Jin Pin Black Tea

I was feeling inspired… thus, I decided to sketch out two of my favorite things:
Werewolves and tea.

http://tea-pet.tumblr.com/post/78013016937/sketches-with-werewolves

Maybe I will finish the drawing tomorrow…

Ok, so Yezi Tea has a sale going on and then reminded me that I have 3 lovely samples that have slowly made their way over to me and that I should have sampled a month ago. But I grabbed them when I grabbed like 30 other teas from Sil (swaps/split purchases/freebies) and it sorta got lost in t he shuffle.

Poor Yezi tea.

I like this. It’s a nice rich black. It’s malty and it has depth. Sadly I feel like I haven’t had enough straight teas lately and I’ve lost all my vocabulary to describe it. And to taste the nuances. I like this, but I’m not sure what to say about it.

It’s a little like Laoshan Black. Not as much cocoa notes though. I’d recommend it though to anyone interested in trying Yezi Teas.

Sipdown (161) (after I resteep it)

This tea was quite nice – great notes of cocoa, caramel and smoke as promised. The smoke seemed a cross between grilly food and toast, without being over the top. Actually, quite a light black, yet rich in flavor.

I got 4 good steepings, and I did a long one as my fifth. That fifth one had some really neat woody notes that was very nice.

This was only a sample, but I could see myself getting more of this tea to play with some more.

Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/jin-pin-black-tea-yezi-tea-oolong-owl-tea-review/

Very excited with this post as I used my new DSLR camera. Though uggg.. I really need like a prime or macro lens as the tea was a little fussy to photo.

I got this one as a sample with my last order from Yezi and I’m very glad that I did. It’s smoky, malty, earthy, sweetish and oddly enough, creamy. It’s almost like I added cream to this but I didn’t!

At first I was sort of put off by the smokiness, but it mellowed out quickly and the smoke subsided to a light level and the earthy creaminess came to the fore. I probably wouldn’t order it again, but I’m glad to have tried it!

this was another from the other day which was sadly ruined by my other half using my travel mug lid for coffee and then forgetting to really soak it when we washed it :(

The final sample from Yezi Tea. Another good tea. I like this one a bit more than the Jin Jun Mei, but the first two I tried are the clear winners for me. This tea is slightly sweeter than the Jin Jun Mei and less earthy. Slight hints of cocoa and caramel. Very enjoyable.

I need to go order samples of the other black teas along with my orders of the Qing Pin and High Mountain one. I didn’t want to sample them before because they were described as smoky and I shy away from that, but this tea was also described as smoky and as I’ve said in previous notes, I would call it more burnt toast than smoke.

ETA: Just did a second steep and let it sit for a few minutes. This cup is much more chocolatey and caramely. Darn it. I may have to order a bag of this too!

I like this one a lot. It’s similar to the Qing Pin tea from the same company. It’s very flavourful and not bitter at all. It has a cocoa smell but it doesn’t really taste like it. I prefer the Qing Pin over the Jin Pin just because I find the chocolate taste is stronger.

Thank you Yezi for this sample! Rarely do I ever steep a tea too long for my tastes, but this time I really should have listened to the suggestions. Don’t get me wrong it was delicious, but there were a lot of subtleties here that were masked by the strong toasted maltiness that I let overtake it. This would have been one that I would have really enjoyed using repeated small steep times for.

The first flavors I got reminded me of evergreen and citrus. There is a bright note to this tea that starts right away and stayed throughout the cup. As I mentioned before, there is a toasted malty flavor, as well as a hint of lilac that is the central characteristic of this tea, almost reminiscent of the smell of a furnace when it is turned on for the first time at the beginning of the cold season. I hope that doesn’t sound off-putting, for me it was very positive. It invoked a strong sense of nostalgia, memories of hunkering down for the winter, of my grandparent’s house as a child. I could easily see this becoming a morning routine.

I did go ahead and steep this a second time for six minutes, which is rare for me, but I had a feeling it would be good. It was good. Most of the great flavors were all still there. This is a tea I will remember.

An old sample from Yezi Tea that I’d never opened (thanks!)

This was a weird one. I expected a classic Chinese black, and although it had elements of that, I was most struck by the aftertaste, which was interestingly astringent. Someone suggested “ash” as a flavour they were picking up from the tea, and I wonder if that might be what it reminds me of. There isn’t astringency on the initial sip, so I don’t think it was oversteeped or anything. Unfortunately, I wasn’t a fan of this ashy flavour.

A curious tea. Should log it again as I drink it instead of the next day.

So, today I went to Venice. I had this tea with my breakfast. It has that nice, light malty scent I really like. The flavoured is bit stronger, with hints of dried fruit and cocoa. There is some yam and honey/ caramel flavour on the second mug.
Overall, good, and I wish I had more.