Bailin Gongfu Black Tea

Many thanks to the Teavivre team for a nicely sized sample of this beauty. I’ve tried this tea several times now and I have to say that this is a pretty good tea. It is light yet rich, smooth yet bold. There is little to no astringency, but there is a pretty decent caffeine kick from this. This is one of the few black teas that is great for multiple infusions. The cocoa notes seem to come out more during the 2nd.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my round of samples from Teavivre and I will be putting the company on my “To Buy From” list.

What’s a girl to do when she wakes up at 5am and can’t get back to sleep without ruining her entire sleep schedule? Why make a good solid black tea of course! This was the one I chose and those first sips were exactly what I needed to get through those first moments of “what the hell am I doing up at this hour”. I settled in to read my RSS feeds and . . . forgot about the tea because of a few wtf things going on. This one tepid is . . . not so great. Luckily I’d kept the leaves for a second steep so I’m enjoying that now, sweetened this time with just a drop or two of Irish Cream Agave. Definitely a great way to start a day that started way too early.

I can’t believe I have forgotten to review this one. Many thanks to Angel for this sample.This is my morning pot. I don’t have to be in to work till the afternoon so I’m relaxing a little bit and enjoying this tea steeped in the perfect teamaker that I saved 10 dollars on Ebay with. Is it bad that I am starting to compare other teas up to the standard of Teavivre? This one is excellent a nice caramel liquor. I would say this is more of a mellow brew. It’s not as peppery as a Keemun. It kind of reminds me of baked potatoes. Growing up our church had chicken barbecues and when it was done everyone who worked ate. There always used to be the Styrofoam cooler with the baked potatoes. I used to grab one, they were made with a little butter in the foil, peel the foil and eat it straight like an apple. That’s the way to enjoy baked potatoes. This tea is excellent! I am really starting to fully enjoy good black teas.

Steep Information:
Amount: 2 tsp
Water: 12 ounces hot tap water
Tool: kati loose tea system (my Review here.)
Steep Time: 2 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: sweet, roasty, delicious
Steeped Tea Smell: sweet, roasty, delicious
Flavor: sweet bakey
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: toasty
Liquor: translucent dark brown

Delicious, from the smell you knew it would be a smooth toasty black. It has its own sweetness, and just enough toast to be soothing but not an astringent black.

Resteep: 2 minutes, 12 ounces hot tap water
Lighter body, but still delicious

This tea puts up with poor preparation (at work) and has been a once a week treat on my first day of work. The smooth mouthfeel and gentle toasted sweetness wake you up gently and not with the vicious shake sometimes given by an assam.

Solid performer, I have been drinking this at work and it has been hard to mess up, and consistently delicious without being jarring. This is not a kick you awake tea but a tea to perk you up with friendly soothing sips.

Rating: 4/4 leaves

Blog: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2012/01/teavivre-loose-leaf-black-tea-bailin.html

I forgot how good this tea was. I needed a good tea that I could relax with. I had such a rough first week, and today was one of the worst days. This tea was so good. So flavorful and clean.

On the third day of tea-mas Angel gave to me, three Yun Nan Dian Hongs, two Bai Lin Gong Fu’s and a 75th tasting note! So yesterday my Verdant spring greens arrived, Monday the husband’s Upton samples came and today, quite unexpectedly the post man knocked and I signed for a box I wasn’t sure if I should be looking at, then I saw my name and all the stickers from customs and realized what it must be, my free TeaVivre samples!

Thank you so much to Angel and all the folks at TeaVivre for such a generous offer try new tea in exchange for reviewing them. Any company that offers samples, be they included with an order or offered at a very affordable price gets points in customer service in my book, this is the first I’ve come across that has offered them completely free (I understand this would be very impractical for smaller companies in the States). I will definitely be placing an order soon!

So this tea! This tea that is all the buzz on Steepster. This tea that has been on my shopping list for so long. Was it worth the wait? Absolutely! I am grateful for the four tiny serving packets, it makes things less intimidating. I feel comfortable diving into this tea knowing I have a serving that I can make for my husband strong, one that I can save for my gaiwan and for my guests (okay maybe two for guests).

Today though I semi-gongfu-ed this in the tea maker. I did a rinse, but was too curious and took a sip (or three) before pouring an offering into my cast iron cups, it was sweet and delicious and very promising. I wasn’t able to pinpoint the scents of the dried leaves though they were dark rich and lovely, the wet leaves though are unmistakeably dark rye, more salty smelling than sweet, but still very inticing.

Oh this tea is very well mannered, but not at all dull. This is a black tea that could convert coffee drinkers and white tea drinkers alike, it even reminds me a bit of coffee in this steep, but in the best and most gentle of ways. It is not the least bit rough, astringent or sour. It has cocoa and caramel, a hint of butter and yes bread-yness, something I don’t believe I’ve experienced before.

I’m on my second steep well and very pleased as second steeps haven’t been working out for me lately. This tea sings, it reminds me a bit of a Ceylon in that respect, there is a bit of spice but it is so velvety that reads more as cider (yes another Ceylon association for me). I really do think the husband will like this one and he couldn’t possibly tell me these short steeps taste like boiled rocks, or could he? I don’t understand how his tongue and brain work together.

Third infusion could have been a bit longer, but it is still very nice and there is promise in the bottom of the cup. Update: enjoying these later steeps this evening, these last two cups (steeps 5 and 6? at around 1 min each) are a bit more sweet and mineral and remind me of Verdant’s Yanxin’s Reserve ’04 Shu Nuggets in its angel food cake feel. Yum!

I look forward to introducing it to the husband, brother-in-law and possibly old co-workers, to comparing it the organic sample (I also think this would be interesting to compare to the newer harvest of Laoshan Black as it is a bit grainy) and some epic Yunnan sampling ahead. Thank you again Angel and TeaVivre, it is truly delicious!

I am starting to write this note as I’m waiting for tea to cool down a bit.

The smell of dry leaves is great, some earthy, roasted and really warm elements blend together in a rich and strong aroma. It is very tempting to take a sip now, but I know I will just burn my tongue if I do it.

I made this tea for my family at my birthday dinner 2 days ago, but unfortunately I only took a little bit with me, so I actually didn’t get any :( Ohh, just a couple more minutes and I will be able to enjoy this one!

Delicious! Truly great. At first I thought it was just a very usual black tea, but then a wave of yumminess blasted my taste buds :) Really nice rich aftertaste leaves me trying to concentrate on my mouth after every sip. This is one of the best black teas I’ve tried. Will definitely look forward to buying more.

I’ve not had this one for awhile so I’m really enjoying it this morning. Rich, malty, bready flavor. A wonderful black tea to savor and enjoy without adding milk or sugar. Time to go resteep…..

I got my big box of samples from Teavivre yesterday. I love that they give two sample packs per sample. That way you can try both brewing methods and there’s no figuring out how much leaf to put in.

I tried this first as it sounded good and I got a bonus sample of it in my order so I have a little extra of this. I really love fujian black teas. This one is no exception. There is just a deep rich flavor to them. I like fruity brisk black teas from time to time in the afternoon, but generally I prefer the Fujian black teas. I can’t wait to try the tan yang and the dragon pearls. It’s going to be a very caffeinated day!

This morning’s first cup before heading out to do errands.

My Teavivre order of a ton of samples arrived yesterday morning – woo hoo! Since I had the most samples of this tea, I decided to start with it first.

Three grams of leaf in 8 oz of water at the below preparation notes yielded a delicious cup of black tea. There was heft in the cup, but no sign of bitterness. Some have said this is reminiscent of beer and I’d agree with that. There’s a malty-sweetness to the liquor. I had no desire to add anything to this cup to make it taste any better – it was that good!

Resteep: Water was just under boiling for a 3 minute soak. This turned out to be another delicious cup similar to that of the first cup.

I could see this as an everyday tea, but not something I’d necessarily want if I needed to be kicked out of bed in the morning. But a very nice change to the usual black-tea-with-milk-&-sugar routine.