Imperial Gold Needle Yunnan Black Tea - 2016

Sipdown! I thought there was a little too much leaf for one ordinary session, but not enough for two, so I dumped everything into my 120 ml teapot. It ended up being about two-thirds full of gorgeous golden buds, which told me I was in this for the long haul. Using 195F water, I steeped this tea for 8, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 120, and 180 seconds

This session is similar to previous ones, although stretched out over a longer number of steeps. The first two steeps are milk chocolatey and sweet, and the tea gets darker and breadier as the session progresses. After the tea is finished, my cup smells like it’s been coated with baker’s chocolate. A nice thick mouthfeel shows up around the fifth steep and sticks around for a while, though the tea starts to get drying around the tenth infusion.

This was one of my best purchases from Yunnan Sourcing in 2016, and I’m sad to see it go.

Another hobby of mine is homebrewing beer. The first thing that struck me about this tea was the strong resemblance to a light wort which is the steeping water from the grain before hops, yeast, and fermentation transform it into beer. In this tea, I get a buttery biscuity flavor that transforms into a tangy slightly tart lingering finish. There is some present, but not overpowering roasty notes that fade in subsequent steepings. I get a light astringency that helps cut through the creamy butter. The liquid is fairly thick and coats my mouth. I’m on the third or fourth steeping and expect to get a few more.

Another strong malty tea. This one benefited from me leaving it open for a couple days to breathe – initially it had a strong hay/dried-grass smell, but as that dissipated I was left with a very malty, somewhat chocolaty brew.

I use half as many leaves with this tea as I do normal blacks – a little goes a long way.