Hand-Made Flowering Yunnan Feng Qing Black Tea Cones * Spring 2017

I had two mystery Yunnan cones in an unlabeled zipper pouch in my swap box. I think these came from Arby, and she still has this tea in her cupboard, so I think this is the right listing? At this point it’s been 2+ years, so I can’t really be sure, but this is my best guess!

I used both cones for my 12-ounce mug. It has a familiar Yunnan aroma – malty, bready, cocoa-y with a bit of savoriness. Somehow I can pick up on cocoa notes in the smell but very rarely in the taste… (shrugs)

At first I thought this was a bit meh. It has a mostly earthy and malty flavor with some leather and mineral notes, and a bit of the characteristic sweet potato. Some rye bread as well, though it’s more of a supporting flavor. But in the aftertaste there’s such a pleasing clear sweetness that is really lovely. Perhaps even the tiniest hint of floral as well, but in a sweet nectar-like way, reminiscent of honeysuckle.

I think I prefer my Fengqing pearls to this, but it’s still mighty tasty. Thanks Arby (or whoever it was…)!

This is a review for which I’ve had notes lying around since either May or June. Normally, I’m a huge fan of Feng Qing black teas, but this one I found to be just pretty good. That struck me as odd too, considering that I loved the Spring 2017 Feng Qing Black Gold Pearls that I also purchased from Yunnan Sourcing and that this was probably the same or a very similar tea formed into a different shape.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After the rinse, I steeped approximately 7 grams of formed tea leaves and buds in 4 ounces of 194 F water for 10 seconds. This infusion was chased by 17 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and 20 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea cones produced aromas of malt, cream, earth, eucalyptus, chocolate, and molasses. After the rinse, I noted new aromas of baked bread, vanilla, butter, sugarcane, and roasted almond. The first infusion introduced aromas of marshmallow, honey, and roasted peanut. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of malt, cream, earth, vanilla, baked bread, and sugarcane that were balanced by hints of marshmallow, oats, butter, roasted almond, molasses, sweet potato, and eucalyptus. The subsequent infusions introduced aromas of oats, cinnamon, black pepper, camphor, orange zest, and pine. Stronger and more immediately noticeable impressions of oats, butter, roasted almond, sweet potato, and eucalyptus came out in the mouth along with belatedly emerging chocolate notes. I also picked up impressions of orange zest, pine, cinnamon, camphor, black pepper, and minerals as well as hints of honey, roasted peanut, grass, and cooked green beans. As the tea faded, the liquor emphasized lingering notes of minerals, baked bread, malt, cream, earth, roasted almond, cinnamon, and eucalyptus that were underscored by hints of chocolate, camphor, molasses, black pepper, pine, sweet potato, orange zest, sugarcane, and marshmallow. I also noted hints of horehound in the aftertaste of the two longest infusions.

This was not a bad Feng Qing black tea, but I did find it to be a bit boring compared to some of the others I have tried. In my opinion, the tea liquor was a little too smooth in the mouth, and it lacked variation in texture over the course of a gongfu session. I also found this tea to not vary its intensity much. Honestly, it was little more than a very even-tempered, pleasant black tea that offered few memorable quirks during a lengthy review session. It was basically just there and was only going to do what it was going to do. I could not coax any intrigue out of it. Still, it was a flavorful tea that was easy to drink. One would likely not regret giving it a shot.

Day 4 from Nicole’s tea adventure!

I think Terri might have sent me these before and i always forget how giant they are compared to mandala’s version. I haven’t had the spring 2017 version though, and it’s been forever since i’ve had these before. Had a couple steeps of them over the course of the afternoon because they’re so large…and delicious! smooth, malty, delicious goodness. nom.

Oh, good lawd amighty.

I need 365 of these cones. One for every day. These are so seriously deeply delicious and good for at least a couple of longer steeps. Butter, malt, smooth… liquid golden is a perfect term for this taste.

I’ve liked them before but this is about my favorite year for this tea so far.

Convenient for travel, beautiful to look at, but nothing extraordinary in terms of flavour.

Very clean high grade black tea flavour. Nothing really stands out. I wouldn’t describe the flavour as malt, cocoa, or any of the other usual black tea notes. It is very tasty, just not unique.