Bailin Gongfu Black Tea

I maybe use slightly above the reccommended water temperature but I still ended up with a very enjoyable series of cups. This one has more of a toffee/caramel note than my other Bailin http://steepster.com/teas/trust-to-trade-ltd/40377-bailin-kungfu , but it has less of the fruity spice notes that one has so it is a bit of a trade off. This one is more resilient though and I resteeped it 5 times. Altogether a very enjoyable and well balanced tea with a nice mix and complexity of flavours. Thanks Dexter3657 for this sample.
Malt fruit, cherry note,spice, faintly floral.

40s. Longan malt, upper and deeper grainy tones, bright shasrp fruit on top. Bitter cocoa cherry note, spice, bright notes at first and dissipate to deeper maslty cocoa tones. Tea tastes quite light at first and deepens to a dense thick flavour note. Cherry note not as prominent as my other Balin but really nice. Spice and fruit is there with similar notes and a hint of caramel under the malt. caramel is almost more toffee to me it has that slightly darker taste that it gets as the sugar mixture moves to a hard candy stage. After taste has a spicy cherry tone.

40s. Caramel,spice cherry notes,malt underneath.

Much sweeter than first steep and smoother. Caramel, cherry floral more, cocoa bitter malt tones.long an note milder blended into cherry spice note. Sweet note at back of throat astringency felt at roof of mouth. Sweet aftertaste.

60s longan, spice, malt

Sweet tone, longan, malt, cocoa underneath, caramel like aftertaste.

90s malt, longan, cocoa, sweet aftertaste.

4min. Sweet cocoa and malt.

I saved the last of this sample so that my fiance could try it too. I learned the importance of eventually getting a “fair pitcher” so that we get even flavors out of my press. My first cup was a little bitter while his was light and sweet. The flavors went back to normal for the second cup.

I am sad that this sample is gone, but I am happy that I was introduced to such a yummy type of tea. I will have to try some more Fujian blacks in the future.

So I’ve been hearing so much about gongfu I couldn’t resist trying it for myself. Also, this gives me an excuse to buy more tea hardware. I saw this “easy gaiwan” and just had to have it (http://www.yunnansourcing.us/store/product.php?id_product=128). It’s the same one Daniel Scott has in his icon. I don’t know if I’m ready for the “big girl” gaiwans, so I liked how it had handles and a built in strainer. I’m also using a strainer basket (also from Yunnansourcing) and a random 4 oz cup I found in the cupboard. One day I’ll get a fancy tea cup, but not yet.

Also, to keep the water warm but accessible, I brewed some hot water and put it all into a cast iron pot for me to pour in segments as I type. As you’ll see over the course of my “steepings”, the water got cooler more quickly than I thought. So this is why people get a Zojirushi.

I chose this tea because everyone has raved about it, and I was just “meh” about it. I thought brewing it gongfu style might help “bring it out” more and make me see what all the fuss was about. Also, it has gongfu in the name. How can you not love it??

I wanted to be part of the cool kids so I wrote down my thoughts of each steeping. But since this is my first time, you’ll see my notes aren’t quite so refined. Oh well, it was an experience.

1st steep – I was supposed to throw this steep out as a rinse, but I just don’t have the heart, so I thought I would try it. I got some light chocolatey notes. Also, this strainer basket is great, but where the heck do I put it when I’m done with it? Right now I’m just putting it over my gaiwan upside down, but next time I should bring along a plate of some sort. Oh geez, more hardware. This gong fu stuff sure requires a lot of room. This is what I get for not using a “serving pitcher”.

2nd steep (20 sec) – Used more tea this time. Definitely stronger and maltier. I’m getting notes of toast in here, as well. And I noticed the tea mentioned caramel, so yeah, I can see that. This is very different than the first steeping. Except I didn’t remember to swirl the leaves around in the gaiwain. Should I have? Maybe I’ll do that next steep and see how it goes. Also, I should use less water since this first true steeping spilled a little bit because I’m trying to get it just right.

3rd steep – (40 sec) My water has cooled down a bit. Boo. Don’t fail me now cast iron. This is a little bit smoother – not quite as maltier. I wonder if my water isn’t hot enough. Ah well.. Also, I noticed this was supposed to be 30 sec NOT 40 sec. Whoops.

4th steep (50 sec) – Now my water has cooled down quite a lot, even though my cast iron still feels hot. Why have you neglected me, cast iron? Also, I had my first pouring fail. I thought the lid was on properly, but I went to pour and it wasn’t and I spilled some water. Oh well, cleaning it up wasn’t too bad. The tea isn’t bad, but now it’s starting to have this metallic taste to it. Hmm.. I better drink my water fast so I can do another steeping before my water gets too cold.

5th steep – (1 min, 10 sec) – Need to figure out an efficient way to time these things because looking at my watch and hoping for the best probably isn’t going to cut it. So uh.. I guess the steeping time is right. We’ll hope so. Also, this tea is luke-warm and I’m not really tasting anything besides metallic-ness. I guess I need to break down and go make some warm water from the kettle, which is in the other room #firstworldteaproblems.

6th steep – (1 min, 30 sec) – Okay, so I went back and actually got hot water from the kettle. I steeped this the time allotted, and now it’s kinda bitter and extra metalic. Bleh. I wonder if I messed things up by using luke warm water the last few times. Should that really matter? As it cools though it’s not THAT bitter, but it’s that exciting, either.

Okay, I think I’m done with this tea. I gave it 6 good steepings, but I’m just not going to love it, especially near the end. The gongfu experience was fun, but it’s a lot more work than my traditional western style. I’ll definitely try it on some more teas to try and see what fun I can extract out of them.

Right so I thought I used up all of this way back when. BUT imagine my surprise and delight when I found the sample pouch when I was packing teas for vacation. I have to tell you the carmel flavor of this tea is amazing. There is also a slight hint of honey on the finish too. I am really enjoying it. This is a nice morning cup of tea to start off day 3 of vacation.

A testament to how delicious this tea is: I’m finished my extremely generous sample from Teavivre! Roasty toasty, naturally sweet and so easy to drink. This is exactly what I love in a Fujian daily drinker. Mmmmmmmmmmmm!

I am sitting in my living room watching the dog sleep in his chair as a torrential downpour floods my garden and the last candle from tea party is about to gutter out. Youngest has become passionate about cooking and has made the most wonderful meals and treats for the past few months. Today’s tea party treat was Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake.

This was the first tea of tea party, chosen because it is unflavored and won’t compete with the dessert, and has enough natural flavor to stand out and complement at the same time. I had forgotten how great it is, but thanks to the generosity of K S, we had three magnificent teas for tea time today that brought sighs…every single one of them.

Though the flavors section mentions astringency. I only tasted rich, malty goodness. Bready, yes. Cocoa, yes. This is a real tea shelf necessity and I am glad I got to refresh my memory on this one before placing my Teavivre order.

Thank you, KS, it was sooooo good. I wish where we have the option to recommend a tea, our choices were “No”, “Yes”, and “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

This tea is really impressing me — as have all the TeaVivre teas, I have to confess.

Again, one could say that this is “what bag tea should be” in a sense. A very no-nonsense cuppa. But rather than elevating this tea to the level it belongs, such a comment would imply it was common, dull, or something of that nature, which isn’t at all what I mean.

Once upon a time, all tea was “good tea”. Then The West discovered tea and the tea growing regions of the world suddenly had to deal with economies of scale they simply weren’t prepared for. And so, traditions like putting fannings or dust into mesh bags were developed to help cover the margins. But the leaves those fannings and dust came from were, probably, at least initially, good leaves that would have made good tea.

But meanwhile black tea has gotten a bad name.

Which is a shame.

At any rate, I’m going to have to learn more about Bai Lin teas.

Ahh! This smelled so, so good. Licorice-y and caramel-y, very sweet and dark. I could sit there and smell it all day.

Brewed up it smells even more delicious. It may be my mind playing with me because of seeing “pine-needle shaped,” but I even feel like I’m getting a pine-y taste. It’s like a combination of a woodsy and medicinal (which is in no way negative for me) feeling – it tastes like something that could have once been called an elixir. This is one of those where I actually whispered a little “wow” after the first sip. There’s a lot about the taste that I’m not experienced enough to name (though I know I love the full-bodied-ness of it) – I see a lot of other members mentioning malty, which I think is what’s making me think of medicinal things.

My amazement might come from never having had a non-flavored, high quality black before. But I love this! I am so glad Teavivre sent this sample along with my flavored sample pack, because this one really impresses me.

So I’ve been absent from Steepster for awhile. I have an autoimmune disorder and when I get sick, I get sicky sick. It’s just a reality of life every now and then that I have to disappear. But I’ll always come back! I’m sorry I can’t do a backlog, it’s been too long.

Therefore, I’ll start with this morning’s tea. Bailin Gongfu. I sure was hesitant to try it when I smelled it. It smelled like hay. Then when I brewed it, it smelled like wet hay. What the heck, I thought, my senses might not be all there yet. So I tasted it. Wow! I loved it. My taste in unflavored blacks runs to English Breakfast, which technically is blended, and that’s about it. So this was a revelation. The more I drank, the more I enjoyed it. I’m sorry I couldn’t pinpoint the flavor I was getting with this tea, but it was different. My girlfriend thought it was OK until she sweetened it, and then she liked it a lot more. I had sweetened mine as a matter of course. I was glad it didn’t taste like wet hay though. :-)

It’s great to be back!

I am finally getting around to my generous samples from Angel and Teavivre! I meant to try this a few days ago but I was craving flavored teas, and I didn’t want to taste this until I was in the mood for it lest it be wasted on grumpy taste-buds. I just checked and this is the highest rated tea on Steepster, so I was definitely anticipating big flavors!

Right out of the sample bag it smells fantastic, very chocolatey and rich. I’m not that familiar with Chinese blacks, but it was definitely a good first impression! I used water that was a bit hotter than recommended because I’m a spaz, but I don’t think it adversely affected the flavor—there’s zero bitterness or astringency. I do like astringent teas but this seems like a more mellow black and it definitely wouldn’t be fitting with the flavor profile. This is suck a complex cup with notes of chocolate, malt, raisin, caramel/honey, and yeast. My dad tried some and picked up some hay notes, which I always enjoy in tea. It’s so smooth and rich without being heavy. I will most definitely be ordering more of this!