Flecks of Gold

Oh yeah!
I just got home from shooting pool with Tony. I needed a cup of something like this!
This is tasty, with that rich resinous malty flavor & mouth that I love so well, essence of chocolate & a bit of an aged almost shu-like flavor.
Big Thanks to TastyBrew for this one :)

i tried this one this morning as well but i remember nothing about it besides the fact that i drank it, there was nothing wrong with it and it was gone early in the morning. that leads me to believe that this might be a decent one from steap shoppe. lol i’ll try and write a better note the next time i have this.

From the Great Canadian TTB.

The packing suggested the first steep of this one would have chocolate notes, it also stated it would be good for 4-5 steeps.

On first taste I am getting a fruity type sweetness. Just generic fruit, nothing specific, almost just like a glucose taste. I am getting a slight yeast taste as well. And it is also making me think of nuts, kind of like the skin on peanuts. Maybe there is a grain taste in there, like unprocessed wheat. I am not getting any chocolate or cocoa notes. I am finding I am getting a metallic taste in my mouth. It is not a bad taste but certainly not expected. Every once in a while I get a kind of spice note, not necessarily pepper but there is something in there with a bit of a kick. The tastes in this one are quite complex.

I am at work so I am unsure how much I will re-steep. I am not much of a re-steeper anyway. But I am going to try at least one more steep.

Round 2. Re steeped for 3 minutes. The generic fruit glucose has morphed into more of a stone fruit taste. But there is less sweetness than I with the first steep. The liquor feels much more rich, thick, and creamier this steep. I feel like I am getting a cream of wheat type flavour profile. Overall this steep is much less complex in flavours, even though the liquor seems more rich. Still no chocolates notes. On my very first sip my brain went to orange chocolate, but I didn’t get that again on subsequent sipping.

TTBA #5!!
Interesting. I don’t taste the cocoa note. Boo. But there is something distinctly spicy, and a background somethingorother that is kinda creamy.
Usually I don’t make any additions to a straight Chinese tea, but this was a little TOO spicy for me, so I got out the milk and that toned things right down, and enhanced that creamy note as well!
With a dash of milk, my cup was quite delightful. Malty and complex just the way I like it. The spicy note did really well like that, so I may investigate Yunnans further after this.
It also left me with a happy buzz which I am still riding. I think I’ll go downstairs for steep number two now!

Backlog:

One of sTEAp Shoppe’s “Simply Teas” offerings, and I like it a lot! It’s a really rich and delicious Yunnan, with lots of gold tips. Sweet, notes of spice, earth, caramel. It’s a fantastic “rugged” tea … very, very good.

Here is my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/02/15/flecks-of-gold-black-tea-from-steap-shoppe/

This tea is very pretty, the name is fitting because the golden tips in the Yunnan black tea are very appealing and with a good imagination the appearance cold be reminiscent of seeing gold flakes shimmering in the dirt.
1st SESSION~ You saw it on video there if ya watched, Probably not as long as suggested but still great. The Tea liquor was very thick and bold enough to probably take milk very well with hints of cocoa and slight spice tone, little bit malty almost reminiscent of a Assam, Very solid black tea, no harsh astringency but the pleasant astringency that I’d expect from a such a bold black tea not bitter at all in fact very smooth and mellow, easy to drink. Would be a perfect morning tea or a great afternoon tea to me in fact I decided I wanted to try it like a with some milk and sugar like I would some breakfast Teas so I postponed this post until Saturday after I’ve tasted it that way. Also I got 3 nice Strong steeps(which were quite consistent to me in taste/flavor), by the 4th steep it was still good but fading a little in flavor enough to not warrant a 5th try.
2ND SESSION~I used 1 and 1/2 Perfect Scoops~from Teavana~ the session I used the same and had 1 scoop extra so I put it in too since I was going to use milk and steep time was as directed(i did not time the first session).
With Milk & Sugar it stood up very well, I was just as I expected it would I knew it would be a great breakfast tea that way.
It became very creamy and much more smooth, it was as if cows were made to give milk to this tea lol. With milk and sugar the cocoa hint kinda changed into a little milk chocolate note it was quite enjoyable also that slight spice which was so slight it was almost unnoticeable really stuck its head out and started swimming in the milk and was now quite noticeable and with that little milk chocolate note it played very well.
Please Veiw my entire blog post on this tea here and check out my photos, Don’t forget to google+ it :) Thanks
http://toadsteablog.blogspot.com/2013/02/FlecksOfGold.html