Golden Snail - Black Tea

Had this tea this morning. Saw that a lot of the notes mentioned chocolate being a main flavor. So I went in kinda expecting that, only to find I was totally off. xD
Definitely off in a good way though!
The steeping aroma smelled like sweet potatoes. And when I went to actually drink it, the taste itself was an amazing mix of sweet potatoes and malt. Think more malty than the other-but there was a good combo of both! Didn’t have the honey notes that a lot of teas have when they taste like sweet potatoes. But maybe that’s just because there was more maltiness and the malt might have made it less sweet…
But I dunno.
Either way this is a delicious tea! And in light of my last tasting note, it is another victory tea for my okay morning! XD
Thanks for the sample, Terri!!! So happy I got to try it! :D

thank you terri! for saving some of this for me. I am really enjoying this version of snaily tea. It’s sweet and malty and mostly just really great this morning. It’s got a pastry, honey sort of thing going on, that is just the thing to kick off my really long day. I’ve got an overnight tonight with work, and if things go the way they usually, do… i’ll have been up since 5:30 this morning and won’t be sleeping until 9am ish on saturday. I’ll try to nap but it never seems to work.

This is a lovely bi luo chun style black tea, very golden, nicely rolled up into the classic spring snail form. For my first cup, I steeped a tsp for a minute, which was weak. I sampled it again at 3 minutes, & ended up giving it a full 5 minutes. The resulting tea was tasty, like a pale milk chocolate, a little honey, & pastry. I’m also getting that flavor that translates to coriander for me, commonly found in ‘Beauty’ teas.

I gave it a 2nd try, this time using 2 tsp for 3 minutes. The flavors are basically the same, with a little more pastry, a little more honey, etc. This is a pleasant & gentle tea, nicely refined & sweet. I kind of wish, in retrospect, that I had dumped the entire sample into a Gaiwan & given it the gongfu treatment, but I wanted to save some of it for my dear Sil, and so this is a sipdown. Tea Sister, I’ve officially started a new box for you :)

This is really a fun tea, especially as I introduce it to new tea drinkers or those that have never seen it before… Not only is it curly and “snail-looking”, but it’s also orange and has notes of malty chocolate. It’s a great way to introduce Yunnan blacks to those that LOVE Indian leaves.

So anyway, I really like the aesthetics and could go on and on about how it unravels and the leaves are consistent and the cup is a deep orange, instead of the heavily oxidized reddish color…. BUT, we’re here to drink tea, so lets talk flavor:

Yunnan teas are well known for their chocolatey, malty, mocha flavors… This leave is no different. I definitely got a lingering hint of honey and perhaps another sweet note, caramel and/or dried fruits. None of these are overpowering or dominant, so it’s nice to find balance here. I was able to steep several times (5-6 in a medium sized gaiwan) and noticed that a gradual shift to grains and less sweetness ensued.

Really a pleasure to sip overall and I think that it’s worth revisiting the fact that the appearance for new tea drinkers will blow minds! A beautiful takeaway from the famous green tea, Bi Luo Chun, of Jiangsu Province, for those that don’t know…

I’m more of a pure green/oolong drinker but wanted to step outside my comfort zone and (not to sound cliche but) “boy, am I glad I did!!!” This black tea (which is a fully oxodized green tea – rather like a wolf in sheeps clothing in a good way) surprised me with its hot chocolate aroma and full, but not overwhelming, flavor. Due to its enticing aroma, this would make an excellent after dinner tea for anyone who has a sweet tooth and craves dessert after mealtime but doesn’t want the extra calories. This tea just went on my re-order list. and