Bailin Gongfu Black Tea

I discovered something interesting today. If I brew this with the usual amount of leaves(for a black tea) and gongfu style – I don’t like this tea at all. But I quite like it made western style. Nothing insane but at least the cup was nice.

I wanted a nice strong black tea while getting ready for a long work day, so I went through my bag of samples and found this gem from Teavivre that I haven’t yet tried. The sample size was so generous!

This tea smells perfect and tastes wonderful! It is perfect just the way it is you don’t need to add anything to this tea (I generally don’t anyhow). This tea has a natural sweetness to it. In fact I think it’d be a shame to add any sweetner to this. It’s hearty and malty with no harsh tastes to the sip at all.

I think this is the perfect cup of black tea! This stuff is seriously awesome. Love love love it! I’ll be taking the second infusion to work with me and plan to continue infusing this throughout the day =)

Edited to remind myself that I used 2 tsp per 14 oz water.

This black tea is beyond fabulous. It’s rich and bold while smooth and void of bitterness at the same time. I’m enjoying my second steep and this caramel flavor comes out nicely in the finish. This is the cup ‘o’ black I’ve been searching for. Many thanks to Teavivre for creating such a masterpiece!

Omnomnom!

Loved this tea, a good morning start of the day at work type tea, strong but still with a very good flavor, it could easily replace coffee for me, enough caffine to get me through but without that jittery kick.

The leaves are little black needle affairs, when it steeps it looks and smells delicious,
I steeped it a little longer then expected, but at a lesser temp, came out nice and golden brown, mixed it with agave sweetener, which complimented the strong smokey flavor well.

Going to try it at a high temp tomorrow, but I definitely have a new work tea.

Between taking up my range during an ill-planned cooking extravaganza and just general busy-ness, I have been sticking to tried and true teas and chugging apple cider. But I have a new mug from my favorite hockey team (go Stockton Thunder!) and I just received a new bunch of samples from TeaVivre, so I figured it was time to get adventurous again.

I’m not really sure how to describe the smell of this one. It sort of reminds me of roasted nuts, but without any hint of nut, if that makes any sense. Roasted tea? I don’t know, but it’s nice.

I went with the water a little hotter than recommended because I am impatient. The aroma turned very slightly sweet or maybe a little malty once the water hit the leaves. Again, having trouble placing the scent, but it’s still very nice.

The tea is fantastic. I think I’ve said that about everything I’ve tried from TeaVivre, but I have been really impressed with all of their teas and this is no exception. It’s not malty at all, but it does come through with a smooth, strong black tea flavor that turns very slightly sweet and nutty as it hits the back of your tongue. I’m getting maybe some chocolatey hints, too.

Overall, this is one of those teas I could drink all day (and one of these days, I’m going to pick up those empty sachets and start bringing good tea to work with me so I can do just that).

(Sample provided gratis by TeaVivre for review.)

This is a black tea that will appeal to the mild child in most of us. It’s more savory than sweet, with a strong topnote of chocolate, some spice, hints of wine as it lingers on the palate. Nothing overpowering in any direction, simply a smooth cup of black tea.

That may be why it’s called gong fu – a nod to it being one of the oldest black teas produced in its region. At some point you learn to do it right, n’est-ce pas?

What’s interesting to me as well is reading TeaVivre’s description of the caffeine content. It’s lower in comparison to a cup of coffee, so it might be a good nightime tea, but that’s also a relative statement. If you’re preparing it “gong-fu” style, that might be a moot point as well.

A really intriguing tea that I would venture to call a possible gateway tea for the hot chocolate drinker in your life who’s looking for something new to try.

Pics and further thoughts in my full review on my blog : http://bit.ly/t131TI

This is very roasty, and bold! Smooth and not a hint of bitterness. very nice.

Not at all what I expected. A full mouth feel black tea…that reminds me of salted, toasted peanuts.

I haven’t had any peanuts in ages, so maybe my tongue is playing tricks on me, but really this is what it reminds me of.

The tea is slightly acidic and could do with some sweetness, but a pleasant overall experience.

Oh my goodness, this is divine. Malt and honey aren’t typically flavors I’m crazy about, but here together they create such a warm, savory, delicious cup. I accidentally oversteeped my second helping of this tonight and there was no astringency. Love! Some foods have the reputation for being “comforting”, I would say this tea has it as well. So happy I got to try this one!