Wu Liang Hong Mao Feng Yunnan Black Tea

Well my dear friends, I finally did it! I solo tamed a Quetzal, in theory the hardest of the creatures (other than the Giga, but that is a whole different magnitude of silly) in Ark to tame solo. It is one of the reasons why I just traded for my first Quetzal because it was nightmarish. Having a Quetzal makes taming another Quetzal incredibly easy, you just build a 3×3 platform on the saddle, make a set of walls every other section and carry around ceilings, then you fly your Quetzal under the wild one essentially trapping it, jump onto the platform and add the ceilings, then load that thing up with tranq darts! An unmounted Quetzal will just hover meaning your current tame won’t fall to the ground making it a sitting duck for every predator in the area. Since its torpor drops fairly fast (11 minutes compared to the Rex I tamed yesterday’s hour and a half) you need to be mindful of it rather than watching the surroundings, so being up in the air makes it a piece of cake. Assuming you don’t get knocked off the Quetzal and lose all your gear like I did the first time I tried this trick!

Recently I had a teamergency, aka I ran out of Yunnan hong cha, this caused a panic and an immediate order from Yunnan Sourcing was placed. In the past I used their main site, but this time (what with it being an emergecy) I went with their US site for the lightning fast shipping, one of the teas I got was Wu Liang Hong Mao Feng Yunnan Black Tea Spring 2015, which is what I am looking at today. So, what is the deal with this tea other than it is fuzzy, golden, from Yunnan, and probably an instant favorite? Well, it is grown high in the Wu Liang Mountains of Simao, it is given a special processing making it unique from other Dian Hongs that Yunnan Sourcing offers, and since I consider myself a bit of a hong cha aficionado, let us find out! First off is the ever important vigorous leaf sniffing with hopes that I do not end up inhaling any. The aroma is, well, the aroma can best be described as oomph, a nice noseful of decadent yum. Notes of malt and chocolate blend with sweet potatoes, roasted peanuts, plums, and a distinct note of sweet dried tomatoes that is at one point odd and another insanely delicious. It takes a note I usually associate with savory and twists it to sweet, man this tea smells really good.

I decided to brew this fuzzy lovely in my red rice pattern set, because it is a red tea so thematically appropriate! The aroma of the now soggy leaves is very malty and sweet, notes of molasses, strong chocolate (not cocoa, straight up chocolate!) and pepper blend for a really yummy smelling tea. The aroma of the liquid borders on milky, like chocolate milk with molasses and malt…it kinda reminds me of the cake batter for the Triple Chocolate After Battle Cake I make for Ben, it is decadent and all kinds of sweet. There are a touch of woody and peppery notes and a slight hint of distant fruity as well.

Ok clearly someone is trolling me with this tea, it is too sweet to be real. Seriously smooth with sweet notes of molasses and brown sugar at the start, this moves to rich chocolate (not quite milk but not quite really dark) and black pepper. This then moves to a strong raw honey and a delightful juicy plummy finish that lingers well into the aftertaste.

I wasted no time at all delving into the second steep, the aroma of the liquid is wonderfully sweet, but with an extra heavy malty note making it seem richer somehow…did not know that was possible. The taste, well, I am glad I cannot actually melt from yummy tastes because I would need a new chair after drinking this tea. It starts rich, it middles rich, it ends rich, the mouthfeel is thick which makes it seem even richer. The major note in this tea that lasts through the entire sipping experience is chocolate, sweet and rich, along side that is a strong note of brown sugar at the front and a finish of yams and black pepper. Now when I say pepper I do not mean it has its heat, just the taste, making it quite excellent. The aftertaste has that same plummy note as the first steep, but with added honey.

So. Much.Chocolate! Seriously! The aroma is like smelling chocolate cake batter with strong molasses, this steep also has a bit of yams, it is not as rich as the previous steep but it sweeter which is impressive. The taste is much like the previous steep, but not as rich, it is still strong in the chocolate and malt department but with strong notes of yams and peanuts. This tea is a wonderful red, it has become one of my favorites, especially in the evening. Usually for my morning reds I prefer ones that have a little more potency and less sweetness, but for once I am more awake and have a better head for subtleties in richness this is perfect. I regret only getting 50 grams!

For blogs and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/03/yunnan-sourcing-wu-liang-hong-mao-feng.html

I waited like two days too long to get this tea on their website because now they are sold out. sighs Sad times…Oh well…It’s such a good tea, and I’ve enjoyed the sample Terri gave me so much! Wish I could have gotten this tea! :(

Happy Sunday, tea fiends! A lovely Steepster friend (who would rather remain anonymous) sent me a box with ten different Yunnan Sourcing samples. I was very excited to see that a lot of them are the more uncommon varieties (a lot of people have their pure bud teas). This was actually one of the YS teas I was most excited to try! The leaves are huge and twisty, and I would say they’re about half gold and half muted grey/brown. Dry scent is malty and surprisingly tart with stonefruit aroma.

The steeped tea also smells very fruity, specifically stonefruit-y. This tea definitely has the strongest natural stonefruit flavor I’ve ever found in a tea, and it’s somewhat tart because of that. I think I may have overleafed a bit (it’s always hard to tell with very large leaves) so it has a rather intense malty/sweet potato taste. It’s not bitter, though. There’s a little hint of earthiness as well which helps to sort of “anchor” everything and cut through the tart fruitiness a bit. Unlike any other Yunnan black tea I’ve had! :)

Sample from the Terri ‘s box – awesome never ending .
Gongfu
4g 100ml gaiwan 205F
Rinse/15/15/20/30/45 etc
Leaves are long twisted black and some gold. Smells heavenly. This tea is not as heavy sweet as others from YS. Nevertheless I like it. It’s different. Malty, nutty, not sweet, but there is sweetness in aftertaste. Some slight astringency but not unpleasant.
Thank you so much Terri for such a great variety of teas you supplied me with.

This is another solid black tea from Yunnan Sourcing. Because of how much I love the other one, this pales a bit in comparison. This is still really good, I would be more than happy to have more of this – but not sure I want to buy 50g of it. Decent black tea. I liked it.
Thanks Sil for another good one.