It looks like I’m slowly and methodically going through all my RiverTeas. This one is Number 3 of 10.
I’ve had a few other Yunnans beside this one – Simple Loose Leaf’s Yunnan Breakfast Black and Rishi’s Golden Yunnan – so it’s interesting to try this in comparison.
I steeped this one for about 3.5 minutes, and it tastes fairly light/smooth. There was no astringency, but also none of the really malty, cocoa notes I’ve been told to expect from Yunnans. I wonder how it will be if I resteep it for 5 minutes.
I will say that the dry leaf looks and smells lovely – it’s sweet and haylike, and looks almost like a black version of Bi Luo Chun because of the golden colour, the long strands, and the slight fuzziness.
If it doesn’t work out, at least I’ve got some perfect tea for my mother, who just wants plain ol’ black tea.
EDIT: I did resteep it for five minutes, but the resulting brew was nothing special. It was a lovely dark brown colour, but there wasn’t much flavour. This seems like a one-steep tea to me, with a longer steep being ideal. In that sense, it would probably make a good, no-nonsense tea for the mornings, since it’s not that challenging. I wonder how it would handle gongfu brewing, though.
