Panyang Congou

Today I start my day with a cup of disappointment. Rule of thumb for me is that if the tea smells like nothing in the tin, it’s not going to taste all that good. This didn’t really smell like nothing, but a faint smell of hay isn’t any better.

Long story short, it wasn’t anything like the toasty, chocolatey panyangs I’ve gotten from other retailers. It was light, weak, and tasted like hay. Not anything I like or want to keep. Good thing Harney’s offering free shipping for domestic orders now, or I’d regret this even more.

I recently found a bunch of samples from Harney & Sons that I bought last year and forgot about after storing. Naturally, I have been taking time to work through them. This was the second one that I finished, but as of the completion of this review, it will be the first to receive a formal right up here. I am normally a huge fan of the Chinese black teas sourced by Harney & Sons, but this one did not thrill me much. It was not bad, but it most certainly was not for me.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose leaf material in 4 ounces of 212 F water for 3 seconds. This infusion was followed by 15 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 5 seconds, 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes. I generally prefer to extend black teas to at least 5-7 minutes when I brew them gongfu, but cut this one off at the 3 minute mark as I did not want to keep pushing it.

Prior to the rinse, I detected aromas of prune and raisin balanced by a hint of malt. The rinse brought out tobacco and some woodiness on the nose. The first infusion then brought out the aroma of honey as the indistinct woodiness exposed by the rinse turned into a definite scent of pine. In the mouth, the liquor offered notes of honey, pine, raisin, prune, cocoa, and malt that were stronger than anticipated. Surprisingly, I also got some hints of molasses, cream, caramel, smoke, damp grass, and black walnut towards the swallow. Subsequent infusions brought out hints of tobacco on the palate and some stronger notes of caramel, molasses, cream, damp grass, smoke, and black walnut. I also found new notes of brown toast, minerals, cinnamon, and dates. The final infusions mostly offered a heavy mineral note balanced by thinner impressions of brown toast and malt, though at times, I could still note some fleeting, almost ghostly hints of honey, cinnamon, and caramel.

This tea simply did not come together in the way that I would have preferred. None of what it displayed took me by surprise; as a matter of fact, the aromas and flavors I was finding were precisely what one would expect to find in many Chinese black teas. It just seemed that the notes I found to be the least enjoyable were the ones that were the most consistently prominent and persistent for me. At this point, I should add that the fact that I did not find anything all that unique in this tea led me to quickly grow bored with it as well. All in all, I would not go so far as to call this a bad tea. I would instead emphasize that it was simply not the sort of black tea for which I generally go.

I’m now stockpiling black teas by the pound that I find on sale. Since my days in corporate America may finally be over, I’m now on a fixed income and need to watch my expenses. However, I still want to make sure I have plenty of my favorite (or soon to be favorite if the price is right) black teas on hand while I’m in (or off) my rocker.

I found this tea on the Harney & Sons website recently for a very reasonable price per pound. I had never heard of the selection. But, based on my admiration of several other Harney teas, I am reasonably confident that I can make myself like it if my first few cups don’t go down nicely.

When I opened the very sturdy one pound package, a very strong aroma similar to some of the loaded French bourbon teas I’ve tried wafted from the bag. The leaves were fairly short and dark brown with tan accents.

I followed the brewing instructions on the bag and steeped the leaves for five minutes at 212 degrees. The resultant liquor was a bright golden orange. The aroma was slightly fruity and sweet.

From the very first sip to the bottom of my cup, my taste buds were consistently greeted with a smooth honey and nut flavor that included an accompaniment of fruity undertones in the orchestra. These flavors could have become noisy together if overdone, but the medium-strength concoction made the combination seem well balanced and quite amiable. There was no astringency in the blend and the aftertaste was pleasant and brief.

It appears that I rolled the dice and won with this choice. I am enjoying four cups of it today at 5 PM. That is a revelation in itself as I usually stop drinking black teas by 2 PM so I can start winding down for the evening.

I have absolutely no complaints about this tea. It has enough good flavor and sweetness to make me more than satisfied with my purchase.

I have been drinking this tea for a while and my good opinion on it has not changed. It is certainly better than other basic Chinese teas from Harney and Sons that I tried (their Keemuns or Yunnan). It has a nice sweet and smoking aroma and the taste, if you let it steep for several minutes – this tea is not suitable for short gaiwan steepings – is eminently enjoyable. Honeyed sweetness, nuttiness, baked bread, a hint of smoke, some overripe dark berries…

If you are on a budget and looking for a solid Fujian tea you cannot go wrong with this one.

Well, after the whole car door falling off today, I had waited a few hours to hear from Volkswagen about getting my Golf today, rather than on Saturday, so I can go back to work tomorrow. They said it’ll be “topped off with oil and gas, and cleaned up for a 6 o’clock pick up.”

That’s something good to hear!

Anyway, this tea is magical. I bought the sample of this tea, and truly wish that I picked up more. That’s the benefit and downfall to samples: You like them so much you want more, and can’t have more. Or, you just don’t like them, and were happy to get a sample.

Overall, I think I bought a pretty great selection from H&S this time around. I don’t think that I tried anything that I hadn’t liked. It’s all good. I have a few more samples to finish, then I’ll probably buy more. My goal is to buy something every month from them. And when I get to it, I’m buying this in bulk. That way I can keep it close at all times, and never share with anyone! Muhhaha! Or, I’ll share it so often that my friends will assume that there’ll be a party every weekend, and that THIS will be the tea I MUST serve them! I’ll also have to buy some for work because elementary students expect you to have so much (an unnatural amount) energy, you need something to keep you going.

Well, my fellow tea connoisseurs, give this a try if you haven’t yet. And if you LOVE a solid black tea, this really is a great one! I love, love, love, love it!

Happy tea drinking,

Rufus

P.S. I gave this tea a few re-steeps. Yum! I like it the second, third, and fourth time much more! Who’d’ve thought this couldn’t get better than the first time! Superb tea, Harney & Sons. Great job! And thank you!

P.P.S. I got a total of 5 steeps out of this. The second and third were the best. However, I was happy with this tea.

This is my third time brewing this tea. The first two times I tried it hot, and this time I made a flash-brewed iced tea in my Takeya pitcher.

I’m still not sure just what I think of this one. I do like that it’s not astringent, but I wish it were a little more heft. Perhaps that’s because most of the maltier teas I’ve had are much more robust than this one is, and I expect an explosion of oomph that doesn’t come. This just seems a bit mellow for a black tea.

I originally picked this tea because it was described as having a nutty undercurrent. I have yet to pick up a nutty flavor. Mostly I’m getting hay and malt. It’s not unpleasant, but it’s just not what I expected. The maltiness when it’s a tiny bit warm (before the ice cooled it fully) actually reminds me of the foam on a wheat ale (like Blue Moon), only gentler. I’m tasting less of that the cooler it gets.

I do like this tea, but it’s just not oomphy enough to become an everyday favorite, I don’t think.

An uplifting black tea that has that little extra something that’s not possible to put into words. Drank my last sample of it tonight, golden. Smooth and bold enough to work but not harsh at all, it’s calming but invigorating at the same time. For me sugar really spiced it up and revved up the tea’s energy.

This is the only Chinese sample in my Harney order. I feel like having a nice, smooth tea after drinking a more astringent one (astringency isn’t my favorite and I’m not used to it). The leaves are dark grey-black and twisty, and they have that fragile, brittle look about them. Dry scent is hay, honey, and a touch of herbs.

Wow, the steeped cup smells like pure honey! This is an interesting tea, it has very strong honey notes which makes me very happy. Honey is one of my favorite flavors in tea, and the reason I love Bai Hao (Oriental Beauty) so much. There’s also a touch of earth providing a base for the other flavors. This has a bit of that Fujian caraway or dill note that I find often, and it makes for an interesting mix with the rich honey. Yummy! Perhaps a tiny slight astringency? Odd since I don’t generally get that with Chinese teas.

So I asked for some teas from the Harney & Sons print catalogue for my birthday, since grandparents are old, have a hard time getting out of the house, and really only order things from print catalogs. Among other things, I asked for a black tea sampler that had this and three other teas.

Well, I got everything I asked for. Plus a POUND of this. I have no idea how I wound up with a POUND, but I’m not about to complain.

Fortunately, I like this tea. Small, thin black leaves and a warm dry leaf smell. The scent of the liquor itself is roastier, with some barky/mossy notes. The taste I got, which matches the scent, is a little on the bright side without being astringent or citrus-y. It’s a very pleasant tea, it reminds me a bit of a bailin gongfu. I love the barkiness as I swallow.

I would put it higher than a 78, which was its Steepster score at the time I wrote this. I don’t think the flavor is quite full enough to put it in the 90’s – may need a few more leaves – but it’s very enjoyable. I could easily see this becoming a staple tea. Especially since I have a pound of it.

Also! I’m about to start a tea blog! I’ll post the link for it once I’ve got it set up, but I plan to write a tea blog that’s a resource to beginning, casual, or just generally inexperienced loose-leaf tea drinkers who wish to broaden their horizons. There’s definitely going to be a little of “learning alongside my readers,” but I’ve wanted to start a tea blog for some time… and now that creating a blog is one of the long-term projects for my Writing in Digital Media class (I’m going for my Master’s in Professional Writing), what better opportunity?

This tasted very smokey. Quite unique. Good for fall or winter.