Yunnan Golden Needle

dear tao tea leaf,

i know that i reviewed this tea just last week but felt i should review it again as i am sipping my last cup.

the sample (which now sits damp and wilted in my tea basket) was kindly shipped to me by my friend scribbles. i do love this blend of yours. i love it so much that i actually dislike the name because it’s so banal!

i have no idea if scribbles is in your employ, but if she isn’t i really think you should consider it because i placed my first order with you last night as a direct result of her actions. at the very least she should get a kickback… or a friends and family discount…. maybe you could hire her as a blend sampler!

all because she sent me a sample of this tea. it wasn’t even from a swap…. it was just because she’s awesome… and while ordering more of this tea i stumbled over a bunch of other stuff i wanted to try and noticed that shipping was free in canada if i bought 35$ worth (which i did…. because it seemed sensible).

…… so yeah, scribbles really should get a discount. in my opinion. btw, has my order shipped yet?

sincerely,
JustJames

sipdown! sooo that makes 2 today? so i caught up from yesterday but have made no progress to getting my cupboard back to where it was before my samples came in…and then my swap from dexter…not to mention that i have 4 other packages yet to come in the mail (no terri…today i didn’t get my TTC order..i’m jealous of yours…but you should be jealous of my tea from dexter. so there. neeener neener boo boo).

this tea? uneventful. I think i’m not a huge fan of golden needle, rather than it being this tea if that makes sense? It’s a decent enough tea but there was no pizzazz…no fire! no deep radiating buurning deliciousness to wake me up, knock me over and steal the keys to my car…if i had one.

so yeah…decent, but not my favourite sort of tea. :)

Thank you scribbles for sending me a sample of this tea.

I’ve decided that I really like Tao Tea Leaf teas. This just isn’t my favorite. This is a nice, smooth, black tea, but it’s lacking something…. It’s not deep enough, dark enough, rich enough….something. It’s too mild. I’m not very experienced with black teas, and I think the moral of this story is that, golden needle isn’t my favorite black.
Thank you so much scribbles for helping me explore the world of black teas.

My relationship with Chinese blacks is a rather strange one. First time I tried it (Yunnan I believe) I was more surprised than anything. They are not like your typical black tea (or tea that comes to mind when one hears black tea, like assam or darjeeling). Aside from that, now that I appreciate the flavor more I like this one. It’s clean tasting, that’s what comes to my mind. I don’t find it very complex and there isn’t much of a lingering taste after the sip. It has loads of honey wax notes, very mellow and easy drinking. I can’t in a right mind think of putting milk or sugar in it (not that I ever do) which I guess says how really balanced this tea is. It’s a good one. But perhaps I prefer something little more complex :)

Thank you Momo for the sale! I thought this was a one serving sample but it looks like it had 2 1/2 or 3 tsps. Into the infuser they all go anyway. I’m not sure why this even has ‘golden’ in the name – the leaves are equal parts gold and black. The mug was surprisingly dark very shortly after the infuser went in.. a deep red cup in the end. Fitting, as there is a wine like quality to the flavor. Hints of honey and malt. Definitely not one of those super honey golden yunnans. This one is dark. A little like molasses too. Very different from other Yunnans I’ve tried, unless it’s just the amount of leaves I used. The second steep tasted exactly the same.
Steep #1 // few min after boiling // 3 min
Steep #2 // few min after boiling // 3 min