Tippy South Cloud

Thank you, TeaEqualsBliss for sending me some of this tea.

Yet another example of why I think Tao of Tea is an extraordinary tea company. This Yunnan is a very pleasant cup, indeed. It is a perfect tea for this lovely Saturday afternoon. Strong but not aggressive and a fantastic malty quality.

Very nice.

The dry aroma sort of reminded me of a lighter darjeeling type scent. Post infusion is a bit flatter in aroma but it has a nut-like smell to it as well.

The color is dark and bold.

The taste is well rounded and about medium strength for a black tea. It’s pretty smooth. Not astringent at all! What a soothing and simple yet tasty black tea! YUM!

Had this favorite this morning. It is always very good. A great go-to tea when you need a great no-surprises tea that is there time after time. It’s a really mellow golden yunnan tea that is less strong than some of the golden yunnans out there. If you aren’t sure you will like a golden yunnan, go for this one. Flavor is delicious!

I first tasted this tea on a trip to Portland, Or at the Lan Su Chinese Garden. While the tour of the garden was a bit of a bore, I can highly recommend the garden’s tea house. It’s an oasis for tea lovers! In said tea house, they offer up the best from The Tao of Tea. One of the tea’s I tried on that given day was Tippy South Cloud. I liked it then, and I still like it now.

Right of the bat, I can state this organic black yunnan is of very good quality. The dry leaf emits a dusty sweet potato-like scent, while the wet leaf exudes a very friendly earthiness. The liquor has a warmer sweetness to it’s smell as compared to the typical yunnan. Tasting this tea, it’s not overly strong, but is mildly dense. There is a pleasant sweetness throughout the sip. I can best describe the sweetness as caramel-like. It has absolutely none of the bitterness that can sometimes translate from a lesser quality yunnan. The relatively mild strength combined with the caramel-like sweetness balances out to a very satisfying overall sip.

While The Tao of Tea recommends on it’s tin to brew this at 185, I personally liked the results better brewing it at 200. It’s slightly stronger with the higher temperature, but it’s all a matter of taste.

If you happen to visit Portland, skip the line at Voodoo Doughnut, and instead go for a tea tasting at the Lan Su Chinese Garden. If you can’t make the trip, do the next best thing and order some of this tea.

pretty average cup this morning. Just letting the bag steep while I sip on the rest, when it comes to teas like this the longer it sits the more bitter, which at times I find really enjoyable.

Time to make another effort to reduce the number of backlogged reviews. I polished off a one ounce pouch of this tea a couple weeks ago. I found it to be a very respectable, approachable Yunnan black tea.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a very quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose leaf material in 4 ounces of 200 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 14 subsequent infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry leaf material emitted aromas of honey, cedar, and citrus. After the rinse, I discovered new scents of roasted nuts, wood, cream, and malt. The first proper infusion brought out touches of spice and pine. In the mouth, I found notes of citrus, malt, cream, wood, roasted chestnut, and honey with slight undertones of smoke and chocolate before a mostly nutty, malty finish. Subsequent infusions brought out the cedar and pine in the mouth, as well as clear touches of orange zest and stronger smoke and chocolate flavors. I also began to pick up notes of caramel, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, raisins, dates, bread, minerals, and red apple. The later infusions offered fleeting impressions of bread, malt, and minerals with hints of roasted chestnut and orange zest. There was a brief hit of brown sugar sweetness that lingered on the tongue after the swallow.

For the price, this was a rock solid Yunnan black tea. Though it was not quite as smooth or as sophisticated as some others I have tried, for what this was, it was very nice. I didn’t take notes, but I also brewed this as an iced tea and it was good. I definitely think this could make a very good introduction to Yunnan black teas for those who are curious or a reliably good, consistent budget brew for regular consumption.

This one came from miss cookies. She sent me several Tao of Tea samples, which made me very happy since I was curious about the company. Thanks cookies! This one has somewhat broken leaves, and they’re a dark greyish brown with a few golden tips. Dry scent is mostly dry hay with a lot of sweetness, almost as if there’s honey involved.

The steeped tea smells somewhat smoky, which I was not expecting. Hmm, I think this tea is not for me. It’s not horrible or anything, but it’s definitely quite earthy. There’s also a touch of wood, along with mineral and slightly smoky notes. Not my favorite flavor profile… Maybe there’s a touch of malt? On a positive note, there’s no bitterness or astringency here, which is appreciated. :)

I really like this one. It’s incredibly flavorful with tons of interesting notes hiding throughout the sip. Orange zest, sugarcane, potato and sweet potato a bit of undistinguishable spice… maybe pepper? And it’s a bit astringent. Not especially bitter but drying on my tongue. It’s not at all an unpleasant astringency.
If I hadn’t read the description I wouldn’t have guessed this was a Yunnan. It seems to have the mouthfeel of an Assam with a taste somewhere in between that and a Yunnan. Really unique and delightful. So far I’ve been extremely pleased with Tao of Tea’s products. I wonder why they aren’t more popular around these parts?

Little tiny, cut and curled twisted black leaves with scents of bourbon and orange.
The brewed leaves reveal that they have been very precisely chopped small and have a fall reddish brown green color to them.
The liquor is red and smells very sweet and malty yumm. Malt is one scent but there are also hints of orange and bourbon as well.
The flavor is smooth, sweet potato, roasted potato skins, malt, bit of bourbon and orange. The flavors get better and better as the tea cools a bit. There is an ever so tiny tiny bit of astringency to the back of the throat so to wash this away, I will steep for 2 or 2 1/2 minutes next time because I don’t drink tea with milk or additives. It is hardly astringent at three minutes though, this is a very smooth and delicious red tea.
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5/16/14
Had a cup this morning and it was sweet and luscious,,,wasn’t catching any astringency this time as I read my notes from last time. Maybe it has mellowed out in the bag now that I have opened it. This is an all-around good, subtly sweet black tea :)
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7/8/14
Didn’t add the origin when I first started Steepster so this one is from
Cangyuan, Yunnan, China and it is Organic — The appearance of the dry leaf and wet leaf look like an Indian tea. The leaves are chopped looking and have the multi hues of browns and greens.
The scent is bourbon and light orange and the liquor looks the color of light bourbon. This is a unique Yunnan tea and doesn’t have the typical malty notes that Yunnan teas usually have. I looked up where Cangyuan is in China and it is very close to the border of Burma and this is probably why. I like that this tea has different qualities and influences. It really has essences and notes of Bourbon. Yum Yum lol. I really am enjoying this tea now that I have tried lots of Yunnan teas and am able to compare it to those from other areas.
Tao of Tea’s website includes that Tippy South Cloud is a varietal of plant and that few areas in Yunnan contain these type of plants. Other areas known to have golden tipped varietals Hunan and Fujian in China and Assam in India.
Tippy South Cloud is special during late summer months. Since it is a heavily oxidized (darker) tea, it maintains its flavor well over the months.
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7/10/14
Having a bit of this Western style this morning. So rich and almost tangy today. Put 2 heaping teaspoons into my teapot to brew 2 cups. 190F for 3 minutes. A bourbon flavor with a malty scent. It does have touches of an Assam quality to it as well with a tiny tiny hint of a bitter note with bittersweet chocolate quality to it. This tea is very intriguing in its flavor and where it comes from. Plus it’s organic! Love it!

4.27g in 4.5oz of water.

Sweet and mellow with loam and malt notes. This is exactly what I adore about Yunnan teas. I always feel like I should be sitting in a summer forest when I’m drinking this.