Yunnan "Assamica Gold Needle" Black Tea * Spring 2018

This was one of my sipdowns from the last week of October. I think this was also the last of the spring 2018 golden needle black teas that I had in my cupboard. Of the bunch, it was the least appealing, but it was still a more or less very good tea.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea buds in 4 ounces of 194 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was followed by 16 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 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, and 7 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea buds emitted aromas of malt, cinnamon, chocolate, baked bread, and sweet potato. After the rinse, I detected aromas of roasted almond, roasted peanut, and smoke. The first infusion saw no change to the tea’s bouquet. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered notes of malt, cream, butter, cooked green beans, and sweet potato that were balanced by hints of smoke, cinnamon, baked bread, chocolate, and sugarcane. The bulk of the subsequent infusions coaxed out additional aromas of cooked green beans, orange zest, and roasted walnut. Stronger and more immediately discernible impressions of baked bread, chocolate, and sugarcane made themselves known in the mouth alongside notes of banana, caramel, roasted almond, earth, orange zest, roasted walnut, minerals, and cooked peas. There were also hints of marshmallow, raisin, and fig lurking in the background of each sip and swallow. As the tea shifted and faded, the liquor emphasized notes of minerals, malt, baked bread, cream, earth, roasted peanut, roasted almond, and sweet potato that were chased by fleeting hints of cooked green beans, caramel, chocolate, marshmallow, raisin, roasted walnut, lemon zest, and sugarcane.

Overall, I found this to be a rock solid and very likable tea, though compared to the previous Yunnan golden needle black teas produced in the spring of 2018 that I had tried, this tea struck me as being a bit generic. It offered pretty much everything you would expect a Yunnan Assamica golden needle black tea to offer, and it did a very good job of that, but that’s really all this tea did. I’m glad I tried it, and I could see it working out great as a daily drinker or as an introduction to Yunnan golden needle black teas, but it didn’t compare all that favorably to some of Yunnan Sourcing’s similar offerings from the same year. I certainly would not reach for this tea over something like their Imperial Gold Needle Yunnan Black Tea.

I was reading through last year’s harvest reviews and I can say this year’s tea is much different.

Prepared this western because assamica black. 3.5g (roughly 1T), 8oz, 212F, 2 steeps at 3 and 5 minutes. I tried a third steep and while it sill had plenty of flavor, I don’t recommend it because of a strong wet leaf funk.

Dry leaf smelled very peppery, with some malt, cedar wood, leather and faint chocolate if I went searching, lightly cookie-ish. Wet leaf smelled like moss, chocolate and light ginger?

In terms of taste, there was a black pepper spiciness on the sip and in the nose with some malt, leather, wood and earth and a sour orange background note holding it all together. In the second steep, I noticed a slight cooling ginger spicy after effect. The liquor was light-bodied but produced a heavy feeling. No sweetness or bitterness. A very light astringency showed up in the throat in the second steep.

Overall, it’s a solid tea, nothing to complain about for the price – it’s certainly affordable. I think I’ll try one long steep western, too. I’ve already had a go at grandpa but I didn’t take any mental notes, so I’ll try that again.