Yunnan Gongfu Fragrant Black Tea

For the sipdown prompt, “A tea you are thankful for.” Honestly, I could use any Chinese black for that prompt, but this meets my age criteria. I have, shockingly, prepared it gong fu… it seems wrong somehow not to when it’s in the actual name of the tea. Not my preferred method of brewing, but on a rainy weekend when I have the time to slowly savor a tea through several infusions, it is fitting…

180ml (mini teapot) | 5.6g | 205F | 15s/20s/25s/30s/35s/40s

This is definitely a very frangrant tea… the steeped tea smells of malt, citrus, smoked wood, and leather. It tastes that way, too… very brisk with a dark, bittersweet quality, with a flavor that is malty, smoky, and leathery with a slight peppery edge and a little citrus quality in the aftertaste. The second steep is a bit smoother, with some of the leathery/peppery notes toned down and a slight florality peeking through. Perhaps even a hint of a muscatel note. The fruity and floral notes popped a bit more by the third steep, with a sort of citrusy orange aftertaste, but the darker malty/woody flavors continued to dominate. The briskness of the tea paired well with my very-sweet breakfast of off-brand PopTarts (thanks tea-sipper, I blame that impulse grocery purchase on you!)

Very tasty, ticked all the boxes of a Chinese black.

Sipdown 41-2021
Sad to see this one go, but I will probably repurchase in the future. Such a nice, easy drinking Yunnan.

Sipdown! (52)

Another tea from my endless pile of Teavivre samples!

This one falls a bit flat after having their Golden Tips version a few days ago… Don’t get be wrong, it’s a nice enough Yunnan tea. There are notes of soft baked bread and a bit of sweet potato on top of an earthy, mineral base. I find gentle hints of smoke as well, and a touch of caraway. The end of the sip is a bit more interesting, with some light fruity notes that remind me of plum and dried cherry. A hint of molasses or brown sugar there as well.

It was a pleasant cuppa to start my day! I’ve been trying to get up earlier (7:00) to get more “me” time out of my day, as I always feel like the evening slips away from me. It certainly helps to have a nice Teavivre black tea to start off with! :)

Ooooh! Malt! Stonefruit! And lovely honeyed sweet potato earthy sweetness.

And a wee bit of harshness, gently softened by sweet potato, at the back of the throat at the tail end of the sip.

This is delicious and a most excellent start to my day. And a lovely continuation throughout the day as well.

Thank you, Angel, for the sample. Much appreciated.

The dry leaves are long and twisted with golden tips. The liquor is an orange-reddish color. It started off with the Yunnan black tea notes, the malt, baked bread, freshly baked bread, sweetness, particularly the sweet potatoes. Very nice smooth and mellow beginning, fragrant. The mouthfeel was soft, there was some honey, sugar-cane sweetness that traveled down my throat, lingering there. In the beginning, it was toasty, malty, sweet potatoes, wood, cocoa notes, and a couple of infusions down the road, there were some nutty notes.

As I continued through the infusions, stonefruits and dried fruits came out. In the end, it transformed into something different. It was complex, and it did remind me of an aged raw pu’er as some other reviews mentioned, perhaps because of the astringency but also because of the mouthfeel and throat-feel, new fruit notes.

For $9.90 for 3.5 oz, this is a bargain for such a good tea.

Gaiwan, 194°F, 110ml, 8 steeps: rinse, 5s, 7s, 9s, 12s, 18s, 28s, 35s, 45s (I kind of sorta followed TeaVivre recommendation. I lost it at the end though lol).

Nice smooth taste, sweet aftertaste

tea from today and a sipdown. Day 1 on my own today so i wanted a straight black to kick off my day earlier. Figured i might as well try to make progress on my cupboard so that eventually i’ll have no teas and HAVE to order some haha. Still think this one is relatively uninspiring, but a decent enough cup.

Final Count: 30

I assume at this stage of the game you can brew a pot. Yunnan Gongfu tastes much like a Darjeeling, fruity the first few brews with tones of mango and later honeydew and grapefruit in the finish. Successive brews calm to a more subtle cup- assam like in character.

This tea is very fragrant, especially during the first two steepings. The aroma of tropical fruit, lychee, flowers, peaches. The color is very satisfying: deep amber.

The taste is quite mild and largely follows the nose. I somehow expected a bolder taste. Make sure not oversteep it since it acquires the rougher bitterness that crowds out milder floral notes. In the third steeping and later the floral notes are largely replaced with apricot, honey, and almond.

It is a very forgiving tea and comes out well in a gaiwan, grandpa style or the typical western method. I came to like it as a daily drinker because what eslse do you need for that but a tea that fragrant, good tasting, not harsh and goes well with almost any kind of mood? It has been growing on me steadily.

I will add it to the beloved keemun hao ya as my daily staple. It has the same robustness and is perfect as a morning tea. Will certainly order again.

Many years ago, I had such enormous faith in the quality of music by The Beatles (still my all-time favorite band), that I would buy their new record albums (the vinyl kind) before I heard any of the songs. I was never disappointed. I always loved every track on every album.

During the last six years, I have grown to have the same confidence in teas by Teavivre. I’ve tried a lot of their teas and I don’t remember ever being disappointed. So, for the first time, I actually bought a pound of this Yunnan Gongfu Fragrant Black Tea without seeing, smelling, or tasting it. My wife expressed skepticism and astonishment when I told her I sent our hard earned money all the way to China for a whole pound of a product I never even sampled! I gently assured my more sensible half that she need not worry. I know what I’m doing (I hope).

When the pound arrived, it was shipped and packaged in five 3.5-ounce silver zip bags. So, it is in reality a total of 17.5 ounces- more than a pound. I decided not to convey this fact to my sweet spouse just yet.

After consolidating the five bags into one tall metal container, I noticed the sweet and fragrant aroma (hence its name) of the long black leaves with golden accompaniments. The smell was like honey and chocolate.

I steeped the leaves for five minutes at 195 degrees. These settings were within Teavivre’s recommended brewing range. The resulting liquor was a deep amber color. The aroma was sweet like honey.

As I hopefully and optimistically took my first small sips, my palate was flooded with the sensations of honey and chocolate. These flavors were perfectly blended and the entire experience was smooth as silk with no astringency lurking under the covers. Through my entire first and second cups, the very pleasant tastes remained consistent, smooth, and steady. The aftertaste was light and amiable. It seemed to softly dangle on my tongue until it tenderly dissipated.

I am very pleased (and relieved) to report that this is another exquisite tea from the folks at Teavivre which I highly recommend. If you like sweet, smooth, and full-bodied black teas (and who doesn’t?), you will love this one. Now I will tell my wife how brilliant her husband is to purchase 17.5 ounces of this terrific tea! ;-)