Golden Dragon Black Tea, Lot 241

Delicious. This is a tea I opened recently (within the last… 6 months, I believe?) after finding a stash of unopened TTC teas in one of my boxes. Oops, but also yay, because it was literally like receiving a tea order (I just wish there was more pouchong hidden away in there, but there was not).

I took too long to write about it, so can’t remember everything, but it has a honey sweetness (but not like a leafhopper tea), and a richness, though it’s not roasty/chocolatey like LB. More minerally, refined. Either way, it’s good, and I drank it quickly. Needed some good tea tonight after a very, very long day of a very, very fussy baby. Again…

For the comparison I’m really getting the stonefruits clearly in this one. I prefer the Tippy.

So… I got my Taiwan Tea Crafts order yesterday. I was planning on waiting to try any of these teas until I had sipped down a few more teas from my cupboard, but I figured trying just one would be a lovely way to start the day, and Steepster chat agreed. I chose this one to try first because miss Ysaurella’s note makes it sound delicious, and I love strong honey notes. The leaves definitely have that creepy tree branch look – they’re very large and long and twisty in a way that looks gnarled. Their color is a deep brown that’s almost black with a hint of red. Dry scent is heavenly sweet and creamy honey with bread.

Mm, the steeped tea smells of sweet and rich honey with a touch of warm cinnamon. Yummy! This tea has a lovely thick and silky mouthfeel that makes it feel even more decadent. The sip opens with bread and a touch of hay, but almost immediately it transitions to tasting of sweet waffles with honey slathered over the top and just a sprinkle of cinnamon. The amazing honey flavor just lingers and lingers on the tongue, and the cinnamon stays as well. The two together are such a sweet, warm, and comforting combination. This is making me want stroopwafel! Curse you, Marzipan! :P

What is good with public holidays is that you can prepare a full teapot and drink it quietly without running behind a train, a bus or the people of the accountancy or IT service :)

And a nice point with Taiwan Tea Crafts is that their teas names contain the lot number , which reminds us that each year is different due to the harvest and tea like wine is by the way a little different.

This tea is a black tea, necessarily Taiwan . It has long , veryyyy veryyy long black dry brittle leaves and its odour is undergrowth and fresh mushroom. Let’s go , I’m following the package instructions because I am a good girl : I boil water and pour on the pretty leaves and let’s go for 3 minutes waiting . And it is long indeed when you are just dying to drink a cup of this tea !

The filter of my glass teapot annoys me , it is much too tight for the leaves to express themselves and unfold, it had to be designed by a guy who does not drink whole leaf tea … this is not possible otherwise. Fortunately after the second infusion the leaves managed to unfold.

This tea has a beautiful amber color.

The taste is completely different from the smell of this tea, it’s fun. It was a tea " disguised " . Honey and yellow fruits are the guests of honor here. There is an explosion of flavours in the mouth.

Taiwan Tea Crafts states that this tea is a blend of two original tea and a Jin Xuan Si Ji Chun. Unfortunately I am not savant enough to know all the specificities of these two teas but I’ll try to find out more.

This tea is absolutely delicious , it’s simple : I swallowed the contents of afull teapot just the time to write this note and I am exploring my second teapot . It resteeps perfectly.

Pics of the session with this tea are here : http://thevangeliste.wordpress.com/2014/11/11/golden-dragon-black-tea-lot-241-taiwan-tea-crafts/