ZY07: Season's Pick Yunnan Black Snail

Tea of the morning…..

I needed some spearmint, and Tommy’s review of this caught my eye. I was just going to buy a sample, but knowing how much I love the Golden Snail from Harney, I was pretty confident that I would love a Black Snail tea. Tommy’s review included such great pics, too. It was a no brainer for me. The price is $8 for 250 grams making it a huge bargain.

As expected, there were only a few golden tips in this one. The tea itself is still tightly rolled. One of the things that is so remarkable about a snail tea is how huge it unfurls after steeping. The usual three perfect teaspoons of tea I use to brew a pot expands to fill the whole steeping basket, where most teas I brew in my teapot only expand to about half or less.

The liquor is thick, cocoa noted, malty, and a little spicy like you would expect from a yunnan. I don’t get the sweetness that I get from my Golden Snail, but that is pretty much expected, too. The Black Snail makes a rich cup of tea at a bargain price, and I am thrilled with my purchase. Thank you, Tommy the Toad for your great review. Why does anyone need to spend a fortune for great tea?

Usual teapot method.

Little bit of smokey, little bit of sweet in the background, no bitterness, and it steeped 3 pots worth today at work. A decent Yunnan, a good black, and not expensive.

What more could you want?

“I enjoyed this one with milk and sugar not because it needed it but because I just wanted to because it was really good, I like teas this way sometimes I just don’t like having to bring out the cream and sugar and all cuz I’m picky and that is a whole different setup from my “usual” but this one really just almost taste like a chocolate flavored Tea with milk and sugar, Really I have had “Milk Chocolate” Flavored Teas that just come nowhere near this one"
Please view my blog post here for a longer review and a “rant” about mean peoples on the interweb, Please don’t view my blog on this one if you hate a rant or are a mean peoples or get offend by a few potty words :)
http://toadsteablog.blogspot.com/2013/02/black-snail-from-upton-teas-and-rant.html

After reading SimplyJenW’s tasting notes on this tea, I added it to my order this week when I was reordering my standard breakfast Keemun. I knew I’d love it, and I’m pleased to say I was right! The smoooooth, cocoa-y flavor made me smile involuntarily at the very first sip, reminding me of other China black cocoa-y favorites that I’ve saved for special moments. What a thrill to find one that’s affordable enough to enjoy every day — although I’ll probably still reserve it for weekends, to preserve its “special” status.

This is just fantastic. Rich with a thick mouthfeel, slightly smokey, quite sweet, with strong malty chocolate and hazelnut notes. Very addictive, and the price is almost unreasonably low—I would have paid much more for it. If you love Yunnan, treat yourself to this.

This is my second session with these same leaves. Steeped once in my favorite mug, which sadly didn’t reveal nearly as much flavor as I was hoping and so me thinks it’s time to give the mug a good scrub. This second round is being done gong fu style. The flavors are much more pronounced. The first sip revealed honeyed flavors and earthy wet wood notes. As the session progresses each becomes increasingly tainted with astringency and damp forest. Decomposing wood.

The first few tries to brew this ended up a bit weak, so I have used plenty of leaf to brew a pot today. There is a bit of astringent bitterness on the first sip, more so when it hasn’t cooled. I typical like piping hot tea, but this one it seems better to let it cool significantly. Dark chocolate and caramel notes linger when sipping a cooler cup. This is a decent example of Yunnan, but it seems a bit finicky to brew, so I won’t be restocking in my cupboard.

Nice mild black tea.

Yunnan black snail.

Review:
Ru yao dragon teapot. Gongfucha.

Dry leaf: peppery.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BMc60uFg6MX/

Wet leaf: spicy, spices, peppery.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BMc64wGALrv/

1x short rinse.

Light steep; I taste/smell; light
—→ cream, earth, spicy, spices. Medium bitterness.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BMc62xlATam/

Medium steep; I taste/smell: light
—> cream, spiceyness. medium -→ earth, spices. Medium to strong bitterness.

Heavy steep; I taste/smell: Medium —> spicyness, cream. Strong -→ earth, spices, bitterness.

All in all a yummy tea! Nice cha qi. Nice taste on lighter steeps. I rate an 80 as I’m not much for black teas, save for lapsang souchong.

I abuse tea… I have to come to grips with that. Especially work tea, so work tea has special requirements that need to be meet.

1. Must be hardy and not get astringent with over brewing – a common occurrence
2. Must be drinkable hot all the way to room temp/cold (as it cools in the cup)

So first off.. I over brewed this while emailing. oops? It’s not too bitter, yay! Chocolate, tobacco, nice solid cup with a brightness to it… unfortunately, as it cooled, the brightness turned sour. I will have to taste this again when I can be fair and pay more attn to the brew times, but unfortunately for work this one won’t do. I’ll stick with my Upton Hunan Mao Feng which was restocked after I picked up this sample.