This is an extremely pretty tea to look at, with the nice little golden curls. It’s named appropriately. And I am a HUGE fan of Yunnan teas in general, I loved Yunnan Jig and Yunnan Gold from Adagio, so this is the next logical step. It was out of stock when I wanted it the first time so I put in an order then and then forgot about it until last week when I got a random email from Adagio saying my order had shipped. What order? But it all made sense again when it arrived. This one actually comes in a tin, which is nice. I will probably be going through it pretty quickly though, which is unfortunate, considering the high price, because Adagio recommends 2 level teaspoons for a cup of tea, rather than the one I usually use. I think I’ll be able to get a TON of resteeps out of this though, considering how absolutely dark the first steep came out. And Strong.
The flavour is pepper and malt and tobacco and leather and sweet potato and other things I can’t identify. A very complex brew with a full body. This is something of a POW IN THE FACE tea, so probably best for in the morning rather than in the afternoon when I’m drinking it right now. And in the morning lets you resteep it all day so there’s more time. I’m always a bit wary of letting tea leaves sit overnight after a brew. I know there’s nothing really wrong with doing that, except it turns the brew basket brown eventually, and I’m not even afraid of germs but for some reason I get the oogies when I think about it.
Anyway back to the tea, I really like this tea, but compared to Yunnan Gold from the same company, I’m not sure it’s worth the increase in price. Actually I’m pretty sure it’s not. But it was worthwhile to buy it to try once. This is my first tea from Adagio’s Master line of teas.
Second steep, added a bit more sugar this time. Seriously I think this is one of the thickest mouthfeels I’ve had in possibly ever.