Panyang Golden Tips

Tea of the afternoon….. (SRP #19)

I don’t know why I have been waiting to try this one. I knew it was a special purchase for myself last holiday season, but I decided today was the day. The beauty of a fabulous tea is that it can turn any average day into a special day. I washed up my ceramic mug prior to this steep and made sure to dump out the once boiled water in the bottom of my kettle to start fresh. I don’t have enough of it to make a steeping mistake. My thanks to Harney for making this available as a sample. I love to try teas that I might possibly never be able to buy except in sample form.

Right off the bat, I am thinking I should have added more leaf. I do smell kind of a slight Yunnan type maltiness, but I can’t actually taste it. I definitely get honey. This is incredibly smooth. I also get something that is hard to describe. It is kind of like an energy surge. Really, I think it is just that I love this. It has a heavier mouthfeel than most black teas of this sort that I drink. Since I have a chemical backgound, I kind of feel like it is what heavy water would feel like. Liquid with substance. I am excited for the follow up cup with a bit more leaf.

I think there will be enough for a few cups in this sample, but I just had to try it. It is one of the more expensive samples at $4, but the tea itself sells for $50 for a 2 ounce tin, or $360 for a pound. I am guessing the price on this one went up for this year’s harvest since ashmanra noted that this and Golden Monkey were similarly priced. That is not really the case at this point in time (April 26, 2012). Golden Monkey is currently $96 a pound.

I can’t even imagine trying to keep up with similar quality from year to year with weather variations. Tea is organic (different from organically grown). Environment plays such a huge role in the end product. I know how strange the weather has been over the last few years where I live, and I can’t imagine what those variations must do to products that are so heavily reliant on growing conditions. I appreciate the Harney stance that if this year’s version of a tea is not up to standards, they wait until they can get some that is, even if it means a long period of time where a product is not available. Unfortunately, for us die hard tea fans, that means buying it when you can (mostly for teas with a long shelf life), because it may not be available at a later time. (Oh how I wish there was some Black Jasmine on site, but current offerings have not met with Michael Harney’s standards. I think Golden Snail suffers a similar fate.) Then, my next bit of advice…savor that tea when you have it, but still drink it in a reasonable amount of time! Tea is meant to be enjoyed.

Usual mug method. There are resteeps in the plans, probably with an increase in the leaf. Stay tuned.

Wow. This is really good. First taste was dusty and reminded me hay but as it cooled it reminded me more and more of Butiki’s Taiwanese Wild Mountain Black. It’s different, but very close I think. I did get a lot of nutty taste and a light honey sweetness.

Having steeped my entire sample over the course of today, and resteeped each cup once as well, I can say that it will get somewhat bitter if oversteeped, but it didn’t get to the point of being undrinkable or unpleasant.

When completely cool, I got really strong cinnamon notes – not sure where that came from!

I would love to keep this in my cupboard. I’m glad I got this sample.

This tea came back into stock just when I was wanting to put in my latest Harney order, so I gleefully grabbed a sample. You see, Harney has a lower-grade Panyang Congou (which I have not tried), but I wanted the really fancy stuff. :) Looking at the pricing this stuff better be out of this world, because it is actually $50 for 2oz. That is more than Mr. Bi’s First Picking Laoshan Black, or Golden Fleece! And double the price of a 3.5oz tin of Teavivre’s Superfine Tan Yang Gong Fu Black Tea, though unfortunately I have not tried that one yet.

I do have to say, this seems like the first time in a few days that I smelled a tea while it was brewing and my mouth started watering. It smells amazing. Like honey and molasses and malt and raisins and a hint of chocolate. Mm, this is sweet, smooth, and delicious. This definitely has the honey/caramel notes, a hint of chocolate, a little bit nutty. Then there is this intense raisin note in this one that really grows in the aftertaste. Seriously, my mouth tastes like I just ate some raisins. SO bright and fruity. And then I take another sip and get the malted grain sweetness again.

Well I’m not sure if is quite worth $50/2oz, but it is damn good. I will have to try the Tan Yang I brought home from China (currently my favorite example of a Tan Yang) to see how this compares more closely, but wow. If I ever found one of those half-off vouchers for Harney again (now I wonder, why didn’t I buy another one of those at the time!), I would seriously seriously consider buying a tin of this.

I ordered the sample packet of this from Harney and Sons, and received a very generous portion – enough for two 22 ounce Beehouse pots. In their description, they were very honest about it not being as sweet as in previous years, though I don’t know this from experience.

The dry leaves had a lovely tea aroma – you know you are smelling a fine tea when you inhale. I picked up honey and light raisin or molasses. Steeped, it left a bit to be desired for me. There is a hint of Golden Monkey’s character (not surprising since they come from approximately the same area), but watered down and much lighter. It wasn’t BAD, it just wasn’t as richly sweet. That reminded me of Teavana’s Golden Monkey which smells bold and rich like Harney’s but doesn’t taste like it, yet is excellent with milk and sugar just the same. I added milk and sugar to this one and found it to be a very drinkable tea – but not one I would order. It is described as medium bodied but I felt that it lacked heft. Perhaps we didn’t use enough leaf. I may try it again.

Dollar for dollar, I would buy H&S Golden Monkey over this one anytime. They are about the same price but Golden Monkey is very full bodied and so resteepable!

Very nice. Mild. Better than the Yunnan Golden Tips.

A very mild and light black tea, reminiscent of an Oolong, even. Its subtle flavors incorporate the mildest apricot, but don’t think it’s a fruity one! A very nice black tea, golden orange in color, and easy on the palette. No milk or sugar needed.