Yunnan Noir

I very much enjoyed this tea. Almost tasted like a lighter version of dark roast coffee

This is the 3rd black biluochun I have tried now. Its not the best, but its also not the worst.

It still has the flavor I am familiar with, almost bready like (I really need a better word) but this is still a little bit harsher than the Golden Snail I have loved for so many years. There is some astringency which isn’t bad hot, but becomes pronounced as it cools.

Its not bad, but not something I would be willing to switch to over my other option.

Lovely black tea. Brewed 2 grams tea in 8 oz water, 212F, 3 minutes. Bit of stevia and a slice fresh lemon added. Tea unfurls beautifully while steeping. Multiple steeps easily. Malty, slightly fruity taste with just a hint of spice. Love it!

Large leaf, hand-rolled. Slightly astringent, with flavors throughout the palate. For me, it starts with spice, moves into molasses, honey, and ends with stone fruit, particularly apricot. Lots of fun to drink! On first taste, tea is simple, and the complexity grows on the palate — I prefer complexity up front and throughout the palate.

Thanks to meowster for the sample of this one! When brewed properly, it tastes nice and malty and really almost like chocolate. Probably one of the best plain black teas I’ve tried!

I tried this at a friend’s house today. Delicious, smooth, and the tiniest bit smokey. This is a tea I would like in my collection someday.

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge – October Tea #8-A Chinese tea

As much as I didn’t want to finish this tea, I figured I would for this prompt.  I do love this one.  It’s rich and long lasting for its age.  I don’t think it was prime parameters for the way I was steeping this away from home – the flavor seemed a bit more muted than usual. But it is always funny how that sipdown steep session is almost always more delicious than usual, making you want to search out the tea and buy it again.  Teas are already impossible to sipdown as it is!   But this is a CLASSIC Chinese tea flavor profile – probably my favorite black tea type.  Thank you again, Meowster!
2022 sipdowns:  103

Well, I’ve just come back from my yearly vacation to Boise for Anime Oasis! This is one of the few times a year I get to meet up with my best friend Todd who lives in the Bay Area of California, and we had a most harmoneous tea exchange; my last order from 52Teas was a combo order with some things he wanted so I was able to give him his things, and since I don’t have a DAVIDsTEA anywhere in my area and he does, he picked up a few things for me and brought them along. I also was able to clear out a few of my leftover samplers and some of my chamomile-heavy teas on him, as he likes those. My cupboard was doing pretty well before the trip… but then I visited Snake River Tea, and now it’s about where it was before… heheheheh…

Since the convention takes place at a hotel that is right next door to a tea shop, every day it is custom for us to stop in and share a pot of tea! The first day we stepped in to Snake River Tea, the barista saw me and proclaimed, “Hey, you’re the person who bought all that tea last year!” I answered, “I don’t mean to add to your retail PTSD, but I plan to buy more this year! Don’t worry though, it won’t be as bad as last year, my cupboard is getting a bit out of hand at home!” I did keep my word though, and restrained myself to only ten teas this year, not including the pots I sampled in-shop. And the barista was so nice, he even added a free pu-erh stuffed tangerine because I’m such a good customer.

So this pot was from my first visit, and I ordered the Yunnan Noir, which I am fairly certain is sourced from Adagio. I’ve been on a Chinese black kick, and I needed a lot of caffeine for the first day of the convention! I really enjoyed the tea; it was a hardy black, reminding me of the sort of tea suitable for breakfast time (even though I was having it as a late afternoon pick-up!), but it was very smooth with no bitterness or astringency (which is part of the reason why I tend to find I prefer Chinese blacks in general over Indian blacks). This was a very malty tea, and had a very smoky taste on the finish, and I picked up just the slightest touch of a stonefruit note at the back of the tongue. The tea had a very subtle sweetness, but mostly the tea comes off with a smooth robustness void of bitter or astringent notes.

A great yunnan, robust and roasty, but nothing I crave.

Strong black tea. Quite astringent.