This Yunnan was shared with me by Auggy and I have to say I’m sceptical as soon as I see the word ‘Yunnan’. However, as you may recall, I had a rather nice Yunnan the other day which didn’t have that flavour of hay, and it reminded me that all Yunnan is not created equal and that some of it is actually quite nice. So therefore I am going forth with this, safe in the knowledge that Auggy has come to know my tastes very well.
So is this one of the nommy Yunnans or one of the meh ones? The aroma isn’t really giving me much of a clue. It’s quite chocolate-y and sweet spicy, but there is also a tinge to the spice note that say, “hay, there!” (Did you see what I did there? Teehee!) Mostly though, it’s sweetie-like in the aroma so I go forth, still not completely put off.
So that was the leaves. The cup after steeping smells less chocolate-y and far more sweet spicy. I have to say it reminds me most of all of ‘brunkager’ 1 which is a very traditional Danish Christmas biscuit. Funny to find that in tea! On the tail end of summer no less. It does indeed bode well for the flavour, especially as you can see that I didn’t find any of those hay-like notes here.
So flavour. Disappointingly the association to Christmas biscuits stop here. And yes it was a disappointment, because the aroma in the cup was SO like it, that my tongue was already preparing itself for that particular flavour. And all it got was tea. Which is all good and well but not really what it was looking for at this point. How tricksy this aroma is!
Rather than a spicy biscuit, it’s actually more sort of broth-y. I’m still getting the spicy notes, but it doesn’t show itself as so sweet here in the flavour. My first and foremost association is actually to a time when I was served a soup which was spiced with these same spices. There is a whiff of that hay in the background, but it never really comes out in any significant manner, and there also isn’t any of those cocoa or chocolate notes that have tended to be a good sign of a Yunnan that I would actually enjoy. There is a pleasant sort of malty, creamy aftertaste though, which pulls the whole thing in a third direction.
This one comes out fairly in the middle of the two experiences with Yunnan that I’ve had and with a pointer towards a thirdk and that makes it difficult for me to work out what to do with it. I think I’m mostly enjoying it, but I probably wouldn’t go out and purchase it. I expect with those spicy notes, from a Danish point of view it would work excellently in a Christmas blend.
1 http://www.food.com/recipe/danish-brun-kager-brown-cookies-13614 2
2 Look, Nik showed me the other day how to do footnotes! Isn’t that neat?! :D
Comments
Warning: not everything in the package will probably be to your tastes. Some of them (like this one) I shared so you can try them since I figured you’d never actually buy a whole pouch of it! :)
Azzrian, the hay is usually a bit of a turn-off for me. :)
Auggy, yes, I noticed the selection was a little eclectic. :) That’s good though. Some of them, had they been available to me, I wouldn’t have tried otherwise. It just wouldn’t even have crossed my mind to have a second look at all. (Your care package is going to be a little similar to that in that I’m packing things down for it as I get/think of it, so I haven’t actually tried everything yet. I just started packing it down right away so I wouldn’t accidentally drink anything I had wanted to share. :p There are a few things that I expect will be well received though. I’ve run out of small tins too, so now I have to drink up some of yours so I can wash the tins and send them back!)
Ha! I ran out of tins, too! (As I’m sure you could tell.) And I’m all for samples of teas I wouldn’t otherwise try. Sometimes something new can be discovered and other times it’s just nice to have had the experience without having to drink to 50 or 100 grams of it!
I thought I had tons of the small teas, but I used a lot for the stuff that you sent me. I’ve made the labels ready, though. So far it seems to lean more towards the unflavoured, though. I haven’t actually got much of anything other than samples that are flavoured at the moment. Lots of blends, though.
As much as I seem to buy flavored teas, I definitely like unflavored better – and blends make me happy! I need to make some room in my pantry so take your time! :)
care to footnote Nik explaining how to do footnotes? :)
http://steepster.com/bleepnik/posts/126609
That was fast. Thanks!
Too cool!
ooh footnotes! very cool! Also a wonderful review of course :3
Nice! This sounds quite lovely. I enjoy hay flavored teas and haha yes I saw what you did there!
Warning: not everything in the package will probably be to your tastes. Some of them (like this one) I shared so you can try them since I figured you’d never actually buy a whole pouch of it! :)
Azzrian, the hay is usually a bit of a turn-off for me. :)
Auggy, yes, I noticed the selection was a little eclectic. :) That’s good though. Some of them, had they been available to me, I wouldn’t have tried otherwise. It just wouldn’t even have crossed my mind to have a second look at all. (Your care package is going to be a little similar to that in that I’m packing things down for it as I get/think of it, so I haven’t actually tried everything yet. I just started packing it down right away so I wouldn’t accidentally drink anything I had wanted to share. :p There are a few things that I expect will be well received though. I’ve run out of small tins too, so now I have to drink up some of yours so I can wash the tins and send them back!)
Ha! I ran out of tins, too! (As I’m sure you could tell.) And I’m all for samples of teas I wouldn’t otherwise try. Sometimes something new can be discovered and other times it’s just nice to have had the experience without having to drink to 50 or 100 grams of it!
I thought I had tons of the small teas, but I used a lot for the stuff that you sent me. I’ve made the labels ready, though. So far it seems to lean more towards the unflavoured, though. I haven’t actually got much of anything other than samples that are flavoured at the moment. Lots of blends, though.
As much as I seem to buy flavored teas, I definitely like unflavored better – and blends make me happy! I need to make some room in my pantry so take your time! :)
I’ve got all the ones I want to share now, so it’s just a question of emptying and washing tins. I’ve got three more tins ready now, although one of them might not be usable. It had the decadent black in it, so I suspect it may need to air out for a few months before it can be used again. :)