Golden Needle Black Tea Premium

It’s been a crazy couple of days, and I finally got a chance to just sit and relax, and let some if the stress go. This sweet honey tea is certainly helping to ease the tension.

This is a sad sipdown, but i am sure it will be back in my cupboard.

Smells so much of honey. I admit, I love black teas with natural honey notes (Golden Fleece and Honey Orchid are two of my favorites). Interesting it’s from Lincang; I could be imagining it but it seems to have that clean almost minty quality (albeit subtler) Loose and Luscious Lincang Pu Erh has. I really like it; it sets it apart. You don’t think it will work with sweet and “dark” flavors but it does.

Gongfu Sipdown (2306)!

Finished the last of this yesterday afternoon. This tea is so rich and full bodied yet super smooth and free from any unpleasant astringency or bitterness. The dominant notes are dark chocolate, malted grains, and perfectly carmelized sweet potatoes. Warm, starchy, and cozy with just the right amount of natural sweetness. One of those teas that kind of just tastes “brown” in the best sort of way. A liquid embodiment of the maillard reaction, if you will. It’s a super laid back and low maintenance tea with great pay off, and the perfect energy I want to carry into the remainder of this weekend!!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/Ct2RlRhOW6r/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuYm7-5b8yg

I’m melting, melting I say! I am one of those weirdos who prefers colder climes and winter to the heat and humidity of summer. The season’s barely started and I’m already feeling swampy and sluggish. Bleh. Wistfully dreaming of the days when I could travel to cooler parts of the world.

At least I have some energising tea to keep me going. I’m dipping into this Golden Needle from my local shop today and it’s pretty good initially, but I think I do just prefer more mature buds when it comes to black teas. I find the younger Chinese black teas to release most of their essence in the first couple infusions leaving my wanting for more. Maybe Golden Needle is just better brewed Western style? Will have to give it a go. Anyway, the flavour profile is sort of a mix between earthy/mineral notes, malt, and honey, but the wet leaves aroma is way stronger than the flavour unfortunately. It actually reminds me of some sheng pu-erhs I’ve tried strangely. Lubricating mouth feel though and decent amount of caffeine I think. Ultimately this won’t be my go-to black tea in the future, but I’m still glad I tried it.

I thought I had posted a review of this tea before, but either Steepster ate it or I was wrong. I bought this in my mammoth Tao Tea Leaf order a few years ago. I’m not sure I’d call it Golden Needle, although the dark leaves are indeed punctuated with lots of fuzzy golden buds. Maybe Golden Curls? I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 200F for 7, 10, 12, 16, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

Prior to steeping, the leaves smell like malt, sweet potato, and barnyard. The first steep has notes of malt, sweet potato, hay, earth, and tannin. Even at 7 seconds, there’s some astringency; I can also, perhaps only in my imagination, taste the fuzzy trichomes from the buds. Steeping the next couple rounds at 195F gives a more caramelized sweet potato flavour and cuts down on the astringency somewhat. It’s still unmistakably a burly Yunnan tea, though. Steeps five and onwards have not altogether pleasant flavours of cardboard, wood, tannins, and minerals, with a bit of sweet potato bravely hanging on in the background.

This is a slightly above-average Yunnan black tea that I’ll have no trouble finishing. I think lower temperatures are definitely the way to go here and I might even try it at 190F.

Another one from Nicole – thank you! The leaves here just look like they will make a delicious cup. Mostly amber with black here and there… mildly fuzzy twisties. The dark amber brew is quite delicious but it’s tough for me to describe. It’s malty, honey, not really chocolate, a little on the lighter side of the flavor spectrum. Hints of tomato soup. Not the most distinct flavor with this type of tea, so it isn’t my favorite of this type, so I’m glad Nicole only sent me a little to try of one of her favorites. :D
Steep #1 // 2 teaspoons for a full mug// 10 minutes after boiling // 2 1/2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3-4 minute steep

I am a bit disappointed in this tea. It’s still a good tea but just not for me. It tastes like sweet potatoes & honey. A bit astringent with a little bit of bitterness. It’s just not my thing but I know others like it a lot from the reviews.

My goodness, this is good. Sweet, malt, bread, honey… This is one of those teas that leaves what looks like oily film on the cup. I believe those are the oils in the tannins, right? My empty cup is all polka dotty when empty. :)

Man this is good.

so the best part about small samples? getting to fill up your friends tea boxes with tea as you drink your samples haha. Oh….the joys of tea sharing :) While i like this tea…i think i’m over it. It’s just not amazing enough for me to want to keep it in my cupboard. Dropping the rating a little since it’s staying power with me didn’t seem to be there.

Sweet, super malty, sweet potato, a bit meaty, slightest trace of bitterness. Smooth, medium body. A touch of astringency that builds very slowly. Toward the bottom of the cup, a honey note starts to peek out.

Very delicious.

I’ve been drinking a lot of very similar Chinese black teas lately, and they are all different but in such subtle ways that I’m not sure I can capture those differences in my tasting notes, in a way that’s meaningful (particularly for me, when I look back and decide what to restock.)