Hong Yun Black

This is delicious. Another tea I probably picked up during closing sales and never properly reviewed. However, I’m not sure it’s lost all that much – it’s sweet, minerally, and quite tasty. Maybe a little less potent than it once was. A nice treat to have found, since I’d been craving a black and now have a great sipdown candidate (though there is a lot of this one left).

This week I’m going to try and work through my last few teas from Butiki and River Tea before they officially become really old. I know why I’m hoarding them, even if it doesn’t make a great deal of sense; it’s because I’m worried about them being gone. Still, there’s no help for that. I read the descriptions for each of the teas I’ve got with me, and I chose this one for my first of the afternoon. My primary motivation was the fact that this one is Taiwanese, and Premium Taiwanese Assam is still fresh and wonderful in my memory. I’m intrigued by the fact that this is described as a cross between wild Assamica and Keemun, two of my favourite black tea varieties. I followed the recommended parameters for my first cup, and gave 2 tsp of leaf approximately 3 minutes in boiling water. No additions. I’m struck by the resemblance of the leaf to PTA – thick, twisted, long, coal black leaves. One of them is SO long it wouldn’t even fit in my infuser – about 3 inches! The resulting liquor is a pale golden brown, the scent mildly fruity (stone fruit) and a little woody (cedar).

To taste, it’s totally delicious. The initial flavour is apricot, and it’s sweet and delicate with a defining malty backdrop. The mid sip bring some honey into play – both in terms of the mouthfeel, which is smooth and syrupy, and the flavour. The end of the sip and the aftertaste are a bit of a contrast – the flavour becomes drier, with deeper notes of raisin and wood. On the whole, though, it’s a light-tasting tea, and very refreshing. It’d make a great black tea for warmer summer days, but I’m not so fussy that I can’t enjoy it in the depths of winter! Another amazing tea from Butiki, always sadly missed.

Delightful. Wonderful. Great. Lovely. I could go on, but I’m sure you get the gist. This tea is bright, smooth, and rich. The flavours of honey and baked bread encompass your taste buds, with a light fruity back to them. So well done. Definitely a Butiki! :)

A great debt is owed to the awesome Liquid Proust for providing me with a bit of this fantastic tea that I never thought I’d be able to enjoy again!

Pulled this tea out after talking about Butiki and brewed it a few times. Not only does this leaf have a pleasant aroma when brewed, they completely change in color. Colors range from olive to dark brown and it looks wonderful. Taste wise this is smooth without the bitterness, unfortunately it is yet again another black tea that I do not like. Thankfully I have tried enough black teas at this point to know which leaf is quality and brews a more pure drink as these do.

This was the first tea I tried from my order.
Tasted a lot of earth and apricot. A little too much earth for my taste. The honey notes make it a lot better for me, but still isn’t a tea I would savor…
I think that I might have to find a new home for this one, which is a bit of a bummer since I thought I’d like this one probably the best out of my order for some reason. xD
Oh well.
Glad I got to try. Now I don’t have to wonder if I totally missed out on an amazing tea. Not that it isn’t amazing. Just too much earthiness for me, but that’s okay. I’m picky haha!

Made myself a cup of this to see if I wanted to order some in the big blow-out sale before it runs out. Unfortunately it’s not on the website anymore, so I guess I’m too late. Waaaah.

Pretty nice tea, though. I’m not in the right headspace to analyze flavors and what not, but it’s one that I was hoping to get a bit more of for gongfu sessions.

Not sure how I missed logging this. I have been having it every other morning. Such a mellow and deep taste to start the day with. Malty, yeasty pastries with fruit and honey. /drool

This is another I’m going to be stuck between wanting to drink it all the time and hoarding it because I can’t get any more of it!

A sample from Maripan. The scent is nicely malty. There is a malty taste too, along with a little bit of plum. It is a bit on the strong side, but good for after breakfast.

I shared a mini gongfu session of this with my husband over the weekend. It was reaaaallly tasty. My husband liked it so much I actually let him drink most of it, haha!

All I can tell you for now is the list of flavors that people have noted on this tea is pretty accurate. Good times :D

This sample came from the generous and lovely Stephanie. Must try all of the Butiki teas! Especially the straight blacks. :D This looks similar to the Taiwanese Assams I have from Butiki, it has those “creepy tree branch” leaves. I wondered how this differs from other similar-looking teas, so I looked at the website. Apparently this tea is a cross between Assam and Keemun, which is very cool. I don’t really get any smell from the dry leaves. I noticed that the website recommends 2 teaspoons per 8 oz, so I “underwatered” a bit for my sample, as it looked to be about a teaspoon.

The brewed tea smells lovely – apricots, dark dried fruits, and honey. My first though after tasting this was… yum! Lol. This may be the fruitiest black tea I’ve had yet. Very strong apricot and plum flavor with a generous amount of honey over the top. There’s a little wisp of floral near the end of the sip, which I have found in a couple of Keemun teas before. At first, I didn’t think I was finding a lot of Assam in here, as I’ve found more fruitiness in Keemuns I’ve tried. However, as the tea started to cool a bit, I started to taste that amazing pastry-like waffle flavor that I found in the Taiwanese Wild Mountain Black yesterday. Oh, hello Assam! So I would recommend trying this tea warm for a different flavor profile. :D