Golden Snail Yunnan Black Tea

Mmm this is a marvelous tea :) so smooth with caramel and chocolate notes.

backlog from yesterday – thanks again to dexter for letting me try this one. On the whole, this wasn’t a bad cup of tea, but i’m glad that this is one that i don’t feel the need to order from WP. There was a bitterness there that i didn’t love. still not a bad cup..just not one i need to keep around.

Final Count yesterday: 114

Strong and comforting sweet and grainy aroma with a prominent cocoa note. First steep is sweet, grainy and nourishing. Second and third move into earthy territory with dominant tobacco and rye tastes as tannins and complementary bitterness present. A great breakfast tea.

It’s been years since I’ve had a straight up Yunnan gold tea. Thank you Whispering Pines for including this as a free sample with my order :)

The tightly curled snails of black tea in this sample smell richly of honey with a touch of molasses and malt. There is a deep, rich baked fruit aroma as well.

The first steep was so rich and full bodied. Gorgeous color, and looked so pretty I decided to have it in my silver lined cup from Crimson Lotus.

I had just made zucchini bread with a mystery grain that was in the freezer. It looked a lot like hard white wheat but may have been spelt? I ground it into flour and also was combining two recipes I have made. The bread turned out great. Somehow it was almost like caramelized sugar on the outside even though the new recipe only had 1/4 cup more sugar than the old one, but the extra full cup of flour would have counteracted the sweetness, I would have thought. This bread needed a tea with body and flavor.

I preferred the first steep to the second, but the second was good. I gave most of it to Ashman when he got home from work to go with his slice of zucchini bread. I intend to keep using this flour, keep using this adapted recipe, and make sure I have a hearty tea like this one to go with it.

My new order from Whispering Pines arrived over the weekend. I brewed a pot of this on Saturday afternoon. I was a little disappointed. There was definitely an astringent note. That smoothed out as the tea cooled. I may have over leafed it. I will try it again. I may try it iced too, since it was better for me when it cooled.

Small round balls of tea, easy to scoop and measure.
Pleasant, Malty smell before brewing.
But the malty taste doesn’t come thru in the brewed tea as well as some other Golden Snail I’ve had. A tad tannic for the plain teas I make (no milk or sugar); this may be better steeped a bit longer and then able to push thru the sugar and/or cream OK.

So a little celebration tea today. More in the end of tasting note.

Thanks to White Antlers I got to try this wonderful tea. So, thank you a lot!

I decided to brew it gongfu, the rest I had, which was about two teaspoons. 125 ml gaiwan. Freshly boiled water into cold thermos. I guess it could be about 93-95°C water.

First steeps were wonderful, cocoa notes, malty, honey, chocolate. Great indeed. Last ones were rather “only” malty and honey like. I dare to say even leathery? Not sure about that though. I wasn’t paying that much attention on later steeps. But I wanted to, but the circumstances didn’t allow me. We are still redoing my grandma’s bathroom (almost done), so I was paying attention what has to be done during the weekend and on Monday. Quite a workload!

But this tea… was just amazing. Even it was rather golden dust honestly, it was still delivering that wonderful taste of Yunnan black. So unique. So great!

Personal note: Why to celebrate? I got a job! My first ever full-time job. I am going to be DGSA — Dangerous Goods Safety Adviser. So, lots of to learn. About 1600 pages for each mode of transport. Starting with trucks (that will be in Czech), then going for air transport (very similar, but in English). Exams held by ministry of transport! So, what will I do? I will order transport of dangerous goods by ship or aircrafts, sometimes “just” by truck. Tantalum dust is very dangerous, highly flammable, self-igniting, stuff. And they work mostly with tantalum. I will be responsible for proper marking, packaging and transporting those dangerous goods. There will be weekly and monthly inventory checks in the warehouses.

Soo, what do you think?

In a word, delicious! Makes a smooth, easy-to-drink cup. Not too weak, not too strong, just right! The re-steep was just as good as the initial cup. Really enjoyed this one. Offered my Mom a cup of this as well and she also loved it so it’s double approved!

I was surprised by how much vanilla came out of this cup. Much sweeter and more rich than I remember.

Sipdown (backlog)

I really like this tea and would like to order it again when my cupboard is more manageable. Comforting, almost hot chocolate like without the excess sugar.