Imperial Gold Buds

Wowza! This has got to be one of, if not, the best black teas I’ve ever had. I only got a sample but will definitely buy more than a sample next time. It brews a beautiful “gold” color. The aroma is mesmerizing, chocolate. The taste, as if you were putting a piece of 70% cacao dark chocolate directly in your mouth. Just a very little perfect hint of sweetness.

Like cocoa bread in a cup. Not chocolate bread, mind you, but cocoa bread. The kind that doesn’t have sugar added to it. Reminds me very strongly of Golden Fleece. A cup of pure wow. Thanks to whoever included this with a swap or a stash purchase – I’m thinking either Marzipan or Liquid Proust.

Could this be the Golden Fleece of Greek mythology? It is certainly worthy of a quest! Perhaps Pelias sent Jason out, knowing that if he succeeded in bringing home the fleece, athough forced to surrender his throne, he could console himself with this tea.

I brewed this both western and gongfu style and enjoyed it both ways. For a more intense flavor experience, I recommend western. But for an aroma voyage that will rock your world, prepare your favorite gaiwan & tasting cups and spend some time with this one. The bouquet made me weak in the knees! I would wear it as a fragrance. If my husband were wearing it right now, I doubt I would be posting on Steepster . . .

Oh yes, it’s that good . . .

I am multi-tasking to the max right now! As you may or may not know by this point, my move has been delayed for several months…so I unpacked my painting stuff and I am diving in to the miniatures! While painting I am also playing Terraria and blogging, and of course guzzling tea like a boss. I am really excited because one of the pieces I am working on is the Wyrd Miniatures Malifaux Dawn Serpent…it is basically a Chinese dragon, and I will use it some in my Ten Thunders army, but mostly it will live on my tea desk. Finally the tea desk will have a dragon!

Today I am looking at Whispering Pines Tea Company’s Imperial Gold Bud Dian Hong, ah yeah, all about the fuzzy Yunnan tea today! A while back my mom ordered some and sent me a bit to try, my mom and I have this tendency to send each other piles of tea, I currently am filling a box up for her now, tea friends and family really are the best since we all seem to have this tendency to share our hoard. Good heavens, these leaves are luscious, thick and fuzzy, loaded with fuzzy golden trichomes, like happy caterpillars. Now that I have probably weirded all of you out comparing these fuzzy things to caterpillars, please know I accept donations! All kidding aside, these really are quite pretty. The aroma is peppery and sweet, strong notes of candied yams and sweet roasted peanuts. The finish has a touch of malt and a delicate note of rose as well, those yam notes though are killer, great a tea that makes me hungry!

On a Terraria note, I just killed the stupid Brain of Cthulhu eight times in attempts to get the trophy, ugh, what a pain. Steeping time brings out strong notes of malt and roasted peanuts, candied yams, a touch of vanilla beans, a dash of pepper, and that tiny hint of rose at the finish. The liquid is delightfully sweet, malt and sweet yams, vanilla beans, and a finish of pepper.

First steep starts mild and creamy, surprisingly there are no fuzzies floating around in the cup, they all sank to the bottom so the usual gentle tickle I get with fuzzy teas is not present. The taste starts with gentle malt and sweet yams, a touch of molasses. This moves on to roasted peanuts and a gentle finish of pepper.

The aroma of the second is peppery and malty with a strong yammy presence, I honestly love this yam note. I think it might be thing thing that makes me love Dian Hong so much. The texture is much thicker, a tiny bit of fuzziness in this steep. It is very heavy and rich, like a decadent treat, notes of malt and cocoa start off strong, that moves to candied yams and molasses, and the finish is a delicate mix of pepper and malt with a cooling finish.

Third steeping time, the aroma is pretty intense, strong notes of yam and roasted peanuts with a tiny bit of pepper. It is a much sweeter aroma this time around. The taste is also much sweeter, like molasses and syrup thickness mixed with sweet yams and rich malt. The midtaste has a strong yam and cocoa note and the finish is cooling with pepper. The pepper note fascinates me, the taste of pepper without the warmth of it is a quirky thing!

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/08/whispering-pines-tea-company-imperial.html

I finally have been giving the chance to try some the budz!! I am most grateful for this opportunity. This is by far the best Dianhong I’ve ever had. These is beautiful tea in both aesthetic value and brew quality. The buds are long bright golden strands that are chaotically intertwined. This tea is velvety smooth and soft to the touch. They give off a thick and pure cacao scent. I placed a bunch in my gaiwan and shook it up. The scent deepened to something like coco puffs. I could take in oats, chocolate, raisins, and an underlying leather scent. I washed these beauties once and began my brewing. The initial sip was incredibly full bodied. This brew gives a thick and complex mouth-feel. I took in a sweet honey taste that was mixed with chocolate cacao dust. The brew then grew deeper in color and broadened in flavor. This sweet liquid gold moved to a fresh wood tone. This was unlike other wood tones. This flavor was in the background and complimented the sweet and light malt of the drink, rather than an over- powering bark taste. Also, this brew gave a light and alert qi feeling. I’ve only felt noticeable qi from pu-erh. It was a unique experience to feel qi from a red tea. The best part of this tea is that it held up very well against multiple steeping. Usually, dianhong falters off at about the fourth steeping. This brew just kept going. The brew grew ever sweeter and smoother with each subsequent steeping. I am so happy to have finally tried this wonderful brew! Thank you again!

https://instagram.com/p/6kKdXmzGae/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

I enjoyed my sample of this very much. A new, fancy tea to celebrate a new, shiny job. I am really really excited, and equally stressed. I will be moving to Virginia ASAP and teaching third grade at what seems like a very nice school. I am packing like a maniac, while trying to run a million errands to transfer pet sitting clients literally overnight, and doing the paperwork type stuff that comes with moving and hiring and the like.

But I took time to drink this this morning as a small celebration. With all the stress of my first year of teaching looming as well as a big move, I feel like it will be difficult for me to celebrate if I don’t make the time. I find this tea to be extremely tasty. Cocoa, malt, and hay is what I taste, though specifically slightly damp hay. Normally I am not capable of being so specific, but this seems to have a slight tang or sourness that is similar to that of wet hay.

I’m being brutal about this one. Definitely one of the better straight black teas I’ve had still. I just have to be in the mood for it. I wanted a softer black. I got some nice cocoa and tannin notes today, with a little bit of citrus. I’ve been shifting back towards flavored teas lately anyway. Can’t put a finger on why. There’s only a few straight teas left that I regularly drink. Granted, they’re mostly Taiwanese. I’m glad I have a slight stash of Gaoshan left.

This tea had a sweet flowery, grassy scent as I took it out of the bag, with the slightest hint of cocoa.

The scent I’m getting off of this is chocolate and hay. Or really, chocolate and malt. First sip is pretty much chocolate and malt. The malt still has a floweriness to it.

This is nice and mellow.

My host family just put Big Hero 6 on last night so I grabbed a bag of tea and brewed it up without thinking about it.
I don’t enjoy black teas but I really didn’t think about what I was brewing (which was some sort of golden fuzz). This is a very smooth tasting tea and I really enjoyed it- enough so that I drank some more this morning. The leaf is very quality; easily identified by looking before and after brewing. I look forward to continuing my experimenting with temperature and grams of tea used as this is wonderful tea.

Another hit from Whispering Pines. This tea has depth. Honey, malty bread, cocoa and a mild earthiness. It’s very forgiving as well. I accidentally brewed the first steep for almost 5 minutes. My cup was still smooth and delicious with no signs of bitterness or astringency.