thank you Butiki for the samples! They are always a treat. This must be the lightest black tea I’ve EVER tried. The leaves are longer with an interesting mixture of colors: dark and golden yellow, which is maybe where the name of the tea comes from. The steeped leaves smell like a field of dry grass growing for months after a dry summer, waiting to be chopped down before the winter. It makes me a bit sad that it’s November and that won’t be happening for a while! The steep color is a light yellowish brown… I guess you could call that golden too. I steeped for three minutes and the water was way cooler than the suggested 195. I was surprised by its light fruity flavor! I thought of a cantaloupe, but I’d also agree with the pear description. It’s a cantaloupe and pear blend! Delicious! There is something slightly creamy about it too. A bit of a sweetness like honey. A bit of that grassy field. There is something there that maybe my palate isn’t advanced enough to distinguish… I thought “tippy” teas were also supposed to have a smokey flavor, but I have only tried one (Harney & Sons) and maybe that was stored around a smokey tea or my infuser had the remnants of another smokey tea. I thought this would be like the Phoenix/ Black Dragon pearls I love (maybe because of the coloring of the leaves), but both are complete opposites. Like I said, it’s hard to believe this is a black tea! This is a complex, light, fruity tea. A nice change from the stronger black teas I usually have!
Second steep: The water was much hotter and I steeped for 4-5 minutes which resulted in a MUCH different cup of tea. Now it is actually more like a malty deep black tea, without the fruity, honey or grassy flavors. Is this the same tea? Very weird! I actually preferred the first steep because it was so different. It just shows how sensitive steep times and temps can be. I’ll need to keep this in mind in the future!!
