Bailin Gongfu Black Tea

Aaaah, my black malty full bodied tea, how much I love you.

First time I drank Bailin Gungfu, I heard the angels singing! (Pun very intended for Angel at Teavivre!)

It was about three years ago and I was a lot less experienced with tea in general. I remember thinking that I had finally arrived, that this was the reason I kept drinking and trying new teas.

The aroma is so inviting and homey, it’s like having a sniff at fresh baked bread just out of the oven. Think crusty rye bread.

It’s malty with big cocoa notes paired with dark honey…mmm…chocolate croissant.

Everything has been said about this tea, and yet, I felt compelled to review it again.

Only the best teas stand the test of time…this is not a one trick pony, it’s one that keeps coming back to my cupboard.

As I mention in my profile, I am MARRIED to straight blacks and VERY faithful to them…Ok, maybe I do cheat a little…but I always come back!

My first tea from Teavivre, a wonderful sample sent to me by Azzrian.

Let me say that off the bat, I’m very impressed with the quality of this tea. Opening up the sample, you get a good scent of the tea leaves themselves that is quite inviting. I opened it up to smell it, and then Missy had to go brew it up for us. She says it was so it didn’t go stale, but honestly I don’t think she could resist the aroma.

She tried something a teensy bit different with this tea, in that she brewed a first steeping in a 16 oz tumbler, and then a second steeping, and poured them into our larger pot. So consider this a review of steeping 1.5 ;)

The flavor packed into this tea is good and thick, almost mealy. I’ve thought of other teas as malty, but this truly and thoroughly blows all other maltiness, ever, away. It’s a very tasty, thick, sweet malt flavor that reminds me of a dark stout beer. Underneath that, there’s a honey-like flavor that comes out and is quite enjoyable. At the end, there’s a bit of a grainy flavor that comes out.

Its a very smooth tea, but it has a very thick mouth-feel to it. Again, I find myself likening this to the tea version of a good, dark, stout beer. It has that depth of malt flavor, and this thickness that almost makes your mouth want to chew by instinct alone. That “are we sure this is a liquid?” sense.

I think what’s interesting to me about this tea is that it’s very, very flavorful, but it doesn’t have that… aggressiveness I’m used to in black teas. It almost feels like a night time black tea, if that makes any sense whatsoever.

Definitely puts the bug in my ear to go try some more Teavivre teas, especially now that they’ve added samples to roughly all of their teas, from what I’m seeing.

Now that my Teavivre order has arrived (huzzah!) I feel I can safely finish the samples that I have had for ages. Scarily, I ordered 100 grams of the Bailin Gongfu and Also the Black Pearls… despite only having tried them once! What?! My memory is so faulty at the best of times.

This poor sample was a bit crushed from kicking around so long so I expect a bit more malt and bitterness from the broken leaves. The steeped aroma is powerful. It is malty and yeasty and rich, it embodies dark cocoa and rich rye bread. Wow, rye bread is perfect actually. I should get myself some rye flour and make a loaf.

Anyway, the taste of this steeping is just as powerful as the smell. I used the full 7 g sample in my 12 oz Perfect Tea Mug, steeped about 3 minutes and it is intense. The liquor is dark and the tea is delicious. I’m not quite as taken with it as I was that first time (probably because I have had a tea like this a few times now) but this is just so brazen. This tea does not hide itself, flaws or otherwise. It is the “look at me, I’m GORGEOUS!” of teas. (Please picture John Lithgow saying that from his role as Dock Solomon on 3rd Rock from the Sun!)

For me, this has an earthiness and intensity that I don’t frequently find in tea, it actually does a good job of mimicking a roasted oolong, sort of like a couple Big Red Robe’s I’ve enjoyed. Perhaps it would be better to say that they mimic this tea, but that’s semantics.

This is tremendous and very special. Not a mindless tea, but one to be savoured. I think I could win over some non-tea drinkers with this baby. Mwah!

Sipdown #61

Thanks to my husband for drinking this one (and only sharing one small sip with me I might add), this has become a sipdown. ;) I’ve had a very productive sipdown evening!

Thank you TeaEqualsBliss for sending me some of this tea.

YUM! I’m with Angrboda here, Fujian black DOES = OM NOM NOM NOM!!!

So rich and satisfying. So yummy delicious. Lovely dark cocoa notes, and a strong undercurrent of caramel sweetness. When it comes to pure black tea, it really doesn’t get any better than this. This is the stuff!

When I looked through my box of Teavivre samples tonight I was between this one and the Yunnan Dian Hong. This one won because it’s smell was a tinge darker and more earthy compared to the slightly brighter (maybe fruity?) scent of the Yunnan.

But I remembered that this tea had a note of smoke when I made it previously, so I decreased the steep time by about 30 seconds to avoid it. It worked pretty well, I think – the cocoa notes I got before are stronger than the smoke essence. It still retained its thick texture, and seemed very bready to me again tonight.

It is still perfect without additives, and I think because of the reduction in smoke I will raise it up a few points. A wonderfully satisfying black tea.

I finally did it, I placed my first order with Verdant. I spent a lot of time debating whether or not to do it, but the curiosity has been killing me and I knew that I HAD to do it. I got an ounce of the spring harvest Laoshan green, an ounce of the cornfields shu tuo cha, and an ounce of the golden fleece black tea (which is the one I’m REALLY excited to try). For that three ounces of tea, I spent $40.00. I’m having a really hard time wrapping my head around that number, I feel a bit ashamed to be honest. But if I would have never tried their tea, I would’ve always been left wondering. Sometimes you just have to live.

But anyway, I’ve spent enough time rambling completely off-topic, I just had to get that out there because I’m PUMPED. Now to the tea at hand. This stuff never disappoints me. This is possibly the most comforting tea I’ve had to date. It’s a very light-bodied tea but the flavor is there and it’s right on point. I can summarize this tea in four simple words: Malty, roasty, chocolatey, sweet. In other words, COMFORT. So for now I’ll sit here and sip on this cup of heaven while thoughts of the wondrous teas to come drift through my mind. And then I’ll spend the next week VERY impatiently awaiting my Verdant order…

After totaling my truck and having some aches and pains I’m starting to feel back to normal so maybe I can start getting more tasting notes in.
This is another LiberTeas sample and I’m sure glad she selected it for my sample box. It’s good!
Dry leaf has a nice sweet aroma. I’m starting to fully subcsribe to the thought that my nose is not to be trusted; for the second time in a week I say leaf smells like bubblegum-probably grape.
Add boiling water and that soon changes. Its still fruity, even berry notes, but definitely not grape. Color is a deep red/brown.
First thing I found after sipping was a coppery malt flavor. The sweet vein is undeniable and reminds me of a certain type of syrup. I’m not sure what kind, but can pretty much rule out maple. There’s a little astringency, though not enough to scare me away.
This tea gives me a nice warmth in the back of my throat. Couple that with the third shift that I can’t seem to adjust to and my eyes are getting heavy. I will put this in the;‘will make a new tasting note later’ file so I can pay better attention then. The drink got cold and so did this note, better luck next time. Thank you and goodnight,…your humble servant.

tunes-Bob Weir & Ratdog=Two Djinn/Even So/October Queen/Lucky Enough

This is the first tea I’ve tried from this company, which graciously sent me a number of yummy samples. Boy, am I impressed! A couple of items to note as I wait for the tea to cool off a bit: the packaging of this tea was superb. Individual bags inside a larger bag (which were then inside a box)… and each individual bag looks like it will yield at least two cups, more if you resteep.

The aroma of this tea is so nice. There’s a hint of caramel and lots of hearty warmth.

Now on to the taste: toasty caramel, strong and bold. Now this is an awakening cup of black tea! Lately I’ve been trying to drink my tea straight up with no sweeteners, but honestly, even a sweet-tooth sugar queen like me doesn’t need anything to enhance this tea’s flavor. It’s robust and sweet at the same time.

This is a new cupboard essential. And a new addition to my morning wake-up call.

Heaven!