Black Sunshine

Thank you, Shae, for this sample. Not sure what the octopus legs are about in the picture. I don’t sense any marine attributes. The wet leaf has some gentle woodsy attributes that are very nice though. Old cabin in the woods, mossy wet logs deep in the forest, and cedar. This is a light black. Not brisk but it does contain a good tap of astringency if you go over the steeping parameters. The flavor is very woody. A slight hint of malt and malt o meal. Old, dry, decaying wood. A bit of resin and varnish in the aftertaste. You could add milk but I don’t think this one is quite strong enough.

Samurai TTB #10

For some reason, based on the name, I was expecting this to be a flavored blend. But it’s actually just a really nice, well-rounded black tea blend. Notes of malt, smoke, and a little bit of fruitiness. Not sure it exactly matches the name (it brewed up DARK for a tea called “sunshine!”) but tasty!

From the Samurai TTB
I brewed this up strong and it doesn’t disappoint. The first steep was a bit more complex with malty and peppery notes, as well as a tart berry aftertaste. A good example of what a black Yunnan tea should be. The second steep is approaching bitterness, and has lost some of its complexity, but is still drinkable.
A very nice cup indeed.

I was reminded that I had purchased this tea and never tried it when I saw a note from amandastory516. I’ve enjoyed all the teas I’ve had from Andrews & Dunham, so I’m not sure why this one got left out in the cold! Poor little thing.

It looks to be a mix of darker, smaller leaf and larger, golden-tipped Yunnan teas. Dry scent is very earthy. I saw the recommendation to steep in boiling water for 5 minutes and promptly ignored it for my own preferred parameters, because I’m arrogant like that. :P Maybe I’ll try their parameters in the future, just to compare.

I find this tea to be pleasant enough, but unremarkable. And really, in my experience with A&D, they do generally make very reliable, daily-drinking sort of teas. But in this tea’s case, I think it has a slight disadvantage, as I have tried many Yunnan teas in the past.

The dominant note here is a very mineral, earthy flavor, with a hint of smokiness behind it. I get a bit of wood and tobacco as well, which are nice complements to the main flavor. There’s perhaps a hint of dried fruit, like raisin or date, in the aftertaste.

I tend to love bready and sweet potato-y Yunnan teas, and I’m not really getting either of those notes here. For darker Chinese blacks, I prefer Fujian varieties. So this one just misses the mark for me a little as it’s fairly one-note without a ton of depth to it.

Ah well, it’s not bad! Just also not great in my opinion, especially compared to other Yunnan teas I enjoy.

TTB. Really solid black tea. Tastes like a berry danish- notes of berries, and baked bread. Glad I got to try it!

additional notes: Steeping up a cup or two of this in honor of a wonderful short story collection I just finished reading: ’I’m Fine, but you Appear to Be Sinking’ by Leyna Krow. I love underappreciated treasure box short story collections. There are plenty of squid in this book. Am I just now realizing the big sickle shaped yunnan leaves here have probably inspired the tentacles in the photo? I think this tea is growing on me… or my aging black teas are mostly faded at this point, so maybe the Aging Better teas are raising in my estimation? I can almost pick apart the flavors of the different type leaves in this one.

Black blends have intrigued me for a bit now; when done well, they can combine the best characteristics of multiple teas into a deliciously complex cup. That’s what I hoped for here, and it delivers. This tastes to me like a combination of a solid, malty Chinese black, with some pu’erh and a bit of white tea. I have no idea what’s in it, but it’s quite tasty. A touch smoky, pleasantly earthy, a bit of sweet hay. Pretty smooth despite the flavour suggesting to me that I might have overleafed a tad.

Thanks so much for sharing, Roswell Strange!

First A&D tea! Thank you Cameron B. :D

The dark leaves had brassy orange-ish-gold tips. The first couple of infusions had quite a bit of smoke, campfire as someone accurately said in another review. I got very little malt flavor at this point and became slightly dry, different spice notes like pepper and cinnamon. In later infusions, I got some malty sweet notes, slight sweetness in the finish. The more infusions, the more malt came out, some cocoa notes. I’m thinking that this would be better as A&D suggested, a long steep like 5 minutes vs Gongfu style.

I don’t know how pricey or whether it’s inexpensive but I would classify this as a good daily drinker type if it’s not expensive.

Porcelain gaiwan, 4g, 212°F, 110ml, rinse, 8 steeps: 10s, 20s, 30s, 45s, 55s, 65s, 75s, 120s

Wow. Just. Wow.

Yunnan is my favorite black tea, and I didn’t realize this was Yunnan until I opened the tin.

The dry leaves are long, beautiful, and dark with silvery tips. They have a malty, baked goods smell. The steep very red, a dark cherry color. The tea smells like baked bread with a touch of…. pepper?

I’m not getting smoke in the flavor as others are, but perhaps that is because I am nose and taste blind to smoke right now because of the air quality here in the SF Bay Area following the Camp Fire. I understand why some might call it smokey though. For me, it’s more of a character than a flavor.

I do get a baked goods flavor with the depth that is hard to describe and I find characteristic of Yunnan (I also find it in some red wines). The tea has pleasant aftertaste. Not really sweet, but not sour or bitter either.

I don’t find it heavy or woody either, like some others have noted.

It’s just a really, really nice Yunnan blend.

I love this tea. I love smokey/baked goods-y black teas. I was hoping that I could score another tin with the free shipping promo going on now BUT ALAS. I was tempted to get a back-up Double Knit Blend but…I haven’t even opened the one I have yet. shrugs