Yunnan Gongfu Fragrant Black Tea

A sample from Teavivre. I’ve been excited to try this one for a while, since Yunnan teas are a favourite of mine. Somehow, though, I’ve just never got around to it. Call it life, maybe. Today is as good a day as any, besides.

I used 1 tsp of leaf for my cup, and gave it 3 minutes in almost-boiling water. The scent is malt and honey with a hint of chocolate, and the taste is similar – it’s always nice to find a tea that lives up to its scent! The initial sip is brown sugar and malt, but a dark chocolate flavour develops in the mid-sip and lingers nicely. It’s super-smooth, with absolutely no bitterness or astringency. I’ll be resteeping this one!

Here’s Hoping TTB

What a fantastic start to my tea box sampling adventure! The flavor is sweet and fruity (almost wine-like) and the mouthfeel is silky smooth, reminding me of an oolong. Love!

Sampled from the Here’s Hoping TTB.

Had a gongfu session with a porcelain gaiwan. Gave the leaf a quick rinse. Followed the website’s instructions: 5 seconds, 7, 9, 12, 18, 28, 28, etc.

Not only is the leaf richly aromatic all around, but the aroma is intriguingly complex. The dry leaf has notes of molasses, brown, sugar, sweet potato, and a bit of malt. Sitting in the pre-heated gaiwan, the leaf aroma then becomes sour and sweet – like raisins and cranberries – and also has a fragrance of freshly baked bread. The wet leaf aroma is similar, smelling of fresh cranberry muffins.

The liquor is bright golden-orange, clear, and medium-bodied. While the aroma of the Dian Hong is complex, the taste is much simpler. The flavors do evolve with a gongfu session, but each infusion yields an uncomplicated brew. The first cup is light in flavor, with the sour cranberry note making an appearance. Beginning with the second cup, the flavors are more developed. The second tastes purely of sweet potato. The third and fourth are creamy in texture, bread-like, woody, and sweet potato-like. With cups five through seven, the flavors undergo a drastic change. This Dian Hong shifts from classic sweet potato to a sweet/fruity hongcha. The aftertaste, throughout the session, is very short-lived.

I recommend this to hongcha/Dian Hong lovers and especially beginners to hongcha. As someone who probably appreciates aroma more than taste, I loved this. But since I also evaluate taste by similar weight, I found this to be alright – not spectacular. It’s easy-going. I did enjoy what I had, though I wouldn’t purchase. To more experienced drinkers, this might suit your fancy more than mine.

Dry leaf has aroma notes of licorice, chocolate, and fruit.

Brewed tea has a buttery aroma with fruit and musk-like notes. Muscatel and caramel sweetness on the sip. Medium to thin mouthfeel. Dark chocolate notes in the aftertaste.

I bought this earlier in the year and I’ve tried it a few times. However, I should have noticed the ‘gongfu’ in the name and realized that was where the magic would be. I don’t steep teas with the gongfu method, I use the western method. I’m sure this one would taste much different using gongfu. All of those wonderful reviews from others sure set the expectations high! The leaves here are very large and twisted with hints of gold. The dried leaves have the scent of lovely dried hay. The flavor is neither a light yunnan or a dark yunnan. It’s somewhere in the middle. The flavors are tough to describe, mostly bittersweet chocolate with hints of wine. I guess I like a honey Yunnan or a deep dark chocolate Yunnan. This one is in between both of those flavor profiles, so isn’t as special to me as other teas (again, probably because I’m not using the gongfu method of steeping.) I have plenty of other black teas I love from Teavivre though.
Steep #1 // 2 teaspoons for a full mug// 10 minutes after boiling // 2 1/2 minute steep
Steep #2 // couple minutes after boiling // 4 minute steep
Harvest: 2015

This tea has a toasted bread aroma and a nice sweetness to it. The tea is malty and tastes of rye bread. It is good but forgettable.

I have to apologize to Angel from Teavivre, I received these free samples over two months ago and I am just getting to them now.

As always Teavivre and Angel were so generous to offer to send me free tea samples, which I do greatly appreciate.

I did a kind of mixed gongfu and western style. Lala style I guess. Ha ha. I used the whole 7g package and steeped it for about 45 seconds.

The tea is sweet, thick, bready. There is no astringency or bitterness. It is somewhat malty. Very fresh tasting. This tea is very fragrant, definitely has a strong smell of roasted sweet potatoes. It is very distinctively Yunnan in its flavour.

It does get a tiny bit astringent as it cools, but not in a bad way.

Thanks again Angel!

Thank you for the sample Teavivre!
This tea is certainly fragrant! It smells delicious, like sweet potatoes and brown sugar with a hint of cocoa.
The taste translates fairly well into the taste, but maybe a little milder than I expected. The cocoa notes aren’t as strong as I would have liked based on the taste but it is a lovely cuppa. The sweet potatoe/molasses notes last throughout the resteep as well.
I used the whole packet which was about 2T

Another sample courtesy of Teavivre!

The moment I open the packet, I can smell why they call this one “Fragrant”. Wow! Bright, sweet notes of stonefruit, clean hay, fresh cut grass, and sweet potato. I can already tell this is going to be a new Teavivre favorite. Their yunnans really are something else.

The long narrow leaves brew up to a lovely reddish amber. Upon tasting, I notice that the flavor is heartier than the aroma. It has a satisfying, bread-like note in addition to the stonefruit and other flavors. The end of a sip is what tea so interesting, though. On the exhale, you really do get a fragrant, sweet smell/taste that is wonderful. I’m not sure how to describe it, exactly. It’s smooth and complex at the same time. Highly recommended.

Here I sit, drinking black tea after 11 pm. Why would anyone do that? Because they are covered in poison ivy and have been for almost three weeks and new patches are still appearing and pretty soon a Benadryl is going to send them to LaLa Land regardless of how much caffeine has been consumed.

I am glad it is a really good black tea. I need something to pay attention to other than the infuriating itching of my arm.

I really get strong honey notes this time. An earlier tasting of a previous harvest (I think it was a different year!) had molasses notes to me, but this is strong honey. There is a high baked fruit flavor that is making me crave some baked peach dumplings right now. I made this western style but I think the rest of the leaves are going to get the grand treatment tomorrow, with a full on gong fu session.