Goldrush 2016 Jinggu Yellow Tea

More Gongfu!

Was feeling in the mood for yellow tea over the weekend, so brewed up a session of this. I actually have quite a few yellow teas right now so I had a bunch of options, but I went with what I think is the oldest yellow tea in my stash – you know, gotta sip down some of the stuff I’ve been hoarding for ages…

I choose to think of those older teas as “unintentionally aged”. Usually they’re pretty good despite their age, but generally do seem a little less awesome than when they’re fresh. I don’t think I ever drank this fresh though, so I don’t have a point of reference other than other yellow tea I’ve tried. Can’t remember if I actually ordered this or if it was a freebie…

Here’s what I wrote on instagram:

I only just started this morning tea session but the tea is already brewing out sweet jammy peach and apricot notes, toasty peanut and hazelnut with a greener undertone and a finish that tastes pleasantly of burnt sugar and soft smoke. Probably the sweetest yellow tea I’ve ever had..

I also see someone here on Steepster has described this as tasting like cotton candy and, honestly, I get it!

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/B2JyONIpkHg/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPAB-9_IiaQ

Leaves are long, kind of like loose pu erh. I wasn’t sure what to expect even though I had other yellow teas before.

First steep… OMG It’s cotton candy!! Literally the only thing I can think about. I was so shocked that I had to keep going and see if the taste continues.

Future steeps are still very sweet… reminds me of the honey taste of sheng, but it’s more forefront and cotton candy-like.

Very interesting since I’m more used to green tea having umami flavors and being malty. This is a pleasant surprise, and I would definitely repurchase!

This is a cool looking tea. The leaves are super soft and bright gold with long thin tendrils. The aroma is quite nice with Sweet honey and yellow fruits. I feel that this scent reminds me of jignmai puer; except this has a lot higher intensity of scents. I warm up my gaiwan and slip some inside. I brewed this normal at first, then I increased to rather heavy. The warmed gold threads give off a hearty bbq ribs aroma with some high savory notes. I can also hint at some burnt sugar. I washed the leaves once and prepared for brewing. The taste begins soft and woody. I can pick up some light astringency. The body is fairly thick with a decent hearty sweetness. The flavor is lasting and a long sweet aftertaste. The brew goes down quite easily, and it is a nice smooth drinker. However, the brew does get quite stale bitter after about four steeps. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BQiM4LtgEHy/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel&hl=en

Dry leaf: An amazing and wonderful dried apricot/apple smell along with a dried shitake mushroom layer. Large, long, slender material.

Taste: Light vegetal, light woodsy, at about the 5th steep I detected a touch of honey and some spice. Light sweetness, smooth. Died off at about the 6th steep but I kept pushing it and got a couple more good cups out of it.

Liquor: Pleasing light to medium mouthfeel. Very light yellow gold color.

Spent leaf: Solid yellow olive green color. No discoloration. Large leaves. Bud and 2 leaves with fairly long stems.

Vessel: 110ml gaiwan. (actual water 90-100ml)

This tea is very light, as you would expect with a yellow tea, but was pleasant and enjoyable. The clover honey traits of a white tea parallel with a slight forest overtone. The next time around, I plan to push it with a higher leaf to water ratio to see what I get. As recommended, I did not use my strainer. The first smell of the dry leaf in the bag was a very memorable moment!