Yun Nan Dian Hong Black Tea – Golden Tip

Another backlog. This one is from yesterday, and I remember it a lot more. Thank you Teavivre for sending this sample!

This was a very nice tea. I’m a pretty big fan of golden tip blacks, and this one was no exception to that favor. It had a nice, bold background and then a very unique sweetness (almost citrus-y) that climbed up through it and presented itself towards the swallow. As it cooled, more of a sweet potato-esque flavor emerged, and it was very lovely.

This was very nice and I plan on reordering it!

This is, in my mind, a very “fall-friendly” tea, which is surprising for something without a bit of cinnamon in it. But for some reason, this has a very warm flavor (not just temperature!) that reminds me of fall leaves, making it absolutely perfect on this slightly chilly morning.

Like some of the other tasting notes I see here, I do detect some tasty sweet potato in this, both in the scent and the cup itself. It works really well. I’m also getting a very, very light maltiness, and just the slightest fruity touch (peach? apricot? I’m not really sure). It all combines beautifully, though, to make what is probably one of the best cups of tea I’ve had.

While I mostly prefer my tea unflavored anyway, this is one I wouldn’t even think of adding honey or sugar to; it’s absolutely perfect as it is, and any additions would just ruin it.

(Sample provided gratis by TeaVivre for review.)

I seriously thought I had logged this one…I’m rather certain. Anyhow…I had this one earlier today and really enjoyed it. Now that I cannot find my logger-first review I will make a note to give it another go next week and review further.

This tea is amazingly delicious. Or perhaps not so amazingly, because I knew what I was getting into from the great reviews of it already on Steepster.

My package came yesterday, and I’m still having trouble with the fact that I’ve actually gotten mail from China now. With Chinese symbols on it even! I only recognize a couple of them from my studies of Japanese (like the symbol for tea, which is strangely not on all of the descriptions for the various teas).

Anyway, this tea is so delicious. It’s sweet and honey and malty and other things I’m not good enough to identify but all around very very good. I’m going to enjoy drinking this, this evening, 2 or 3 steeps it looks like it comes out to for brewing Western style. I don’t have a gaiwan yet and I’m really rather impatient besides so Western style is how I roll.

I do enjoy this one… but It’s not my favourite varietal of black tea that’s for sure.
I crave maltiness in my black teas, and this is not strong in the malt factor.
I get notes of raisins, orange and almost a candied ginger note?
A sweetness develops on the second cup for me (gongfu style with ~86˚C, 30s).. it’s nice and accompanied by a slight drying at the back of the throat.

I like it.. I don’t love it.
Thank you Angel for the sample.

This is my 3rd day in a row drinking a Golden Tea. When I opened the bag I was impressed. It really was unique. The visual and the aroma were both beautiful. I somehow, when I brewed this in my Gaiwan, thought I was getting a soft cocoa flavor with a hint of cream. It was a fascinating flavor. Absolutely splendid. More notes to come. Thank you Angel ….

thank you Angel at Teavivre for this generous sample
coming home at 6:30 AM from work I was looking around at what kind of tea to try..and perhaps review here on Steepster. I was also pretty hungry, so I started re-heating my Vegan Jamaican Curry Chicken to go along with the Tea.
This is a great black Tea, smooth, slightly smokey and with that delicious maltiness that is great alone and very much complimented my ‘Curry Chicken’
It has a familiar aroma & tastes I’m trying to describe..? Maybe nutty as well? Hmm, it’s an awesome black tea that’s a “stand alone” and for when I’m felling in the mood for a black with a pedigree. It’s something to savor. I will order this one for sure
I brewed it according to Teavivre’s suggestion at 185, but almost went for boiling.
Did I mention the dried leaves were beautiful?

1 heaping tsp in 6oz. (This was about 1/3 of my 7g sample, so approx 2.3g)

The dry leaf wasn’t as golden as the Adagio Yunnan Gold that I used to drink like crazy, but the taste was very similar. That classic Yunnan flavor. Very nice version… smooth with barely any astringency. A great morning cup!

I have a sample from Adagio coming, since that was the tea I used to drink so much, I want to try it side-by-side and see what I discover.

(I did a 2nd steeping which was good too although less flavorful.)

THE LAST OF MY TEAVIVRE SAMPLES AND UM. WOW. WOW THIS IS THE MOST AMAZING BLACK TEA. I don’t think I ever expected myself to rate an unflavored black tea this high, especially without adding more things to it as well. I usually always doctor up my black teas with sugar and/or milk because they’re just too strong and sometimes bitter but WOW NOT THIS ONE! I didn’t have to add anything!

It SMELLED sweet at first! And the leaves looked so cute and curly, I don’t have any other tea that looks quite like this. When I went to take my first sip I was PREPARED FOR HEAVY BITTER BLACK TEA TASTE but then it… SURPRISINGLY… WAS NOT! It was rich but not bitter at all, very sweet, kinda reminiscent of hazelnuts! I saw some people mention sweet potatoes as well and YES I think that describes it perfectly! A bit malty, ever so slightly butterscotch-y… what a great black tea, dang!

Many thanks again to Teavivre for these wonderful samples! I’m pretty much sold; most definitely want to buy some in the future!

An extremely good tea – sweet, but not too much, just a little to get your senses going. It’s smooth, it’s rich and it has a sort of sweet potato and raisin flavor to it.

I was able to get 8 steeps out of it ranging from 20s to 2min.

Highly recommended!

It’s been a bit since I’ve had any tea that teavivre sent me, as I’ve been delving into the the ones from Jenn as I have been intrigued by the ingenious blends, but today I felt it was a straight tea day, so I brewed up a few straight teas. This was the first.

I wasn’t fond of it straight, but then I pretty much always take black teas with milk and sugar these days, and I think this mellowed it out for me. It was pretty earthy to me. I loved the colour of the leaves, and the tea was a beautiful dark mahogany brown. The tea was quite a contrast to the Ti Kwan Yin I had later which was light and fresh and floral; this was heavy and earthy, possibly smoky or malty. I’m never very good at describing notes in straight tea. This tea, however, was my tea of choice today, as I had woken up with a bad headache and congestion, and I wanted something strong to give my head a kick in the pants, so to speak.

I think I prefer darjeeling over this as a straight black, and I prefer flavoured black over straight. And for me, milk and sugar are a must for black tea.

ETA: In reading the reviews, I may opt to try this at a lower temp, with a shorter steep, and try it again, sans milk and sugar, to see if I can pick up the sweet potato or cocoa notes I’ve read about. It is possible I tasted this straight with too much haste. My rating might change on a subsequent brewing.

A great sample I received from Teavivre. I set up a proper tasting with degustation sets for each of the teas. Well, I didn’t do the traditional 6 minutes, but I did my best for the type of tea. Here’s my notes.

Dry leaf: wiry and thin for a golden buds tea which in my experience tend to use larger leaves (perhaps this is a different cultivar than I’m used to). This does not bear to judge the tea, as the leaves are still very uniform and beautiful.
Brewing method: 3g, tasting set, 90 for 1.5 minutes
Aroma: Aroma of cinnamon or bitter chocolate.
Infusion: Orange liquor.
Taste: Drying taste as it hits the roof of the mouth. Not as sweet as the aroma implies, but very rich. The taste of earthy sweetness that accompanies a bitter chocolate.

This is a fabulous black,exactly what I’m in the mood for this afternoon. Not sure which TeaVivre black I like the best. I really like Bailin Gongfu too. For me, it’s a close match and may just depend on what mood I’m in!

I’ve had this tea for a few days after ordering it from Teavivre. This was my first order from them and I was greatly pleased with the quality and service, will definitely be ordering more soon.

First of all, I fell in love with packaging/presentation the teas come in. Detailed info on origin of tea, harvest date, brew instructions was a huge plus.

When I opened the bag the tea came in, I was instantly hit with a deliciously strong spicy aroma. It is a combination of chocolate, cinnamon, and other spices, hard to accurately describe, but all I can say it is one of the best aromas I’ve smelled on a black tea.

The dry leaf of this tea is perhaps one of the most attractive out there, thin curly needles covered in fine golden hairs with a dark skin.

I brewed this tea following the instructions on the back of the foil bag but I also experimented a lot with this tea. 185F water and 1-2 min steep time is what Teavivre recommends.

This tea brews a nice dark amber colored cup with a faint spicy aroma. Taste-wise, it was slightly sweet, smooth, light bodied, a bit malty, and with a delicious mix of cocoa and peppery notes, maybe a little cinnamon too. I re-brewed this tea many times, up to around 5-6 infusions and all of them were delicious.

The wet leaf was brownish-yellow and very aromatic, spicy and woodsy.

While not as strong as other blacks, this tea is personally one of my favorites, as it is delicious by itself if brewed correctly. I experimented with some higher water temperatures and I got a stronger flavored cup but with a noticeable astringent finish, great with a touch of milk if brewed this way. Overall, This tea is definitely a permanent specimen in my tea collection.

This is an interesting tea that I tried many different ways. I tried high heat and low heat at various temperatures. It had a distinct taste that was noted with malty tones. It has a robust flavor without overwhelming my pallet. I am not a giant fan of the flavor, but it is quality. This is a quality representation of this tea.

Thankyou so much teavivre for sending me this sample, I will definitely be buying this again.. the smell of this tea is absolute perfection, I can’t taste it as much as the smell.. but it’s ok.. I love the milky malt aroma of this..

I got a sample of this tea for free from Angel at Teavivire.

The dry leaf was beautiful – wiry, long, and golden. The smell as it brews is very sweet and malty.

As I drank the tea I tasted the sweet notes immensley. Honey, toasted rice, warm barley all came to mind. As the tea cooled I got more of the astrignent flavor. I drank this tea as I was on my way to work in traffic — I have enough of my sample to try again when I can cocentrate more on the tea and less on outside annoyances like traffic jams.

Exquisite is the word here. I was never a fan of Yunnan teas, but this one changed my heart. Sweet, not grassy, yet deeply aromatic. Smells of heliotrope flowers. Most wonderful tea for gentle evenings and mornings.

Definitely tasted sweet potatoes, and more-so like sweet potato pie because I added a bit of agave. Just a teensy bit. But it was so delicious that way. A short steep time was a good idea, since this brewed up dark quickly. I can appreciate this black tea due to it’s smoothness. I should try it at 85 C next time instead of trying to be a rebel.

I definitely love how this tea looks in the packaging. It’s so soft and beautifully rolled, and gold! You can’t go wrong with gold coloured tea. A+, from a straight black tea avoider.

This morning I was excited to try another sample of Teavivre tea. The Yun Nan Dian Hong Black Tea – Golden Tip did not disappoint me one bit. It has a wonderful, light, flowery, fresh fields taste to it.

So far, Teavivre’s black teas have amazed me with the great amount of flavor they produce at low brewing temperatures and short steeping times. I brewed this one for three minutes at 185 degrees as recommended. The result was plenty of flavor, although I think my worn out tastebuds may need about three and a half minutes of brewing to obtain the full flavor effect. Regardless, this is another excellent tea.

This tea has a bright light amber color like wildflower honey. There is also a hint of sweetness to the flavor that makes this selection refreshing for black tea.

I continue to be very impressed with Teavivre teas. They have skyrocketed to the top of my favorites list. I’m already counting the hours until tomorrow’s new sample!