kuanyin

Now that I have tasted Golden Fleece, I can die happy…honestly, that is about what I expected after reading the reviews. Ummmm, for real, it’s…good? I mean it is a nice tea, really. For the price and hype? Nah, not so much. Jing Tea Shop used to sell one remarkably like for almost nothing under the category of everyday teas. (Which they no longer have, after they sold out and remained that way for a long, long time). Yes, Golden Fleece has bigger leaves. But, the smell and the taste are much the same. Upton’s Yunnan Rare Grade also has the same wonderful candy/ sugar cookie smell and, to me, the same taste. Maybe better. I guess that marks me as a tea peasant.

Really, I’ve made this tea three times now and I end up trying to remind myself that this is a great tea and to appreciate it. Because, when I’m drinking it, it doesn’t hit me and I end up just slurping it down. Some teas really make me quite happy, time after time (Yunnan Rare Grade) and when I find myself drinking it in a distracted manner, the taste reminds me and I remember and think “Dang, that’s good!” It is kind of the opposite with Golden Fleece. I guess I can save a lot of money, at least on this one…

Oh no! Do I have a new favorite? My beloved jing tea Dan Cong red tea is expensive enough and this one edges above it in price, although admittedly not by much when you factor shipping cost.

I didn’t want to love this at this price, but with reviews like this, I couldn’t NOT try it. I can’t describe the complexity well, but never mind, because I do love it. The first brew, I get something like tobacco leaves, mild chocolate and roast chestnuts. The second brew is actually even better, which I can’t think of another tea that I can say that about. It brings in higher notes, raisin? cinnamon? caramel? I really, really can’t say. But I will happily continue to try to figure it out. The third brew is fine too, though I accidentally left it for an hour and it was just warm, so I don’t want to say too much about that one. This is superb, excellent and totally worth it. This tea is rocking my world and I don’t say that lightly.

I want to update my previous note, as this tea has surpassed every other tea in my estimation. It just gets better and better. And I did want to say that, personally, I don’t get any astringency. I am usually quite sensitive to it and dislike it almost as much as smokiness. This is not a cheap tea, but I just made another order, I crave it and I was worried about the low quantity in my cannister.

At the moment I have three favorite teas from jing tea shop, and Ying de Hong Cha is one of them. (I’m not going to count Yunnan Gold, since it hasn’t been available for some time). I ordered it again, because I didn’t want to get too low. It reminds me of the Dan Cong red tea, with milder notes of a fruity flavor and honey. As it is considerably cheaper than the Dan Cong, it is an excellent everyday tea for me.

In the past, I have had short-lived favorites and what I love at one time, I don’t much care for later on. But my jing teas have stayed completely consistent for me, or, if anything, I love them even more after months of drinking them. I still try to use up other teas, but these are the ones I want.

I frequently love,

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This is exquisite tea. I got a sample and had to have more, though it is rather expensive, by my opinion it is worth it. I do not get chocolate, or nutty at all. I do get thick honey, and sometimes, I swear I get sweet orange and others I don’t. I can get the floral undertone, or back taste. This is absolutely a special weekend tea. I just got a third infusion from it, which is pretty good for me, usually I don’t find a third infusion of black tea worthwhile, unless I want to drink it cold. It would be very hard to oversteep this one, it is just sweetly special.

This is one of my go to, every day favorites. Nutty and complex, just as they say, but also kind of “sturdy”. I get rather ridiculous, if a tea is too wonderful (and too expensive), I just don’t want to indulge in it too often. I’ll save it for the weekend when I can really savor it over the long mornings. This is one that I can do that with, but I don’t feel like I have to. I went ahead and really stocked up when they got it back in stock and it should last a while.

I love this tea. It is essentially the same as Upton’s Yunnan Rare Grade. I love to just stick my nose in the goodness of the scent in the container. It tastes like fruit and cookies. Lovely, lovely aromatic golden indulgence!

I used to love flavored teas, but not so much anymore. I really like this one though. It is a good tea, the tea holds up to the flavors and the flavors are balanced. It reminds me a bit of Mariage Freres Marco Polo, probably the strawberry influence, but that is quite a compliment and this one is much more economical. This is a lovely after dinner treat tea.

I like this tea a lot. It has a good toasty and mildly nutty quality and it is fine to resteep. It is more medium bodied, and so, to me an all day tea. It reminds me of Copper Knot Hongcha by Teavana, though that is a darker tea. They are actually similarly priced.

Maybe, I should experiment with longer steeps, but at the recommended 3-4 minutes, this does nothing for me. It just tastes…dead. I was hoping for something similar to the glorious Ancient Tong Mu at Postcard Teas, but this one to me is like a black void. If I get any better results, I’ll change my post.

This is another perfect tea in my book. Just deep and dark enough for the morning, but good anytime really. When I opened the bag and sniffed, it was a delightful sensory confusion. Fruitcake? I finally settled on apricot or maybe even ripe persimmon, although it has been so long since I had a persimmon that I can’t be sure of that. There is more, but it is elusive to me. Brewed, it looses the fruitiness and again is hard to describe, I guess cookie is a good description of the flavor. Maybe an old fashioned sugar cookie? I would love to hear other thoughts on this one, the reviews on Upton are as confused as mine. I got 160 grams/5.6 ounces and I was not willing to review this until I ordered it again. So within a week I placed a second order for 320 grams. It is that good.

I got this as a sample, I don’t usually prefer blends, but the onsite reviews intrigued me. It doesn’t have any green tea, it is all black. I’m planning on buying it again, this is invigorating in a sparkly way, not lightning bolts. Still it worked for 5 a.m. I’ll have to describe it better when I make more. I would call it bright without being astringent and rather happy. I thought I’d like their Austin Breakfast best, but this is my preference for now.

This tea is perfect. I was looking for cocoa notes in reviews and managed to scrounge up a few reviews elsewhere that made me try this one. Oh, I am so happy. I kept envisioning a big ol’ Hershey’s bar on the first steep. Second steep, not so much. On the second steep it was beautifully tanned and smooth cowhide leather and tobacco leaves. I am super duper impressed with this tea shop. I love this so much that I want to buy a pound of it and then hoard it, measuring it out on as a reward to myself. I have to fight that hoard urge, probably not the best for tea.

As big a fan I am of this delightful tea company, I was quite disappointed in the Keemun. I am not a fan of the smoky note, and this has it. Unfortunately, once I pick that up, it cancels out any other notes for me. If you like whiffs of smoke in your tea, then you might want to give this inexpensive Keemun a try. It has a nice deep body that I look for and could be a good everyday tea. For someone else, that is.

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This is a bit too light bodied to be the tea for a work morning, but in the afternoon or on a weekend, it is excellent. It tastes like toast, in the best possible way. No bitterness or astringency, just smooth, golden toasty goodness. It makes me happy to just think of this tea. And at the price, I can afford to stock up. I get two steeps also, which is good for a light tea, making it an even more excellent value.

This is about my favorite oolong, when I want a comforting cup of no nonsense tea. This is the tea that made me understand the phrase mouthfeel. It is like your old jeans that get better and better and never let you down. Oddly, I adore the charcoal roasted aspect, and yet I can’t stand smoky teas. Lapsong, Caravan, just thinking about them makes me frown. So I would not call this smoky. It’s toasted! (Feel free to picture Don Draper giving the sales pitch).

I so appreciate that this tea co. is trying to support old traditions in tea production. I love that they are not only buying direct, they are actually controlling the process. I really respect that; this tea is superb and affordable.

This is wonderfully complex in a mysterious way. Very likely I lack the ability to distinguish flavors, but I kept coming up with… paper. Paper in an old library that has picked up many qualities, leather binding, tobacco, spices and, of course, the wood from which it was made.
It is an elegant, aristocratic medium bodied tea.

I would recommend this in the tin, as it comes shipped in a padded envelope that could get squished. Mine fared well, but I will get my teas from them in a tin after this. It’s worth it.

This is another highly unusual offering from Postcard Teas. The flavor is tough to define, I would say that it has an essence of Chocolate Mocha coffee. It is very smooth, dark and delicious. I am only disappointed in it not holding up for a second steep. I brewed it 5 minutes the second time, and it looked like it would be worth the time and trouble, only to have almost no flavor at all. If I lived in London, I would be picking this up on a regular basis.

This is so chocolaty that I actually wrote to Tim before I reviewed it, to specify whether it had additional flavoring. And the answer was no. Unfortunately, he also indicated he may be unable to obtain more. While he has it, this is worth trying if you like deep, full flavored and… well, dark oolongs. I like it a lot, but it has a novelty quality to it that I will help me get over not having it.

This is a choice for when you want unique and when you want to savor the exceptional. Mildly uplifting, perfect for early evening when you want to recharge from the day and yet still be able to go to sleep later. Red teas are like that for me. This one is even milder than most red teas, but I found it to also have an herbal, almost medicinal quality. Medicinal doesn’t sound appealing, but it starts off in a way that you aren’t sure that you really like, so you keep slurping and slurping and it’s gone before you know it and you want more. The tangerine element balances the herbal, and then you have the underlying red tea body. I want to enjoy this tea just often enough that it remains a special treat.

The first time I tried this, any cocoa notes eluded me, sadly. It was fine, a nice tea, but nothing to justify the price tag. The second time around, I got the cocoa and flavor explosion and I’m not sure what the difference was. Lower than boiling temperature with shorter steep? I think that was it. Really a beautifully smooth and complex tea for those moments where I can appreciate more in a tea.