Nonpareil Yunnan Dian Hong Ancient Wild Tree Black Tea [duplicate]

As soon as I opened the sample, I was hit with a strong smell of sweet hay from the leaves. The tea has a very pleasing aroma, but not as strong as the leaves. The texture of the tea is amazingly light, it takes a second or two for the flavor to hit after a sip, gradually growing. It is sweet with flavors of wheat toast and maple syrup. This tea is complex and tasty, definitely a winner.

I noticed this tea is approaching its expiration date so I decided to concentrate on drinking it down. I have a LOT of it because it was soooo good and then I got distracted by other teas and let it languish. Time to fix that.

I had a very weird lunch of leftover barbeque (NC vinegar style from CookOut) and waffles with maple syrup. I told you it was weird. I had the bbq first and then made the tea and waffles.

My first sip reminded me why I bought so much all at once. Even though this is nearing its expiry date, it is still good. Tea needs to “cut through” the thick sweetness of the syrup for me, and this one did. Keemun does it by its raspy cocoa dryness, but this one was silky and sweet, with enough flavor contrast to make itself known through the maple.

I think it paired awesomely.

Has anyone seen this article? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1142193/

It was about SARS which is a coronavirus, but basically what it says is that black and puerh tea did have an inhibitory effect on the virus by disrupting an enzyme, 3CL protease. Green and oolong not so much, as the tannins and theaflavin were the helpful bits! Well, any excuse to drink more tea, plus I am hoping the heat of the beverage makes my throat a less hospitable environment for viruses in general!

There are no confirmed cases in our county yet, though there are some in our state. Not worried too much about getting sick as we are taking reasonable precautions, but wondering how supplies of food and other necessaries will hold out with people hoarding.

Praying for all our steepsterites to stay healthy and well fed!

Sorry! Forgot to paste link first time around! It has been added.

I was ecstatic to discover this unused tea sample while I was taking inventory of my tea cabinet! I’ll never know how I missed it before since I am a big fan of Teavivre black teas and usually start drinking them as soon as I pull them out of my mailbox. Maybe the tea fairy brought it to me. It doesn’t matter. I am just thrilled that I found it!

When I opened the small silver package, I was greeted with dark brown twisted and glossy leaves. The aroma was slightly sweet and earthy.

I steeped the leaves for about 5 minutes at 190 degrees. The brewed liquor was a light golden orange. The odor was like sweet wheat.

Beginning with the first sip and ending with the last, the flavor was consistently mild and smooth yet full and complete. The taste reminded me of pancakes lightly slathered with maple syrup. The sweet flavor was delicately balanced and not overpowering. The aftertaste was also mild and did not wear out its welcome. There was no astringency whatsoever.

This is simply another fantastic black tea from the folks at Teavivre. It is one of those exceptional selections that seem to get even better after the first steeping. The maple syrup/pancakes flavor attributes make this offering perfect (in my mind) for breakfast. However, I wouldn’t turn this one down at midnight either.

Current Session

I swear I’m drinking homemade rye bread. Very yeasty and malty. Going to make this last after this session by grandpa styling it for the rest of the day until it’s no more.

A sample from Teavivre. The first thing I noticed about this one, other than it’s long, thick, twisty leaves, was how light it is. Even after 3-4 minutes, it’s still a medium golden brown. Most of the Yunnan/Dian Hongs I’ve tried have been similar, but still usually darker (at least on first steep) than this one gets. It’s actually quite refreshing, because there’s none of that black tea “heaviness”, and (of course) no bitterness or astringency. There’s no impact on the flavour, either – that’s still full and surprisingly fruity.

I was expecting bread/chocolate, but this one’s a little different. I’m getting mostly stone fruit flavours – apricot, maybe a touch of plum. There’s also a mild earthiness that reminds me a little bit of ripe pu’erh, but it’s by no means overpowering. Subsequent steeps have a little breadiness in the mid-sip, and a touch of honey towards the end of the sip, but the main flavour for me is the fruit. It’s light and juicy, perfectly smooth, and just right for a warm summer afternoon. Another win from Teavivre!

Good flavour and sweetness.

Reviewing a sample of this graciously provided to me! Dry leaf is very small pieces, with a warm chocolate and fruit scent. Wet leaf has the usual black tea smell to me, and the tea brews up dark quite quickly.

First steep is really quite good—definitely much better than other Dian Hong I’ve tried. I’m not an expert on black tea, but I’m enjoying the overall light profile, with a little bit of play in the high notes with a fruitiness and tanginess in the back of the throat, and overall low “burnt-ness” that I usually get with black teas.

Second steep is much more viscous and bready, and flavor wise is much more like I would expect. There is a definite high note here of fruit, and overall I find this to be quite an easy tea to drink. Very full in the mouth and heavy in its low notes.

Overall quite an enjoyable black tea! I find its overall mouthfeel to be quite heavy with a hint of fruitiness to keep it from being just heavy.

Wow, this is a very different-tasting black tea (to me).

Up until now I’ve mostly drank Assams and a few black Chinese teas – nothing too crazy, usually quite smooth and subtle. This is a lovely surprise.

It is certainly smooth and with very low bitterness and astringency, but you can taste a wild earthy note in it immediately. I actually really like this. It is also a lovely amber colour, which adds to the “I am drinking tea leaves from a wild tree” feeling, so to speak :)

It doesn’t replace a good Assam as my favourite, but I can definitely see myself fancying a cup of this over something else from time-to-time.

This is a little bit sweet but mostly earthy. It’s just not for me.

Here’s my favorite link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk5Uturacx8&t=482s
I love this rendition, because everyone is so animated, they all play so well, and the Conductor is so awesome and uninhibited. :)
Note: the above link is NOT the orchestra I’m playing with!

Anyway, I’m taking break from practicing to enjoy multiple steepings of this tea.

Sweet stone fruits, honey, hops, bee pollen, and a little eucalyptus. It’s very sweet. The energy of it reminds me of a Sheng, and the mouthfeel is smooth, thick, & tangy like grapes. The aroma is rich & fruity, and lingers in my sinuses like a primo incense.

Very satisfying! Something about this tea reminds me of those alcohol drenched fruitcakes my mom used to make during the HoliDaze (back in the 60’s). They were loaded with dried fruits, soaked in Brandy, and then allowed to ‘cure’ for a few weeks.