Ancient Golden Yunnan

Quickly becoming my favorite black tea.

For me this tea seems sweet, very much like a raisin cookie with a little chocolate. I’m not really detecting anything peppery. There is a nice malty-ness that I’m enjoying, for me a “malty” tea is usually hit or miss, and this one is a hit.

I had originally thought of this as a step up from Rishi’s China Breakfast. It looks like it has more golden tips so I was expecting a slightly sweeter tea with the the same vanilla and cocoa flavors that I enjoy in China breakfast. But I was disappointed. As another reviewer described it, this tea is flat and boring. I think I might actually prefer China Breakfast.

This is also becoming one of my favorite black teas. It has a wonderful, barely smoky aroma, and steeps to a honey colored brew. There are some vague peppery notes, but it tastes slightly malty, slightly carmel like, bright and mellow, with no bitter notes at all.

Just a great, wonderful black tea. Should stand up well to milk & sugar (and honey). Not sure how much cups you can get from this 3.2 oz container, but it seemed to last forever.

A bit on the toasty side, I find this tea to be a favorite of mine. Easy to go to when I just want something to sip on and not have to think about much. It is nearly a daily tea for me.

A nice tea. Deliciously malty and nicely balanced. Not as strong of a caramel finish as some other Golden Yunnans, such as Itoen’s, but it’s organic (not a small consideration given Chinese farmers penchant for pesticide spray) and fair trade. And there is something really cool about having wild-harvested tea from 1,300-year-old tea trees.

This is a high quality tea, but neither me nor my father can get into the flavor (He bought it, didn’t like it, I tried it). I think we both prefer the more darjeeling side of black tea (verging on oolong), and perhaps anything described as “malty” isn’t what we like.

Are we talking about the same tea here!?

I can only assume the current offering from Rishi “ANCIENT Golden Yunnan” is not the same Yunnan that is being reviewed here. Either that or this is simply a lesser grade.

Even at different steep times, this tea is weak and uncomplicated. The malty, cocoa character is noticeably muted. Surprising astringency for a Yunnan. Very little of the signature Yunnan profile.

With the reviews here and at $20-$25 cheaper PER POUND than others, I had to see what the buzz was about.

I found out you get what you paid for.

The bias towards Rishi teas is pretty obvious here so I don’t expect my review will be posted but FWIW both Adagio and Replubic of Tea have far better offerings.

This tea isn’t bad, I’ve been a strict Earl Grey drinker for the past few months so it was nice to try a non fragranced or non flavored tea. The one thing I might add though is that it tasted a bit weak at a tsp per cup (although Rishi suggests 1 tbsp per cup for this and many of their teas which is wayyyy to much imho). I’ll have to give this another go around and update accordingly.

This is only the second loose leaf black tea I’ve tasted ever, to my knowledge, the first being Republic of Tea’s Lapsang Souchong, so I don’t have too much to compare it to, but I’m loving the complexity, especially the sweet raisiny notes. I’m surprised that the brewing instructions on Rishi’s website suggest a 4-5 min steep time, my first steep was three minutes and the resultant tea was very dark and pretty bitter. I’ll play around with steeping time and temperature. Definitely considering getting more of this, but I’ll probably sample some other black teas first.

Strong through 2 brews.

Warm, sweet, fruity, and very tolerant of sometime slapdash brewing. Super mixed iwth a bit of osamnthus blossoms. A nice all-around tea.

Fantastic Yunnan tea. Love the dark brewed colour as well as the nice earthy aroma. A perfect cup!

This is very different from other golden Yunnans I’ve had. The leaves are a lot smaller and darker. The tea brews up much darker as well – a deep reddish brown. The smell is woodsy and honeysuckle. The taste is oak and dark chocolate. Moderately bitter without any noticeable sweetness. The astringency is much more pronounced than other Yunnans.

A nice mellow caramel flavored black tea.

Drinking this at Common Roots. Good black tea for a dreary Monday.

I didn’t drink this exact brand. It was clearance from Target of their own brand, but it’s decent enough. Helped to wake me up.

Drank 2 days ago, very good. I would say 3rd best Yunnan I had. Rishi’s version is nice but the leaves are smaller for a typical golden Yunnan. Brewed 6g in a 20 oz pot for 1:25 sec. Brings a nice sweetness with that distinctive “tobacco” like aroma.

Always a dependable breakfast tea (even though it’s past noon already today). Steeped for 4 1/2 minutes, it’s got a strong, malty flavor and dark reddish-brown liqueur.