Golden Snail Yunnan Black Tea

With the caveat that I made a big mistake brewing my entire sample of this Western style — and too strong — I really like this tea. It tastes like baked bread, molasses and — something I haven’t seen anyone mention — roasted peanuts. I want to try it again in a gaiwan. It’s just really…interesting and unique and complex. I don’t love it as much as Whispering Pine’s super smooth new Yunnan Gold Tips, but it’s… Strong and makes a very solid impression. The nutty flavor really lingers. I’ll try it again. I think it would work really well with very spicy food.

The wet leaves smell like dark chocolate, but I don’t really taste that in the tea.

2nd infusion: Aha, now I taste chocolate and grain more strongly than peanuts.

This was a sample from Whispering Pines with my last order. I had lost this sample but finally found it last night. It had slipped in with my green tea bin! I’m glad I finally found it.

This tea is delicious. It’s chocolate & malt. Not too strong of a black tea which suits me just fine. It is also very sweet. Some others got bitterness with this tea which surprised me. I brewed according to WP’s directions and I got no bitterness. Maybe it sets in when it cools down. I had finished mine before it could cool. A lovely cup of tea.

This has been one of those never-ending weeks where problems arise faster than I can fix them. I haven’t been able to turn off my mind for a moment in days. I opted to go for this tea instead of a more calming one in the hope that its strength would force my mind to pay attention to it.

I’m re-brewing and bottling up this technique – perhaps it will get me through the rest of the day, as well…

Holy sweet mother of dragons this is delicious!

SUCH a rich, thick, silky smooth mouth feel. So chocolatey. Yum.

The lovely Dexter sent a sample of this along to me!

There were no steeping instructions that I could find, so I searched notes and then decided… f-it. Western it is.

It’s strong. It’s nice. Sweet and smooth. Very carby. IDK that I adore it, or that the flavours are ones I’d crave all the time, but it’s nice. And she thoughtfully included something like 5 other snaily teas for me to try as well. :D

Edit: Oh, as it cools it goes sour. Weird. I’m stuffed up a bit so I can’t smell much, but the taste is definitely sour, not bitter or astringent.

I know I’ve not done a tasting note on this tea before, but I do distinctly remember having it around the time I got my Whispering Pines order. This isn’t the type of tea you can really do a backlog on, though, so I waited until now so my tasting note would be more accurate.

This is a great example of a yunnan, I feel like. The dry leaf was so fuzzy and tightly curled, and the smell emanating from the back was all starch and sweet potatoes. I followed the steeping parameters recommended by Brenden and it yielded a gorgeous honey brown liquor.

The taste mostly honeyed wheat with a starchy mouthfeel. Mostly it reminded me of the crust of a loaf of freshly baked honey wheat bread. Sweet, but also savory. This is a very filling, warming cup.

After the leaves are steeped they unfurl and begin to smell almost fruity- specifically like the raisin notes of an assam. That could be because I smelled the Harmutty Assam tea earlier this morning so that scent is fresh on my mind, but I really do get that note from it. And I really like it.

This is quite, quite good. I don’t like it as much as I enjoyed the Jabberwocky, but having a straight Yunnan does allow me to see the characteristics it lends to that blend. Still, I did find it really warming, and as the cold weather will be around for a while yet I’m sure I will be drinking this again soon.

Thank you so much to beelicious for the generous sample of this tea!

I’ve been curious to try something from Whispering Pines ever since I joined Steepster and started reading all of the rave reviews. I even visited the website a few times, but I could never quite bring myself to order. I’m the kind of person who clips coupons and buys most of my wardrobe at thrift stores, after all…could this tea really be amazing enough to justify the high price tag?

Apparently, yes! Setting aside how adorable the dry leaf is, this is quite possibly the best straight black tea I’ve ever tasted. It is incredibly rich and full-bodied with a dense, malty flavor that’s delicious all by itself but I’m sure would also be amazing with milk. It has just a hint of sweetness to it and no bitterness or astringency at all that I noticed. And, on top of all that, it re-steeps beautifully with almost no reduction in flavor. I brewed this Western-style and got SEVEN delicious infusions before I was ready to move on (and I probably could have done more if I wasn’t anxious to try a different tea.)

Next time Whispering Pines has a sale, I think I’m going to have to break down and place an order…

As I’m on a roll with Whispering Pines teas at the moment, I decided to maintain the momentum. I received this as a sample with my last order, and, as I love Chinese black teas, I was pleased to have the opportunity to give it a try. The dry leaf is a beautiful thing; slightly downy bright golden swirls with brownish black edges, which really do bring to mind snail shells.

I followed the recommended parameters, and gave 1 tsp of leaf 3 minutes in boiling water. The resulting liquor is a medium red-brown, and the scent while brewing is sweetly malty with an edge of grain.

To taste, this one is a wonderfully smooth delight. The initial flavour is chocolate (I’d say milk, as it’s quite sweet and mild), followed by a lightly bready note. Freshly cooked, warm, yeasty bread. The sweetness is maintained into the mid sip, where there’s a wonderful maltiness, and the almost starchy flavour of sweet potato. The flavour deepens in the aftertaste, and I can detect a slightly darker, bittersweet note that works as the perfect counterpoint to the initial sweetness. Now it’s more like dark chocolate dusted with dry cocoa, but there’s absolutely no astringency.

I’ve come to really appreciate teas like this, which tick all the boxes for me in terms of flavours I enjoy in black tea. There are others I enjoy equally, but this is a strong contender and one I’d be happy to keep around long term.

I’m excited to be finally getting to sample more Whispering Pines teas, thanks to Lindsay.

Golden Snail is pretty lovely. Very rich tasting, with notes of cocoa, bittersweet chocolate, sweet potato, and malt. There’s a surprising floral note that pops up for just a moment mid sip, and then fades out to a malty sweetness.

Brewed according to directions, this is quite bitter, but it’s a very pleasant bitterness, the way that dark chocolate or olives are bitter. Only the mildest hints of astringency.

The only thing I’m not enjoying about this cup is the faint smell of feet after it cooled. What the heck? It isn’t affecting the taste at all, and disappears as soon as I pull my nose away from the cup, but it’s definitely there and weird.

Oh well. This is still totally drinkable and delicious.

In addition to my giant Lupicia box, I received my swap package from Christina and it is packed full of tasty teas. This was one of those teas and it is one I have wanted to try for a while. I mean, when its referred to as “Wee Snaily Yums”, how could my interest not be piqued.

With my first sip, I can certainly see why so many rave about this tea. It is smooth and silky, like honey and caramel but also a touch earthy, like the taste one would find in a sweet potato. It is good. Really good. And has a perfect touch of malt. Yum! So, thank you Christina for passing some along and also thank you to Ost for being the original supplier :P. This is one I will be seeking out again soon.