Chinese Breakfast Yunnan Black Tea

Nice refreshment after arriving home from designing newpaper today. Rich taste is an unexpected pleasure, I definately will keep this tea in stock.

Nice solid Black Tea Scent. Typical Color for a black tea. Has a hint of floral taste but just a hint…if you weren’t looking (or tasting) for it you might miss it. Plus a tad of citrus undertone is a nice touch. I really like this tea.

One of the few decent Yunnans available in tea bags (individually foil-wrapped). I take a few along when camping or travelling (or any time I can’t brew loose).

Day 6 tea from Numi’s Christmas-Countdown Calendar.

Am I the only one who gets smoky notes from this? I’m not getting the raisin and malt as as other reviewers have. It’s a good tea. I’d drink it again, but with so many other preferred blacks, I probably won’t seek this one out.

Made a carafe of this for iced tea. I’m sure it will be delicious and hydrating when I ice it up.
I have a lot of tea to drink before I’m allowed to buy any more. Large carafes of ice tea is one way I’m trying to get through my overflowing cupboard.
In other news… I’m attending a 4 week pottery wheel class starting Friday’s I keep making jokes that everyone’s gonna get penholders!!! Yay! But I’m secretly aiming to make some modern, fun tea mugs.

Let me start out by saying that I am writing about the LOOSE LEAF version of this tea. I am making this qualification because I noticed that a lot of the reviews done previously were about the TEA BAG version.

Since Yunnan black tea is my favorite category, I purchased a pound of this tea on-line, sight unseen and flavor untasted. I also have had good experiences with Numi products in the past so I didn’t consider it to be much of a risk.

When I opened the big one pound shiny black bag and stuck my nose inside, the familiar leathery smell of Yunnan was there. However, there was another element to the aroma that was stronger and more like British breakfast tea.

I steeped the long brown leaves for five minutes at 212 degrees, my standard modus operandi for most black teas. The brewed color was dark gold. The aroma had the leathery Yunnan attribute in the distant background but the dominant smell was slightly acerbic, again reminding me of some of the “Briteas” (my answer to “Brexit”) I’ve tried.

The flavor of this cup had a harsh and biting characteristic to it. Unfortunately, that factor smothered the usual richness, sweetness, and smoothness that put Yunnan at the top of my most beloved tea list. I hesitate to call the taste astringent but it is definitely borderline. It conjured up my bitter memories of over-steeped black tea. There also was a tobacco aspect to the flavor of which I am not a fan. The aftertaste wasn’t acrid, but calling it abrasive wouldn’t be a huge stretch.

All right, so where does this leave me with my one pound bag of the stuff? Will I split up the bag into smaller increments and try to sell them on the street corner? No. Will I gift wrap the bag and try to pawn it off on someone at the next White Elephant Gift Party? No. It is not so horrible that I won’t drink it. But, it won’t be near the top of my morning tea rotation either. I am just a little more than disgruntled that I can’t get excited about this selection.

Very dark tea in color, taste is classic Yunnan but with some strong hints of Shu like notes….and the aftertaste is kind of like the aftertaste of a good cigar …its an odd little bagged tea but a good one!

Shame on me. I picked this up a month ago in a coffee shop in Rutherfordton, NC and I’m just getting around to trying it. I don’t normally pick up bagged teas, but Numi seems respectable enough. And the word “yunnan” always gets my attention.

This is one of those teas that darkens the water pretty much instantly. By the end of 20 seconds, it looks practically done. The packaging said to give it 4-5 minutes, so I went with 4. The aroma as it steeps makes me think of puerh. It definitely has that aged, somewhat musty-sweet scent. By the end of the 4th minute, it’s as dark as coffee. Also like a puerh. Hmmm. Not what I was expecting.

So, after tasting it, I’m definitely feeling like I’m drinking puerh. Numi’s description says it’s made with yunnan tips, but that’s not what I’m getting. I can only kinda taste that raisiny goodness. It’s smooth like a puerh, too, with just a hint of astringency and bitterness. The more I drink it, the more I notice a nice maltiness. I’d love to see what this does with a splash of milk.

I had this tea for the first time 12 days ago…and I’ve had a cup every morning since then…so good. It’s so smooth for a strong black tea. I leave the tea bag in the cup while I drink, so it sits there for a good 15-20 minutes, but it’s still powerful enough to get a good second steep! I generally never get a good second steep out of my tea bags. I really have to try more Yunnan black teas…but first, I have a lot of tea to work through…it’s a good problem to have! Happy Wednesday, everyone! :)

I had this while out and about this morning, and it was not what I was expecting.

I’ve been a little bit obsessed with Yunnan blacks lately so I figured I’d give this a try, but the flavour reminded me more of a shou pu-erh than a Yunnan black. Thick, with almost a licorice note to it.

It’s quite decent but not what I was craving or anticipating from the name.