This morning, courtesy of Scribbles, I’m very pleased and extremely fortunate to review Jin Ping Gong Fu Black from Tao Tea Leaf, Western style: 6 oz. / 1.5 tsp. (4 g) / 212*F / 2 min. without sweeteners, milk, or cream.
Intro: This tea is not currently found on the Tao Tea Leaf website.
A web search resulted in the following information:
Per Martin of Montreal, Canada:
https://www.blogger.com/profile/12558297837241939606
A World of Tea:
The Ottawa 2nd Annual Tea Festival
December 3, 2012
http://www.mar-tea.com/2012/12/the-ottawa-2nd-annual-tea-festival.html
“Jin Ping Gong Fu (an incredible black tea I had the opportunity to taste)”
“Jin Ping Gong Fu, an incredibly rich and layered black tea”
Leaf: Thin and thick twisted dark chocolate-brown leaves 2.6 cm long or less.
Fragrance: Fine pipe tobacco
Liquor: Brilliant clear copper
Aroma: Ding, ding, ding … we have a Winner!
As soon as I removed the lid from the Finum brewing basket, the aroma was so powerful that it came wafting up to meet my nose as I stood in front of the kitchen counter and I’m 6’ tall!
Flavor: Chocolate!
2-min: A creamy smooth full-bodied black tea with incredibly deep rich malty milk chocolate! There was no hint of bitterness or astringency.
Resteep
3-min: Malty chocolate that was not quite as deep but extremely well-balanced and very enjoyable.
2nd Resteep
4-min: Not yet …
6-min: Not yet … Since this was now twice as long as the first resteep and 3x the original steep, I suspected two cups was the limit for this tea. However, I kept on …
8-min: An excellent resteep – nearly identical to the previous cup.
Impression: A creamy smooth full-bodied black tea with incredibly deep rich malty milk chocolate that will also go the distance! This black tea is thoroughly enjoyable and highly recommended … if it’s still available.
Many thanks to Scribbles for sharing a generous sample of this incredible chocolaty Jin Ping Gong Fu Black Tea.
Jin Ping “has left the building” ………
Method:
RO water re-mineralized with an Aptera filter http://steepster.com/teas/teaware/39532-puregen-aptera-alkamag-water-filter
http://steepster.com/teaware/teavana/39311-perfect-tea-spoon
http://steepster.com/teas/teaware/37731-my-weigh-durascale-d2-660-digital-scale
Brewed western-style conveniently in a tea mug with a brew basket http://steepster.com/teaware/royal-albert/45581-old-country-roses-afternoontea-mugs
http://steepster.com/teas/teaware/29177-finum-brewing-basket
http://steepster.com/teaware/teavana/39312-perfect-preset-tea-timer
Flavors: Chocolate, Malt
Preparation
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Comments
Awesome note looseTman!
Thank you MzPriss!
Mmmm…really sounds amazing!
It is!
I’m pretty sure the tea is this one. Jin Ping is the village it is grown in, and this is a tea they have carried for some time. I have a sample from Dexter and I got a whole bunch in the sale so I should be able to compare them. http://www.taotealeaf.com/zhenghe-gongfu-black-tea-jin-ping-village/
It is a really awesome tea. Great review!
yyz I did see their ZhengHe GongFu Black Tea and wondered if it was the same or similar since it was the most similar one currently on their website. Please let us know what you find out. I agree, it’s awesome tea. Thanks!
The Zhenghe Gongfu comes labeled as Jin Ping so I think it is fair to assume they are the same tea. I just had my parcel hand delivered by the owner to my door.
Excellent news – Thanks! Such service too! You must live near their store? How often do they have sales?
I actually live about a 35 minute drive from the store. They must have had a number of deliveries in the area. I had the pleasure of thanking Tao himself for it.
Last year they had a big sale on boxing day(Dec. 26 th) and slightly smaller sales around the Moon festival I think and the anniversary of the store opening.
That was certainly very nice of Tao. I’ll be sure to check out their boxing day sale. When is their anniversary? Given their recent 50% sale, it’s too bad I didn’t taste that sample a few days earlier!!
Awesome note looseTman!
Thank you MzPriss!
Mmmm…really sounds amazing!
It is!
I’m pretty sure the tea is this one. Jin Ping is the village it is grown in, and this is a tea they have carried for some time. I have a sample from Dexter and I got a whole bunch in the sale so I should be able to compare them. http://www.taotealeaf.com/zhenghe-gongfu-black-tea-jin-ping-village/
It is a really awesome tea. Great review!
yyz I did see their ZhengHe GongFu Black Tea and wondered if it was the same or similar since it was the most similar one currently on their website. Please let us know what you find out. I agree, it’s awesome tea. Thanks!
The Zhenghe Gongfu comes labeled as Jin Ping so I think it is fair to assume they are the same tea. I just had my parcel hand delivered by the owner to my door.
Excellent news – Thanks! Such service too! You must live near their store? How often do they have sales?
I actually live about a 35 minute drive from the store. They must have had a number of deliveries in the area. I had the pleasure of thanking Tao himself for it.
Last year they had a big sale on boxing day(Dec. 26 th) and slightly smaller sales around the Moon festival I think and the anniversary of the store opening.
That was certainly very nice of Tao. I’ll be sure to check out their boxing day sale. When is their anniversary? Given their recent 50% sale, it’s too bad I didn’t taste that sample a few days earlier!!