Yun Nan Dian Hong Black Tea Full-Leaf

I really enjoy this tea. I also love Teavivre’s yun nan dian hong golden tip. It’s hard to say which I prefer, but it doesn’t matter, cuz I have plenty of both right now! :)

I have been looking forward to this yunnan ever since my tea samples came to me. The leaves were long and slender. They wouldn’t play nicely with my flat bamboo tea spoon, so I just filled the bottom of my press with leaves. The brew is nice and dark brown. It looks like a solid black tea and I could probably fool some of my friends into thinking this was coffee. It is that dark at just three minutes.

The second steep (4 mins) is just as delicious as the first (3 mins). Bold and roasty. The second steep has a slight undertone of chocolate that I love with this tea. I keep timing my teas wrong. This is a good tea to wake up with in the morning. It is slightly heavy tasting for the afternoon, but I adore it anyway. Maybe the promise of this in the morning will actually get me out of bed earlier so I can make it.

Later… third steep at 4 and a half minutes. The flavor isn’t as strong, but it is still tasty. I think I only like doing two steepings for yunnan blacks because I like them stronger.

SIPDOWN! turns out this was on my shopping list of teas to try which i noticed this afternoon so thank you terri for knocking one off that list even though i didn’t realise it the first time i had it :) Still a really enjoyable cup of tea. It’s unassuming but delicious and found a way to have me drink it up right quickly when i had it.

My smallish Teavivre order has arrived! I couldn’t help it with a $16 in coupons & reward points! I had to steep this one up first, to make sure I didn’t dislike it. After placing my order, I kind of wished I had ordered the Keemun instead of this one, as I was drinking it at the time of the order being placed and kind of fell in love with it like never before… hopefully I won’t regret this one! Teavivre’s steep instructions are 1-2 teaspoons at 194 degrees with a rinse and 1,2,3 min steep times.

Steep #1 // 13 min after boiling // 2 min
This one is tough to measure with long wirey black leaves with touches of gold. After they were in the brew basket, it looked more than two teaspoons. The cup is a medium dark copper color. Luckily, this one is delicious enough. It’s like dark chocolate and sweet potatoes.. so kind of like Verdant’s Laoshan Black but I like this ones deeper flavor. This one lingers so nicely! Why am I always mentioning Laoshan when I love so many other teas more? I’ve tried the Yun Nan Dian Hong Golden Tip from Teavivre. The difference between the two: this one has less golden color, a higher steep temp (and this one is less pricey). Flavor difference: this one is much more dark chocolate while the Golden is much more sweet potato. I think both have their place, but I’m partial to dark chocolate.

Steep #2 // 15 min after boiling // 3 min
I accidentally waited too long for this steep to cool, so the flavor isn’t as nice as if I waited a shorter time than the last. I like the second cup, but it doesn’t have the magic of the first. Not as strong of a flavor but that’s my fault.

I think I’ve adored every Teavivre tea I’ve tried. I just wish they sold their teas in smaller amounts than 100 grams so I could buy many more varieties at the same time. Not disappointed in buying this one, since both teas have the dark chocolate notes I love(even if the Keemun would have been a nice choice). At this point I think I have three teaspoons of various Keemuns though! Oh no! Keemun shortage!

After my experience with Teavivre’s Yun Nan Dian Hong golden tips, I couldn’t wait to give this a try. The leaves were longer and darker than their other yunnan, and the tea brewed to a darker amber/brown. The scent is all around stronger, still fruity, but more robust and sweet.

I think this is what I’ll be ordering next time. While I love how smooth and pure the golden tips are, this stronger, heartier tea is what I was looking for. It’s dark and gorgeous and complex without being bitter or smoky. Something I could wake up to on a daily basis. Hello, new favorite black tea.

Sipdown! Finished the last of this today. I’d wager this is still my favourite black tea from Teavivre. Nice honey and cocoa notes. I made some for hubby today after we came in from the rain outside. This tea, plus the space heater by our table and desk made it nice and cozy. Low on sugar, for my second steep, I used maple syrup, and whoa dude! Serious noms!!

Why are their tea names so long? I don’t know. It’s a bit annoying, but hey, words, whatever.

Thanks so much to James R for the sample of this! Apparently it’s much like Teavana’s Golden Lotus. Cool.

The leaves are beautiful – really long and thin and beautifully silky. They’re like little tubes. Many of them are a bright dandelion gold, and some of them are bronze and black. It’s so nice to see such a wide variety of colors in a bag of tea.

The first steep is rich, dark and malty. I drank it while it was probably still a bit too hot, and while driving, so I suppose I can’t really comment too much on it. But it was full and promising.

The second steep, I didn’t steep for very long – I poured water over and let it steep until I had finished packing my bag for class. That was also malty, but there was a beautiful natural sweetness to it, especially as it cooled. On my last sip I got a whiff of marshmallow.

Third steep. The tea starts turning bronzey-orange as I pour the water over the leaves. Beautiful. I smell some of that sweetness I picked up at the end of the last steep – I’m not sure I’d go for marshmallow right now – but a cinnamon sort of graham cracker? Maybe I just have s’mores on the brain. Dunno. But I’m starting to get some roasty notes from here, almost like a dark oolong. I didn’t steep this one for very long either – too impatient.

This tea’s too good!

Setup:

- Vessel: Glass teapot 250ml (3 Oz)
- Leaf: 7.8 grams
- Water: 90 C
- Time: 1m, 2m, 3m

Leaf & Infusion:

Dry leaf – The leaf is one of the most wholesome I’ve ever encountered. Leaves are long, needle-shaped with vibrant golden tips and dull black leaves. Ratio of buds and leaf is 50/50, and leaf shows some of that golden hair too, making more of a impressive display. Leaves air of citrus and cooked potato skin and when hot air is introduced intensive molasses note appear along with blooming undertones.

Wet leaf – This is where the wholeness of leaf is accentuated, along with fat texture and veins exposed. The overall aroma is of citrus and potato skin with blooming hints. The molasses part quickly escapes as the leaves cool.

Infusion(1m) – First infusions is very bright and clear with orange-coppery tone and rising aromas of molasses and potato skin. The liquor is initially light, but as it smoothly slides down the tongue it develops more of medium body and pleasant potato-molasses finish mentioned earlier. Few sips later show hints of bitterness, astringency excluded, and peppery film on tongue, a trademark of Yunnan black teas. The aftertaste is long lasting and molasses develop into more caramel type, and blooming notes are more pronounced here as well.

Infusion(2m) – Second infusions brings this tea to more of a breakfast type: full-bodied, rich in taste and very pleasing. As it cools down some new notes develop, honey-sweet and fruity-sour impression is quite notable at finish. It reminds of Assam and Keemun to certain extent.

Infusion(3m) – Third cup is still rich in flavor and aroma but the decline is notable. Tea shifts back to medium body and keeps a lot of sweet and blooming elements from previous steep. The potato-citrus duo, however, has almost completely diminished. The aftertaste strongly resembles of Keemun when peppery sensation is thrown aside.

Conslusion – Most satisfying Dian Hong, very rich and clean with many changes involved in successive infusions.

I find that I crave a nice cup of Chinese black in the mornings. It’s just a lovely way to start the day. I love the preserved plum flavor in this one. The lingering maltiness.

As I mature in my tea adventure, I find myself not appreciating teas as much as I used to. It’s such a shame. I’ll drink while reading or working and I just don’t notice the nuances anymore. I try to put time aside for a new tea to truly appreciate it, but my schedule is not what it used to be. When I started my tea adventure, I was unemployed and my husband wasn’t out of the house all day going to work and then school. While I’m grateful to be employed and happy that husband’s continuing education will open up opportunities for him, I really miss having TIME. Time to just do nothing or focus on hobbies.

Anyway! Good tea!

This was another one in our mini tea party/tea tasting. I wanted her to try a plain old black tea. I probably should have made her a ceylon or something, but that’s just so boring. Anyway, neither of us were too enthralled and actually dumped out the second steep as there just wasn’t too much going on with this one and a lot more other tea left to drink. But she did make a connection I hadn’t made. The wet leaf smells like, in her words, “what it smells like outside of Full Sail Brewing when you and dad think it smells so good cause they are brewing beer.” And you know what? She was right! That’s exactly what it smells like!