Superfine Tan Yang Gong Fu Black Tea

This one smells so good. It was honestly a bright ray of sun shine in a storm cloud herd of black tea (too much black tea!!!!). I’ll probably pick up more of this to try at some point- potato teas are pretty awesome.

Thanks for all these Teavivre samples, Amariel! There are some fantastic teas in this sample pile, but I wish I hadn’t finished off all the green varieties first..

Got 50g of this one in the big Teavivre sale like a month ago.
Smelled like chocolate when I opened it, which is always good :P
The taste was kinda the same. Chocolate. And raisins too.
Chocolate and raisins….this tea would definitely go well with chocolate covered raisins. And guess what!
I have chocolate covered raisins in my cupboard…
I have a good idea hatching. :O

Wow this is really goooood! Thanks for the sample Tealizzy :D

So sweet and rich and almost caramelly. I get why everyone compares this one to roasted sweet potatoes, too. I like this a lot. I will probably purchase some next time I make a TeaVivre order!

I haven’t been posting for a few days because i got a cold. :( I drank a lot of tea, which helped, but didn’t want to drink new stuff because I can’t taste things that well right now. Anyway, I seem to be better today and I have today off from work for my birthday, so I’m going to enjoy it!

I sipped this tea down this morning. I’m out of all my golden black teas. Oh no!!! Time to get some more! I’m already planning to restock golden tips on Friday and maybe I’ll get some more of this one. I also just ordered my first teas from YS! Yay!

Wow, this is exactly what I want my cup of tea to be. It’s strong, bold, malty, sweet, and just an amazing cup of yum. I drank the whole cup in less than 10 minutes. Time to go make another!

Thank you Angel for the sample! I don’t think anyone can go wrong with this tea.

Not sure what is wrong with me. All those teas out there that people say are smokey – or have a little smoke. I don’t normally find the smoke.
This one shouldn’t be smokey, didn’t see any mention of smoke in the reviews….
I’m not enjoying this today, too smokey. All I’m getting is smoke…. weird ….

What a delightful cup of tea.

I am still experimenting a bit with temperature, steep time and leaf quantity. I find light notes of cocoa, smoke and malt and consistent with my prior experience, this tea is smoooooth with a sweet aftertaste.

Not the I stayed up all night working so I need a """BANG""" of a cup of tea in the morning to get me started rather, it is a soft, mellow cup of comfort that provides the perfect accompaniment for a calming respite.

So I’m trying to pare down my stash a little bit, so I’ve started to go back and finish some of the teas that I’ve already tried, even before I try new ones. Right now I have a ton of 1-2 cup samples and I figured it won’t take long to sip a lot of them down. Plus I was very curious if I still find this one amazing after trying a LOT of Yunnans (technically this tea is Fujian, but it tastes way more similar to Yunnan teas in my opinion). I also tried just a tad bit longer steep (2m30s instead of 2m).

And the verdict is: this tea is super fantastic and delicious! I will most definitely be picking some up during the black & oolong portion of TeaVivre’s 3rd anniversary sale in August. Bread notes have been very common among Yunnan teas I’ve tried, but this one has the most amazing creamy and smooth pastry note, especially during the second half of the sip and the aftertaste. It reminds me of white tea, and it’s so delicious! This may be my favorite straight black tea so far. I need to try the “wee snaily yums” again to compare. Cannot thank Nicole enough for sending me this one! THANKS NICOLE! ;) I’m glad that this wasn’t a sipdown, I have one more cup left!

SO GOOD! <3 BUMPING IT TO 95!

Praise to the tea gods. (Teaities?) This smells pretty awesome. I get mostly honey, and a light scent of yams. The flavour is more malty cocoa and hints of molasses.

Southern California summers (which are 9 months long if we’re lucky enough to get a “winter” that seems more like a rainy mild fall to most folks from elsewhere) are enough to kill off any avid black tea drinkers desire to live. It’s hot. I know that many in warm climes there are cultures that thrive on hot tea, but at this, sometimes I’m a failure. The black teas just seems too…..too cloying. (that’s kind of like a granny word, isn’t it? :) ) Too heavy. Too much. I recently fell in love with Teavivre’s Bailin Gong Fu and knew it would be a short lived love affair, with the scalding desert winds only a month away….

Oh Superfine Tan Yang Gong Fu by Teavivre, you are the most welcomed cousin of my cold weather friend!! I am sitting here with a cup, and like so many other reviewers, I looked down and there is nary a drop left…. this is an extraordinarily wonderful tea that takes the gorgeous flavor profile of Gong Fu teas and “summer-izes” it without compromise. The mouthfeel is lighter, the flavors of yam, grains and malt are less intense….and there is a summery note of warmed alfalfa here that rounds out the flavors to make a light but completely fulfilling mouthful of tea. If you are ordering from Teavivre this summer, ask for a sample of this…. the hot, heavy, scorching days of summer shall not conquer my desire for gong fu teas, even during teatime with my outdoor cats. The word Superfine says it all!

Ps: yes, tea with my cats: http://instagram.com/p/n16qIwgnLu/ It is a tea ritual here on my days off.