Yunnan Gold

thanks so much for the trade, Starfevre! The leaves here are definitely gold and I did notice a peppery fragrance on the dry leaves before reading about the pepper in the description. After a steep of four minutes, the color looks like a beer (I guess I’ll be saying that a lot now with my new clear mug.) The flavors: pepper, cedar, some kind of stone fruit… maybe plums and something even sweeter than that. I wouldn’t call this one a deep, malty chocolatey Yunnan. It is a very light black tea! Very good… very different! I haven’t really had a tea like this one yet. I really love how different teas can be from each other.

Another pleasant surprise from the Adagio Black Savant sampler. I really liked the Golden Spring, and Yunnan Gold is really nice as well. It has big, bold, golden leaves that smell slightly chocolatey in the sample tin. It’s a deep, rich, slightly sweet smell. Different from other Yunnans in that I’m not getting a strong malty note, but smells extremely inviting even so.

The aroma does have a tad of maltiness to it, but it’s a very dark, ale-like malt rather than a sweet, chocolate ball malt. Though there is some chocolateness even in the aroma of the steeped tea. It lends an expectation of chewiness to the tea.

The flavor is very much like the smell. Not sweet, really, but smooth and rich. And I get the pepper reference. It’s that pepper flavor without the spicy kick thing that I have tasted in other teas.

Between this and the Golden Spring, I may have to place an Adagio order when all is said and done. I guess I’d throw the Apricot, Blueberry and maybe the Passion Fruit in to this fictitious order, too, if/when I get out of lock down.

Great. Smells like chocolate and pepper. Woke me up earlier and kept me going through my day. Tired now.

I feel like I tried this a few years ago, but didn’t like it. I most likely oversteeped it then, which I was prone to doing. (And still am, occasionally.)

But this time, having a little more basis for what a yunnan should taste like, I like it. The leaves smell bright and sweet, but satisfyingly malty. They aren’t smoky, just smooth and very flavorful. It’s strong enough to be good with breakfast. The description mentions a peppery taste, but I’m not getting it. I guess that comes out if you give it the full 5 minutes.

This would be a good yunnan to have around, but I still prefer Teavivre’s Yun Nan Dian Hong Golden Tips.

The first scent I got of this was kind of earthy and mellow. Again, it kind of reminded me of stables.
The leaves were so pretty and golden brown!
I did a shorter steep than the package recommends because I’m finding that Adagio’s suggestions make a brew that is more bitter than I would like.
I tried the liquor black first and it was very smooth – not metallic like Keemun. I did add milk, but it really didn’t need it. With the milk it had smokey vanilla flavours. This would be a really great morning cup of coffee (but I’m enjoying it now too, at 8:00PM. It’s my “I have tons more work to do and I’m taking a short tea break” time).

1 heaping tsp in 8 oz

OK, this is not nearly as good as I remember! Probably because I’ve had much better teas in the meantime. Thanks for spoiling me, Steepster!!!

The aroma is what I remember, and I really like that Yunnan aroma, but the flavor is practically non-existent, and it’s a little astringent, even a bit bitter. Will try 190 for 3 minutes next time, but I have a feeling this tea (which used to be a fave) will be a no-go for me.

Obviously I liked the Teavivre better, but I see I brewed them very differently. Thank goodness for tasting notes. Will have to try these side by side brewed the same way!

After my last tea experience which was a BAD one I decided to try to block the experience out with another tea immediately. So here I sit with a cup of Yunnan Gold I’ve never had a Yunnan Gold tea before (I don’t remember if I have) anyway so all of the steepster reviews of Yunnan Gold had me anxious to try it.

This one has a dark amber brown liquor and I don’t get much on smell other than tea. Taste wise it doesn’t have a whole mouth feel it’s easy to sip slight hints of maltiness but still not as good as Adagio’s Golden Monkey if what your looking for is maltiness. It is a decent cup or as Doulton would say “this is a serviceable cuppa tea”. Definitely nothing I would reorder.

This is a great tea, thank you Joe Cook!
Sooo much flavour, I get the peppery note. I made 2 cups straight and resteeped 2 tablespoons for milk and sugar. It holds up very well to additions, and I would have it either way. I’m not sure which way I prefer.

Anyways, this is a bold but very smooth tea (no astringency that I can find), I think I would stick to having it in the morning, as there is something about it that reminds me of a breakfast tea. The cocoa note is almost smoky. Very delicious. Thank you!

Since I really like black teas, I went on ahead and finally ordered Adagio’s Black Savant Sampler. This is the first one that I’m going to try out.

This tastes really earthy and dark, like a good black should. It’s deep and rich. When I read that it has a peppery taste, I was confused. Do they mean peppers, like bell peppers, or do they mean pepper, as in paired with salt? I was nervous about either one. Turns out it’s the 2nd kind of pepper (paired with salt) and it’s nothing to be scared of. I hate pepper and never put it on anything, but I can hardly taste it here. It’s more of an aftertaste, and a very light one at that.

So this is good. I’ll drink it until my sample is gone, but it’s not a top favorite. I’m still glad I ordered it though, because I need other teas to drink so that I don’t drink up all my Dawn in a few days!

Great black tea, with a subtle, peppery flavor and a nice aroma. Not too strong (as with most teas, I think the flavor could be a bit stronger) but it isn’t bitter or too acidic, so it’s smooth and pleasant. The flavor also lingers for a while, so you can enjoy it slowly. Color is a nice golden/copper orange, and looks like the flavor will be stronger than it is.

I’m finally tasting the pepper that so many Yunnan teas say they have in their descriptions. Not a strong flavour, thankfully, because I don’t like pepper in anything really, but I can taste it sort of as an aftertaste that lingers on my tongue. This is a very ‘dark’ tea, for me. Extremely smooth and very tasty.

Stashdown #4! This tea is wonderful lukewarm. I bet it would be even better hot. I made my to-go mug of tea only to leave it sitting on the counter when I left for work. Its been one of those days. Everything is just sort of off kilter and not-quite-right.

Anyway, back to the tea. Ah, yes, this is a lovely black tea. It has a smooth body, and a somewhat indescribable taste. Not like a typical black tea that I’ve had recently. Less bold, but more sophisticated. It doesn’t need to whack you on your head to make you take notice. I don’t get the peppery notes that the tea description talks about, nor the cocoa notes that Caligatia mentioned today at lunch. I think my lack of descriptability stems from being very full from a very delicious lunch and wanting very badly to take a nap. Or it could be that I’m bummed that I accidentally left a mug of a tea that I very much wanted to enjoy sitting on the counter at home this morning. Tea just isn’t the same reheated.

This is a decent black tea, though not spectacular to my tasting buds. I didn’t really pick up much of the boldness or peppery taste…it’s like the tea was weak, but not weak like I didn’t steep it long enough. I’ll probably try to steep it a little longer to see if I can eke some more flavor out of it, but I’m worried that too much longer is going to take me straight to “bitter town.” In any event, it’s certainly not bad, and I’ll bump my rating if I can bump the taste.

Thanks to Lena for sharing some of this! I’ve had this before, but it was right when I first started drinking tea and I didn’t appreciated it so I’m glad to have a chance to try this again now that I like Yunnan.

Teance’s Yunnan Gold is the only Yunnan I’ve had recently but I think this one is a little better. It’s still smooth and tastes (what I think of as) peppery. But I think the overall taste of this one is richer than Teance’s version by a hair. I might break out some of the other stuff later today to test for sure.

Wow the description of this tea having a unique peppery taste was right on. The first time I had this brewed with a mug infuser I wondered if I had forgot to wash my infuser basket after having the Thai Chai I last used it for. So I brewed it again with a gaiwan to ensure a clean brew and the taste was still there. I’ve never encountered a black tea that is naturally spicy like this one before which was a nice change for something different although quite honestly while it is a good tea I am glad that I only bought a sample as I don’t think I will be ordering any more of it.

So…. I’m in love with yunnan style tea. Something about the peppery sweetness and the rich liquor is amazing. This was definitely a passion buy and the logic was fairly sound..(ah…why not?). So i picked it up and was waiting for it the day ups said it would be there… they waited till almost 6 to deliver it and i was so pumped. The dry leaves smelled like honey and cocoa

Another tea that comes to symbolize Yunnan and importantly comes close to Pu-Erh in the boldness and richness factor! Anyone can really smell the rich soily, minerally, a tad bit medicinal spicy , and when brewed imparts a wonderful complex mixture with a prominent leathery aroma. The brew itself is a rich composition of clay-like, minerally, peppery, with a dash of honey that is fairly noticeable. Its quite a tea almost similar to Teavana’s “Temple Peaks” yunnan equivalent, but without astringency, bitterness, and fully smooth medium bodied tea.

Decent, very drinkable for the price. Used this as a wedding favour and everyone loved it.

I’ve been drinking this several days in a row as I’m out of my current chocolate chip tea and need to reorder soon. Yunnan Gold is a good Chinese tea — smooth with a bit of pepper to liven things up. I’ve been using a small amount of sugar in my tea lately because I’ve been so tired, so the sugar actually brings out the rich flavor of this tea (despite me not wanting to use sugar usually).

This is an excellent tea. Try it.

When it comes to black teas, I usually tend to go with ones that have been flavored. But Yunnan Gold is an absolutely fantastic plain black tea. Certainly it’s a bit on the pricey side, but it’s well worth it in my mind. It’s such a rich tasting tea. Full of flavor, with some lovely peppery notes and a lot of body. I’ve found this a great tea to pair with just about anything, or to enjoy on it’s own, curled up on the sofa with a good book.