Yun Nan Dian Hong Black Tea

I’ve had the golden tips and the full leaf, but not this one, so I picked up a sample in my last order. The leaves are pretty…dark brown/black with a few golden strands mixed in. The color of the liquor is also a beautiful red color, even in first infusion. It tastes sweet, with subtle notes of malt, cherry, and potato. It reminds me a little bit of Whispering Pines’ Wildcrafted Dian Hong. Maybe I should do a side by side comparison with the rest of my sample. Super smooth, but light in flavor, overall. I wouldn’t mind drinking more of this and I don’t think it’s terribly pricey either. :)

I ended up brewing this way too long, but it still had some nice notes. It was bitter since I oversteeped and I haven’t had the chance to try again with this tea. Definitely has a nice earthy sweetness to it.

Thank you Marzipan for the sample! I picked this one out at her house yesterday, because I’m trying to decide which Black Friday Dian Hong I want to order. This is good! I think I WILL order this one, even though its 30% off and the Full Leaf is 40% off. Even with the discount difference this one still ends up cheaper!

Thanks to Cameron B for this sample! I’ve been curious about Teavivre offerings for a while, and you can hardly go wrong with Dian Hong.

The dry leaf for this one comes in small, dark twists. I was expecting more of a gold-buds type of tea, though it does brew up to a dark golden color. There is very little dry aroma, while the brewed tea smells richly of malt and bread, similar to other Yunnan teas I’ve tried. The taste of this brew is also rich and malty, with one thing that distinguishes it from similar teas: there’s a lingering, almost floral tea fragrance that reminds me of lighter black teas and even green oolongs. It adds a bit of freshness to the overall experience, which is less decadent than some others of its kind, but uniquely enjoyable.

Got this during the Teavivre sale as an everyday kind of tea. I can definitely drink this everyday! Smooth but strong, with a hint of cocoa, honey and sweetness to it.

While I technically have about 25g of this hanging out in a tin with some Madagascar vanilla beans, I’m still counting this as a sipdown since the package is empty. I bought this during Teavivre’s Anniversary sale and will probably pick some up during their next sale (If I’ve gotten my cupboard under control) as it’s well priced and quite tasty. Nice and cocoa-y with some citrus notes and no astringency. I’ll miss it, but I’m sure it won’t be gone for long.

Just when I thought I was getting all organized, I found a big flaw in my system. If you are going to put tea in baggies and then into tins, not only do you need to label the tins, but you also have to label the bags. I grabbed a bag out of a tin on my way to work today, and then didn’t know what I had grabbed. I had a bag of tea at work, and I knew it was a Teavivre black, but I didn’t know which one it was. Anyway, came home, found the empty tin and it was this one.

This is a nice Yunnan black, it was pretty much what I would expect from a Yunnan black, but I’m not sure it was really anything special. Nice, pleasant, fine for work – nothing really to complain about, but nothing really to get excited about. I have a lot of this one, really need to be working it into my rotation more often.

Finally got to try all five. This smells malty with citrus notes. The flavour is on the smoky side, which I don’t mind. Since I normally dislike that strongly, it just makes me like Teavivre more. There are also some malty orange flavours.

Tea of the morning……

I have been planning an order from Teavivre for their Anniversary sale. I am so thankful they have listed on their site what will be on sale, and for what percentage. I have only about 50g of this left, and it will be offered at a nice percentage off next week. I also need to revisity my Golden Monkey (although I noticed it is a newer harvest on site) and my Keemun Grade 1 before deciding what to add to my order. I am so excited to try their Keemun Mao Feng!

For a bargain tea, this is really good. First, I notice how smooth it is. There is a little malt and cocoa, and it is just great basic black tea at a super reasonable price. I think if it was not for the sale, I would stock more of this, but I am thinking of going for the next step up to the Full Leaf. Tea really has become something special I do for myself, so why not spring for the higher grade of tea. Still pondering…….

Usual teapot method.

I received this tea as part of an incredibly generous sample from Angel. Thank you so much!

First off, I love these little foil wrapped samples. They would be ideal for travel or for people who want to keep their tea packaged until the last minute. I know the package says not for sale, but I could see this being an item that some people would love to buy.

The dry leaf smelled familiar, a promising and complex smell that has come to mean “Yunnan” to me.

The package suggested a steep of 2 to 3 minutes. I went with 3 out of habit, but in hindsight I wish I had gone with 2. This is a very powerful tea! Strong and a bit malty, it is a perfect breakfast tea for me. It was both my first and second cup today. Usually I steep my first tea twice, but the second cup was still so strong and dark that I left it for a third steep (I haven’t done it yet).

I really enjoyed it! It’s definitely an early in the day tea for me, and I am looking forward to that next steep.