Wild Black Yunnan

good black tea

For about the last month I’ve been whittling various teas down to one final sip down, for an upcoming Sipdown Extravaganza. This is the next to last cup of this tea, part of TastyBrew’s offering in our BBBBox, which is currently on Hiatus. This one was in the Grab Bag, & it’s kind of an odd combination of unsweetened dark chocolate & mud, LOL.

It’s kinda too hot to drink tea, but I felt like I should drink tea, so grabbed one of the last samples from Davids that I had gotten. Big Apple and an Oolong from Cavo are also on my list of trying today, so we’ll see how that goes. Lol!
Brewed this has a malty sort of smell. Taste wise it’s kinda malty-ish, earthy, with a bit of wood chip tossed in. I don’t get any chocolate, but then I don’t think I’ve ever gotten chocolate out of a straight tea before. It’s just a smidge bitter, but that could also be from overleafing since I had to guess at a 12oz portion. (My brain didn’t want to do math this morning apparently. Lol!) I’m wondering if this might be better as an iced tea, so I might let this cup go cold and then try some ice in it. Not sure yet.
All in all I’m not really that impressed with this tea. I have Yunnans in my stash that I’d reach for before I’d grab this one again. So this can go in the swap/sell bin.
(1 3/4 tsp)

i think my tastebuds are not in sync with the rest of the world. I’ve tried a number of straight David’s teas now and i pretty much hate them all. Price for what you’re getting is not that great and the teas themselves are always on the end of yuck for me versus YAY! take this one for example, sent in the grab bag of the BBB Box. The instructions for this tea say basically boiling for 4-5 mins. I brewed it at 3 and i’m left with a gross bitter, astringent tea that leaves a foul taste in my mouth. It doesn’t smell nice and while i can recognize the malt notes in the background of the blech, it’s not enough to make me want to play with this tea at all, especially given the price – 9.50 for 100g! jeeebus. no way.

“What’s in your cup?”
This morning, courtesy of Natalie & DAVIDsTEA, I brewed Wild Black Yunnan Western style: 1.25 tsp (3.5g) / 8 oz / 208*F / 4-6 min. without sweeteners, milk, or cream.

Leaf: Fine, twisted, dark brown, mostly short, but some as long as 2.5 mm
Fragrance: Notes fine pipe tobacco
Liquor: Beautiful clear dark copper
Aroma: Sweet potatoes & caramel
Flavor: Cocoa & malt

4-min.: Moderately full-bodied, I then let it steep an additional min.

5-min.: A rich, smooth, full-bodied malty tea with potent cocoa and notes of sweet potatoes with a mild sweetness. There was no hint of bitterness or astringency.

6-min Re-steep: Too light so I let it steep another 4 minutes.
10-min. Re-steep: Light-to-medium bodied with a much softer cocoa flavor but still enjoyable with a smooth mild sweetness.

Impression: A very enjoyable breakfast tea especially for malty cocoa lovers.

Thanks to Natalie & DAVIDsTEA for their gracious sample of this very fine Wild Black Yunnan.

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/teas/teaware/29177-finum-brewing-basket.
http://steepster.com/teas/davidstea/36677-thermometer-and-timer

I’ve been awful at drinking my non-blended blacks. I’m a creature of habit – black tea is for CTC in bags with milk & sugar, and I keep thinking that the good stuff that you’re supposed to drink plain is going to be an assault on my tastebuds. I am aware that this is a terrible way to go through life (especially if you own as many of these nicer black teas as I do), so I made a conscious decision to try one of them today.

The dry leaf smells lightly forest-like, and the liquor chocolaty and earthy, with a rich brown color. It tastes less strong but more tart than I was expecting, with some bitterness and little astringency. The earthy and bark-like flavors become sweeter and a bit smoky in the aftertaste. It’s a lot more drinkable than I thought it would be, but I’m not sure it’s my thing. I bought it from a stash sale last summer (from Rachel of iHeartTeas, I believe) so it’s probably gone a bit stale. I might pick some up next time I’m in North America to see if I like it any better when it’s fresh. If anyone’s interested in the rest of the packet, let me know.

Interesting. I get an almost musky, animalic aftertaste from this. A bit gamey. For that reason it seems like it would be a great match for a meal – not so much a tea biscuits and cookies type affair, but an actual meal (such as slow braised game meats.) Enjoyable.

Has a malty, earthy taste. You can almost taste the “wildness” of it. The brew is dark and strong, goes well with a bit of honey and milk. Re-steeped once, the brew was much less intense but still very flavourful.

Solid. Nice.

I can’t really describe this tea too well. It’s rich, dark, earthy, and very unique. There’s also a spiciness to it that I can’t compare with anything else; it’s something of a base note for me, and dissimilar to most spicy teas. It tickles my throat gently, just hinting at its presence among all the other very complex flavours.

Personally I prefer lighter, sweeter teas, but occasionally I find this perks me up in the winter time, with its very woodsy feel – reminds me of damp autumn days, but other times I find it’s just too rich for me, and I don’t want to have to finish my cup. I think this may be one of those very, very rare brews where I appreciate less to more; one small-medium cup is preferable to a large thermos.

If you like a complex, earthy, deep flavoured tea, this one will likely be a hit; my partner drank it for much of the semester when we first purchased it – and I think it only fell by the wayside because he transitions between tea and coffee on a regular basis.