Yunnan Dian Hong Gold Bud

I really really like this one! Steeped, ahem, overnight and stuck in the fridge. It made SUCH an excellent iced tea! I’ll finish the rest tomorrow as I’m now moving on to less caffeinated options seeing as it’s 11:30 pm. :)

1/2 tsp or so in 13 oz. (More like half of what I’d normally use for 13 oz, I’d guess about 1-1.5g.)

Yeah, I think this one is a favourite. I treat it terribly but it’s SO tasty.

Backlog from yesterday.

Another tea from Dex! I wasn’t too sure about the steeping parameters, so I used 1 tsp per cup with 100C water for about 5 minutes. However, since the leaf was very fluffy, it’s possible I underleafed.

Speaking of that, the dry leaf here is lovely – consistently golden, curly little buds with a some down on top.

I was expecting the usual sweet potato profile for a yunnan on this, but what I got surprised me.

It tasted like pepper! Like freshly ground black pepper!

This wasn’t unpleasant once I got used to it, but it certainly threw me for a loop at first! The liquor itself was a nice medium gold colour, and there was no astringency that I could sense….but…pepper! I’ve never gotten such a taste sensation from a tea before that didn’t have chai spices in it.

I like this better than the other black I was drinking tonight.
This is a decent Yunnan black, but I’m not sure that it’s really special. It’s smooth and gentle, pretty sweet, classic sweet potato – nothing offensive, but just normal. I’m not sure if I’m finding it lacking because the other one was SOOOO assertive that this just seems mild. Reserving final judgement for another night.
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Last of the teas from Han Xiang Ecological Tea that Cameron B. sent my way. This tea is a sweet, malty sort of tea….but with that very clearly “yunnan” taste, which i guess is sweet potatoe? toe toe toe toe…poooooo taaaaay tooooooooeeee… obviously, i’m tired this morning.. lol

Slowly but surely making my way through tasting each of these Han Xiang Ecological Tea teas that I ordered a couple weeks ago. I think I only have two more left untried after this one! The Yunnan pure bud style is definitely one of my favorite varieties of black tea, so this one was a no-brainer when choosing my samples. This tea looks somewhat similar to some other companies’ versions of the same tea – it’s all buds, mostly gold in color and super fuzzy! Some of the leaves are slightly curled, while some are straight. Dry scent is malt with lots of honey and apricots. I steeped roughly 2 teaspoons of leaf for 3 minutes at 200 degrees.

Once brewed, the tea smells sweet and malty with a little bit of a smoky aroma? Interesting. As for the taste, it has a lovely strong and thick crusty bread flavor that I just adore. There’s also a bit of sweet potato with lots of honey and a little bit of dried fruitiness (but a light dried fruit, like golden raisin). I can taste just a little bit of savory smoked flavor, and I really like it! :)