95

For as long as I’ve been alive, I’ve hated black tea. Although I grew up in a family of chai drinkers where the kettle was always whistling and strong black tea with milk was served all day long, I was the odd one of the bunch that could never stomach the stuff. The smell and taste of it literally made me sick to my stomach and my aversion to it continued well into adulthood. So after spending over 3 decades assiduously avoiding black tea, my turning point came recently when I discovered this Yunnan black.

I picked this up with my Yunnan Sourcing order for my father who enjoys Golden Monkey tea but had been paying nearly 4x as much for it at Teavana. Out of curiousity I took a whiff of the tea leaves and was intrigued by the delicious malty smell, which was nothing like the black teas I’ve experiencd. So I set aside a small sample for myself.

The first time I brewed this tea it was too tannic and it reaffirmed all of my misgivings about black tea. I stashed it away for a future tea swap and forgot about it. A few months later as I was organizing my stash, I stumbled upon it and decided to give it another go.

This time I under leafed, using a scant teaspoon of leaves for 110ml of water off the boil, steeped for 3 minutes. First steep there was rich, yummy maltiness and chocolate. A moderate amount of tannins but not too off putting and they went away after the 1st steep. The second steep had strong notes of caramel, maple syrup, and some cocoa. The third infusion was sweeter with an astonishing brown sugar like flavor. The later steeps threw off even more brown sugar and left a maple-like sweetness in the throat.

I’m very impressed by this tea. It’s robust flavor, natural sweetness, and low bitterness make it a winner in my book. It’s quickly becoming a part of my regular tea rotation and marks the beginning of my adventure into the world of black tea.

Flavors: Brown Sugar, Chocolate, Fruity, Malt, Maple

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 0 sec 1 g 4 OZ / 110 ML
Evol Ving Ness

This is some sort of miracle. It gladdens my heart that you have found your way back to the, potentially, glorious world that is black tea.

LuckyMe

Haha, indeed its a minor miracle. I think low quality teas had clouded my perception of black tea. Happy to finally discover the good stuff!

Evol Ving Ness

:)

I am putting this tea that prompted your conversion on my list of things to order the next time that happens.

Gooseberry Spoon

Now you have an entire section of YS to catch up on!

Evol Ving Ness

Thank you, LuckyMe, for telling us about this tea. Mine arrived the other and omigoodness, delicious delicious delicious. My addiction for this one is all on you.

Daylon R Thomas

It’s something I might want to try to, isn’t it Evol and Luckyme?

LuckyMe

@Evol Ving Ness So glad you liked it…always happy to be an enabler!
@Daylon R Thomas I’d definitely check it out if you’re planning a YS order. It’s a pretty amazing tea and inexpensive to boot

Evol Ving Ness

Daylon, it might be a bit too strong for you, but I think you should give it a go anyway. With a light hand. Light hand, do you hear me? :)

Evol Ving Ness

And yes, LuckyMe, this one will likely be on the regular with me for some time.

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Comments

Evol Ving Ness

This is some sort of miracle. It gladdens my heart that you have found your way back to the, potentially, glorious world that is black tea.

LuckyMe

Haha, indeed its a minor miracle. I think low quality teas had clouded my perception of black tea. Happy to finally discover the good stuff!

Evol Ving Ness

:)

I am putting this tea that prompted your conversion on my list of things to order the next time that happens.

Gooseberry Spoon

Now you have an entire section of YS to catch up on!

Evol Ving Ness

Thank you, LuckyMe, for telling us about this tea. Mine arrived the other and omigoodness, delicious delicious delicious. My addiction for this one is all on you.

Daylon R Thomas

It’s something I might want to try to, isn’t it Evol and Luckyme?

LuckyMe

@Evol Ving Ness So glad you liked it…always happy to be an enabler!
@Daylon R Thomas I’d definitely check it out if you’re planning a YS order. It’s a pretty amazing tea and inexpensive to boot

Evol Ving Ness

Daylon, it might be a bit too strong for you, but I think you should give it a go anyway. With a light hand. Light hand, do you hear me? :)

Evol Ving Ness

And yes, LuckyMe, this one will likely be on the regular with me for some time.

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Bio

My Rating Criteria:

95 to 100: Top shelf stuff. Loved this tea and highly recommend it

90 to 94: Excellent. Enjoyed this tea and would likely repurchase

80 to 89: Good but not great. I liked it though it may be lacking in some aspects. I’ll finish it but probably won’t buy again

70 to 79: Average at best. Not terrible but wouldn’t willingly drink again

60 to 69: Sub-par. Low quality tea, barely palatable

59 and below: Bleh

Fell into tea many years ago and for a long time my experience was limited to Japanese greens and flavored Teavana teas. My tea epiphany happened when I discovered jade oolongs. That was my gateway drug to the world of high quality tea and teaware.

For the most part, I drink straight tea but do appreciate a good flavored tea on occasion. I love fresh green and floral flavors and as such, green tea and Taiwanese oolongs will always have a place in my cupboard. After avoiding black tea forever, Chinese blacks have started to grow on me. I’m less enthusiastic about puerh though. I also enjoy white tea and tisanes but reach for them less frequently.

Other non-tea interests include: cooking, reading, nature, philosophy, MMA, traveling when I can, and of course putzing around on the interwebs.

IG: https://www.instagram.com/melucky

Location

around Chicago

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