompir, this is also depend on your personal preference, usually, you can add 5g tea into your Gaiwan. If you like the stronger flavor, you can add more.

SimplyJenW

Yes, I would definitely need to join either *-nonymous of the above, but mostly the Tea-buyers Anonymous!

ScottTeaMan

Jen-I’m glad you don’t consider it a tea DRINKING problem! :))

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Comments

TheTeaFairy

great review cheryl! Glad you’re starting to really enjoy unflavored teas! ( funny we call them «unflavored», this one is so sweet and tasty!)
I agree with you, it will hold 3 steeps easily, but would never strech to 12!

TeaBrat

perhaps 12 steeps is for Gong Fu method of brewing tea with very small cups. :)

kOmpir

I enjoyed 5 steeps. It did start to wear off on 3rd, but last two showed some nice sweetness to it. I compare that with reading a good book for hours.
How does the full-leaf tastes like?

Cheryl

@TheTeaFairy – “unflavored” only in contrast to the obviously altered flavored ones.
@Amy – branching out to other brewing methods is in my future, but not yet : )
@kOmpir – I haven’t had a chance to test the full-leaf yet (so many samples, so little time/bladder capacity) : )

Dylan Oxford

Less-adulterated ;)

TeaVivre

you can try this tea with Gaiwan.

SimplyJenW

One of my favorites, too! I ordered 100g on my first TeaVivre order!

Cheryl

Dylan – exactly!
Angel – when I move to next phase of journey, in the plans
Jen – should we start an Ohio chapter of tea-nonymous? or is it shop-nonymous?

kOmpir

@Angel, What would be Gaiwan preferences for this tea (mine is 3 Oz)?

TeaVivre

Kompir, this is also depend on your personal preference, usually, you can add 5g tea into your Gaiwan. If you like the stronger flavor, you can add more.

SimplyJenW

Yes, I would definitely need to join either *-nonymous of the above, but mostly the Tea-buyers Anonymous!

ScottTeaMan

Jen-I’m glad you don’t consider it a tea DRINKING problem! :))

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Profile

Bio

Originally started testing teas, to replace a lifelong Coke (Coca-Cola) habit. Now I’m just amazed at all the choices. Still in beginner stage of tea education. Until I get really good at iced/cold tea, the Coke habit remains, but is down to a minimum.

My cupboard here on Steepster was ridiculous, containing each and every sample size that I have been accumulating. It now only contains non-sample size teas. Loose leaf outweighs the bagged teas, but it doesn’t look that way by the list (over 100 samples).

I started my tea journey testing flavored teas. My favorites are chai and mint flavored teas, along with Earl Grey. Also like chocolate, caramel, coconut, almond, vanilla, cinnamon, clove and some others. Most flavors are better with a nice black tea base. The mint ones seem best paired with greens. I’m branching out now to unflavored teas and it is way more overwhelming then the flavored category. Phew.

My (grown) son has decided that he wants to try to find tea that he likes too, so I’ll be passing along the ones I don’t care for to him (with instructions to then pass them on to his sister…evil plot? yes!). So I’ve removed my shopping list from Steepster and moved it to a spreadsheet (swaps are out for now). My shopping list had grown to 197! By going through each one, I was able to split that in half (since many were added in beginning, before I knew what I like/don’t like).

While not swapping, if there’s something in my cupboard that you’d like a sample of, please feel free to ask : )

Ratings (for now):
90s: Must have in personal rotation. Crave it.
80s: Makes me a happy tea drinker. Very good. Unsure of long term relationship.
70s: Like this. Will drink what I have (sample/tin/box), but unsure of whether I’d buy again.
60s: Probably a good tea for what it is. Just not to my personal liking.
50s and below: Do not like…at all. Either poor quality, yuck flavor or … (see tealog).

Old (and still current) obsessions: books, music and fragrances. Hopefully my tea collection stays much more “normal” then those. (too late)

Location

Central Ohio

Following These People

Moderator Tools

Mark as Spammer