Bailin Gongfu Black Tea

Let’s just get one thing clear here. This will probably not be news to most of you.

Fujian black = OM NOM NOM NOM!!!

That said, let’s move on.

I should do a proper intro first. You see, you may have heard about this here massive order I put in with Le Palais des Thes recently. Massive. Massive, Steepsterites. When the boyfriend came home and saw the opened box, this is what happened.

“That’s for work, right?” says he.

“Um, no…” says I.

I was being Looked At

“What?” says I, somewhat defensively.

“That’s enough tea for an army!” says he.

innocent look says I.

That was when I decided to not tell him about this order, although it’s much more reasonable in size with only three different teas. And yes, the LPdT one did get slightly out of hand. Slightly.

So the TeaVivre order arrived today. I have tinned it and hidden as much of the evidence as I could in my own room. I recently rearranged the Tea Corner slightly, so I’m counting on him not noticing the three extra tins that have appeared.

If he sees them, he’ll mock me for weeks.

So that’s the current status in my house. Yup. Sneaky tea. At least I don’t have to hide it in a desk drawer like I do with chocolate when I get cravings after having told him to help me cut down on snacking and sweets.

Now, tying it all back to the very beginning of the post, anybody who has known me for a while will know that when it comes socks-in-orbit-awesome, nothing, and I do mean NOTHING, surpasses Tan Yang in my opinion. I love all Fujian blacks, I’ve never met one in recent history that I didn’t, but Tan Yang is the very definition of tea perfection for me. Bai Lin came close, but not quite there. A little less wild, a little more well behaved. I love the wacky feel to Tan Yang that I get some times, when it seems to display multiple personalities between steeps, and often between sips if brewed Just So.

I have to say that the first sip of this one had me eyeing the cup suspiciously. I have, it appears, been drinking the wrong Bai Lin. This one hits almost all the markers that I love about Tan Yang. The only one missing the wacky feeling, but I can’t tell that from just one cup anyway. It might be there.

There’s nothing well behaved about this. It’s loud and self assured. It marches into the room shouting, “BAI LIN IS HERE! HI FANS!” It’s not at all subtle, but it seduces me all the same.

But I expect you lot wants to know about my experience in more descriptive terms as well. The aroma is malty sweet and a bit grainy. I got a whiff of caramel, but only because the flavour told me to look for it. You see, this has a pretty good caramel-y note. It’s mostly in the aftertaste and it reminds me of the dulche de leche (an expensive and rare luxury) I had on toast for breakfast this morning. The body of the sip is all long and grainy and dark, but at the very front was where I found the real surprise. Sort of prickly, kinda floral and kinda almost pseudo-smoky! More floral than smoky, but it was definitely pointing vaguely in that direction.

And that, I expect, is what broke the Good Boy image for this one. That’s the sort of thing I expect from Keemuns and Tan Yang. This tea definitely feels male to me, which is peculiar, because all other Bai Lins I’ve had struck me as rather more female tasting.

(Yes, flavours occasionally have genders. They sometimes have colours too.)

I am ashamed to admit that I still have samples untasted that Teavivre sent to me. Tonight, after a productive work day, I decided that it should also be a productive tea day. So, on to tasty Teavivre samples! This particular one was one of the ones I was most excited to try.

The smell of the dry leaves is a mix of malt and hay. I get a hint of chocolate, but mostly I get malty notes and even a bit of molasses. The leaves are a beautiful mix of black, brown and golden.

The brew is a dark burgundy brown. It smells thick and inviting. I can see how it reminds some people of chocolate. I get sweet molasses notes and a hint of creaminess. The flavor is malty and still holds hints of hay. There is a strange sour flavor that lingers at the end of each sip. I added a little rock sugar and it helped smooth it out a little. It did taste quite a bit like malted chocolate balls! (or Milo which is malted chocolate milk that they have here in Ecuador!)

Sadly it, isn’t quite what I wanted but I recognize that it is very very good. I can see how it could be some people’s favorite. :)

Thank you TeaEqualsBliss for sending me some of this tea.

YUM! I’m with Angrboda here, Fujian black DOES = OM NOM NOM NOM!!!

So rich and satisfying. So yummy delicious. Lovely dark cocoa notes, and a strong undercurrent of caramel sweetness. When it comes to pure black tea, it really doesn’t get any better than this. This is the stuff!

After totaling my truck and having some aches and pains I’m starting to feel back to normal so maybe I can start getting more tasting notes in.
This is another LiberTeas sample and I’m sure glad she selected it for my sample box. It’s good!
Dry leaf has a nice sweet aroma. I’m starting to fully subcsribe to the thought that my nose is not to be trusted; for the second time in a week I say leaf smells like bubblegum-probably grape.
Add boiling water and that soon changes. Its still fruity, even berry notes, but definitely not grape. Color is a deep red/brown.
First thing I found after sipping was a coppery malt flavor. The sweet vein is undeniable and reminds me of a certain type of syrup. I’m not sure what kind, but can pretty much rule out maple. There’s a little astringency, though not enough to scare me away.
This tea gives me a nice warmth in the back of my throat. Couple that with the third shift that I can’t seem to adjust to and my eyes are getting heavy. I will put this in the;‘will make a new tasting note later’ file so I can pay better attention then. The drink got cold and so did this note, better luck next time. Thank you and goodnight,…your humble servant.

tunes-Bob Weir & Ratdog=Two Djinn/Even So/October Queen/Lucky Enough

Thanks to Angel & Teavivre for my wonderful second batch of samples, which generously included this one which I requested specifically since everyone here has been raving about it!

Like the Fengqing Black Dragon Pearls, this tea smelled quite deliciously chocolatey when I opened up the package. It may have leaned a touch moreso towards malty/yeasty, but there was definitely chocolate there. I probably used about 2 tsp for 8 or 10 oz. water.

The result is pretty tasty, very little astringency, a rich, malty, hay-y flavour with chocolatey flavours emerging more slowly. I stupidly finished the other cup of tea before even trying this one (clearly not in the right state of mind for tasting tea right now. Not at all.) but I think I preferred the pearls :)

ETA: Very interesting second infusion, especially after just drinking that of the Fengqing Dragon Pearls! I can’t really taste much of anything chocolatey, but there’s a surprising sweetness! No astringency even though I think it was steeped a good deal longer than the pearls. I think this is a black tea I could actually drink regularly with no additions (along with the pearls, the Laoshan Black…. I see a trend here!)

This is the first tea I’ve tried from this company, which graciously sent me a number of yummy samples. Boy, am I impressed! A couple of items to note as I wait for the tea to cool off a bit: the packaging of this tea was superb. Individual bags inside a larger bag (which were then inside a box)… and each individual bag looks like it will yield at least two cups, more if you resteep.

The aroma of this tea is so nice. There’s a hint of caramel and lots of hearty warmth.

Now on to the taste: toasty caramel, strong and bold. Now this is an awakening cup of black tea! Lately I’ve been trying to drink my tea straight up with no sweeteners, but honestly, even a sweet-tooth sugar queen like me doesn’t need anything to enhance this tea’s flavor. It’s robust and sweet at the same time.

This is a new cupboard essential. And a new addition to my morning wake-up call.

Heaven!

So I’ve been hearing so much about gongfu I couldn’t resist trying it for myself. Also, this gives me an excuse to buy more tea hardware. I saw this “easy gaiwan” and just had to have it (http://www.yunnansourcing.us/store/product.php?id_product=128). It’s the same one Daniel Scott has in his icon. I don’t know if I’m ready for the “big girl” gaiwans, so I liked how it had handles and a built in strainer. I’m also using a strainer basket (also from Yunnansourcing) and a random 4 oz cup I found in the cupboard. One day I’ll get a fancy tea cup, but not yet.

Also, to keep the water warm but accessible, I brewed some hot water and put it all into a cast iron pot for me to pour in segments as I type. As you’ll see over the course of my “steepings”, the water got cooler more quickly than I thought. So this is why people get a Zojirushi.

I chose this tea because everyone has raved about it, and I was just “meh” about it. I thought brewing it gongfu style might help “bring it out” more and make me see what all the fuss was about. Also, it has gongfu in the name. How can you not love it??

I wanted to be part of the cool kids so I wrote down my thoughts of each steeping. But since this is my first time, you’ll see my notes aren’t quite so refined. Oh well, it was an experience.

1st steep – I was supposed to throw this steep out as a rinse, but I just don’t have the heart, so I thought I would try it. I got some light chocolatey notes. Also, this strainer basket is great, but where the heck do I put it when I’m done with it? Right now I’m just putting it over my gaiwan upside down, but next time I should bring along a plate of some sort. Oh geez, more hardware. This gong fu stuff sure requires a lot of room. This is what I get for not using a “serving pitcher”.

2nd steep (20 sec) – Used more tea this time. Definitely stronger and maltier. I’m getting notes of toast in here, as well. And I noticed the tea mentioned caramel, so yeah, I can see that. This is very different than the first steeping. Except I didn’t remember to swirl the leaves around in the gaiwain. Should I have? Maybe I’ll do that next steep and see how it goes. Also, I should use less water since this first true steeping spilled a little bit because I’m trying to get it just right.

3rd steep – (40 sec) My water has cooled down a bit. Boo. Don’t fail me now cast iron. This is a little bit smoother – not quite as maltier. I wonder if my water isn’t hot enough. Ah well.. Also, I noticed this was supposed to be 30 sec NOT 40 sec. Whoops.

4th steep (50 sec) – Now my water has cooled down quite a lot, even though my cast iron still feels hot. Why have you neglected me, cast iron? Also, I had my first pouring fail. I thought the lid was on properly, but I went to pour and it wasn’t and I spilled some water. Oh well, cleaning it up wasn’t too bad. The tea isn’t bad, but now it’s starting to have this metallic taste to it. Hmm.. I better drink my water fast so I can do another steeping before my water gets too cold.

5th steep – (1 min, 10 sec) – Need to figure out an efficient way to time these things because looking at my watch and hoping for the best probably isn’t going to cut it. So uh.. I guess the steeping time is right. We’ll hope so. Also, this tea is luke-warm and I’m not really tasting anything besides metallic-ness. I guess I need to break down and go make some warm water from the kettle, which is in the other room #firstworldteaproblems.

6th steep – (1 min, 30 sec) – Okay, so I went back and actually got hot water from the kettle. I steeped this the time allotted, and now it’s kinda bitter and extra metalic. Bleh. I wonder if I messed things up by using luke warm water the last few times. Should that really matter? As it cools though it’s not THAT bitter, but it’s that exciting, either.

Okay, I think I’m done with this tea. I gave it 6 good steepings, but I’m just not going to love it, especially near the end. The gongfu experience was fun, but it’s a lot more work than my traditional western style. I’ll definitely try it on some more teas to try and see what fun I can extract out of them.

My first tea from Teavivre, a wonderful sample sent to me by Azzrian.

Let me say that off the bat, I’m very impressed with the quality of this tea. Opening up the sample, you get a good scent of the tea leaves themselves that is quite inviting. I opened it up to smell it, and then Missy had to go brew it up for us. She says it was so it didn’t go stale, but honestly I don’t think she could resist the aroma.

She tried something a teensy bit different with this tea, in that she brewed a first steeping in a 16 oz tumbler, and then a second steeping, and poured them into our larger pot. So consider this a review of steeping 1.5 ;)

The flavor packed into this tea is good and thick, almost mealy. I’ve thought of other teas as malty, but this truly and thoroughly blows all other maltiness, ever, away. It’s a very tasty, thick, sweet malt flavor that reminds me of a dark stout beer. Underneath that, there’s a honey-like flavor that comes out and is quite enjoyable. At the end, there’s a bit of a grainy flavor that comes out.

Its a very smooth tea, but it has a very thick mouth-feel to it. Again, I find myself likening this to the tea version of a good, dark, stout beer. It has that depth of malt flavor, and this thickness that almost makes your mouth want to chew by instinct alone. That “are we sure this is a liquid?” sense.

I think what’s interesting to me about this tea is that it’s very, very flavorful, but it doesn’t have that… aggressiveness I’m used to in black teas. It almost feels like a night time black tea, if that makes any sense whatsoever.

Definitely puts the bug in my ear to go try some more Teavivre teas, especially now that they’ve added samples to roughly all of their teas, from what I’m seeing.

As I open this package I am amazed! It’s DOUBLE Packaged!!! Nice! At first sniff – the first word that came to mind was “Crispy”…Awwww-yeah!

As the air hit the loose leaf the aroma was enhanced to a Croissant-like smell! Again, VERY nice!

The color post infusion is a medium brown.

The taste is brilliantly bold! Very defined! It’s smooth yet chewy and leaves a semi-sweet aftertaste that I really like!

This is VERY memorable! I like this VERY much! For now…I’m going with a very high 90’s but that may change for the better :)

This is a sample from Azzrian, Thanks! Brewed this up as the first cup of the day. Not a bad cup of tea, but not my favorite either.

It’s a very grainy, malty tea. It really reminds me of the smell a friend’s house had while he was making beer. The end of the sip is sweet, reminding me of honey. Very thick mouth feel to it. It isn’t bitter or astringent at all, good marks for that.

Ahh! This smelled so, so good. Licorice-y and caramel-y, very sweet and dark. I could sit there and smell it all day.

Brewed up it smells even more delicious. It may be my mind playing with me because of seeing “pine-needle shaped,” but I even feel like I’m getting a pine-y taste. It’s like a combination of a woodsy and medicinal (which is in no way negative for me) feeling – it tastes like something that could have once been called an elixir. This is one of those where I actually whispered a little “wow” after the first sip. There’s a lot about the taste that I’m not experienced enough to name (though I know I love the full-bodied-ness of it) – I see a lot of other members mentioning malty, which I think is what’s making me think of medicinal things.

My amazement might come from never having had a non-flavored, high quality black before. But I love this! I am so glad Teavivre sent this sample along with my flavored sample pack, because this one really impresses me.

I am finally getting around to my generous samples from Angel and Teavivre! I meant to try this a few days ago but I was craving flavored teas, and I didn’t want to taste this until I was in the mood for it lest it be wasted on grumpy taste-buds. I just checked and this is the highest rated tea on Steepster, so I was definitely anticipating big flavors!

Right out of the sample bag it smells fantastic, very chocolatey and rich. I’m not that familiar with Chinese blacks, but it was definitely a good first impression! I used water that was a bit hotter than recommended because I’m a spaz, but I don’t think it adversely affected the flavor—there’s zero bitterness or astringency. I do like astringent teas but this seems like a more mellow black and it definitely wouldn’t be fitting with the flavor profile. This is suck a complex cup with notes of chocolate, malt, raisin, caramel/honey, and yeast. My dad tried some and picked up some hay notes, which I always enjoy in tea. It’s so smooth and rich without being heavy. I will most definitely be ordering more of this!

This one is very nice no bitter at all nice dark color with hints of caramel and malt maybe even slightly spicy notes, very good :-)

Love this one. I prefer oolongs, greens, and white teas and this is my favorite black so far that is naturally flavored! Thank you Teavivre for this sample. On my shopping list for sure!

I can’t believe I have forgotten to review this one. Many thanks to Angel for this sample.This is my morning pot. I don’t have to be in to work till the afternoon so I’m relaxing a little bit and enjoying this tea steeped in the perfect teamaker that I saved 10 dollars on Ebay with. Is it bad that I am starting to compare other teas up to the standard of Teavivre? This one is excellent a nice caramel liquor. I would say this is more of a mellow brew. It’s not as peppery as a Keemun. It kind of reminds me of baked potatoes. Growing up our church had chicken barbecues and when it was done everyone who worked ate. There always used to be the Styrofoam cooler with the baked potatoes. I used to grab one, they were made with a little butter in the foil, peel the foil and eat it straight like an apple. That’s the way to enjoy baked potatoes. This tea is excellent! I am really starting to fully enjoy good black teas.

So a while back I placed an order with teavivre and I have to say their customer service was pretty awesome, or at least unexpected. They actually emailed me because they were tracking my package and let me know the post office had said they’d tried to deliver. Now, unbeknowest to them, the post office here is riduculous and hadn’t but at least i was able to get right on the post office about where my order was.

Anyway, i digress. Since I need to get my cupboard under control, I’ve got to start drinking some of the tea samples from teavivre! I figure I can drink at least one a day which will get me through the first half of the samples i picked up (love that the samples come in 2 little packs instead of one big one!).

This was the random tea i grabbed this morning from the bunch..it’s like a grab back of delicious excitement waiting to happen! I have to say, this one is pretty darn tasty. I’ll be doing re-steeps tonight when i get home but this first brew is one I can see keeping around for one of my morning blacks. I’d put this one up there with my taiwanese assam from butiki and laoshan black from verdant. I’m sure there will be others but those are my favs at the moment.

This is a nice smooth black, that has a malty taste to it without being as intense as say, laoshan black. There’s a hint of caramel at teh end of the sip but it’s not overly pronounced. mmmm this is a really nice start to the morning.

Thank you Angel for the generous samples. Now to this lovely tea. When I opened the tiny sample bag and smelled the aroma of soft cocoa I knew that I would be in for a treat. So rich and full of flavor. I am getting flavors similar to the Zhi Gung Fu. I saw this was noted by another reviewer also. I only used half of the sample bag for the first cup. For cup 2 I am using the rest of the bag. I will give it a shorter steep time and see what happens. This such a fine tea. One sip and you are in tea heaven. I am brewing this basket style and quite frankly I am saving some for later. It is very uplifting and one of the finest black teas I have had the pleasure to sip. Now I see what my fellow Steepsterites have been gushing about. Again, thank you Angel….

Steep Information:
Amount: 2 tsp
Water: 12 ounces hot tap water
Tool: kati loose tea system (my Review here.)
Steep Time: 2 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: sweet, roasty, delicious
Steeped Tea Smell: sweet, roasty, delicious
Flavor: sweet bakey
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: toasty
Liquor: translucent dark brown

Delicious, from the smell you knew it would be a smooth toasty black. It has its own sweetness, and just enough toast to be soothing but not an astringent black.

Resteep: 2 minutes, 12 ounces hot tap water
Lighter body, but still delicious

This tea puts up with poor preparation (at work) and has been a once a week treat on my first day of work. The smooth mouthfeel and gentle toasted sweetness wake you up gently and not with the vicious shake sometimes given by an assam.

Solid performer, I have been drinking this at work and it has been hard to mess up, and consistently delicious without being jarring. This is not a kick you awake tea but a tea to perk you up with friendly soothing sips.

Rating: 4/4 leaves

Blog: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2012/01/teavivre-loose-leaf-black-tea-bailin.html

I’m finally sampling Bailin Gongfu, thanks to our dear friend Angel, @ TeaVivre.

I’ve read various peoples reviews of this tea over the last few months, & as I recall, it is a bit temperamental. I was careful to make sure the water temp was 185, meanwhile wafting the addictive smell of cocoa tinged maltiness emanating from the leaves as I painstakingly weighed them, first all in one cup, 7oz, & then taking away leaves until I was down to 3.5 oz. The other half of the sample got tucked back into my black tea sample bag for another day.

I got a massage this morning. I’m feeling very ‘open’, my breakfast is sitting here waiting to be eaten. This tea is luscious, mouthwatering, and delicious: Malt, chocolate, & bit of caramel sprinkled with a pinch of sea salt. My mouth is watering, my qi is flowing, & I’m smiling. Good start for my day!

On the third day of tea-mas Angel gave to me, three Yun Nan Dian Hongs, two Bai Lin Gong Fu’s and a 75th tasting note! So yesterday my Verdant spring greens arrived, Monday the husband’s Upton samples came and today, quite unexpectedly the post man knocked and I signed for a box I wasn’t sure if I should be looking at, then I saw my name and all the stickers from customs and realized what it must be, my free TeaVivre samples!

Thank you so much to Angel and all the folks at TeaVivre for such a generous offer try new tea in exchange for reviewing them. Any company that offers samples, be they included with an order or offered at a very affordable price gets points in customer service in my book, this is the first I’ve come across that has offered them completely free (I understand this would be very impractical for smaller companies in the States). I will definitely be placing an order soon!

So this tea! This tea that is all the buzz on Steepster. This tea that has been on my shopping list for so long. Was it worth the wait? Absolutely! I am grateful for the four tiny serving packets, it makes things less intimidating. I feel comfortable diving into this tea knowing I have a serving that I can make for my husband strong, one that I can save for my gaiwan and for my guests (okay maybe two for guests).

Today though I semi-gongfu-ed this in the tea maker. I did a rinse, but was too curious and took a sip (or three) before pouring an offering into my cast iron cups, it was sweet and delicious and very promising. I wasn’t able to pinpoint the scents of the dried leaves though they were dark rich and lovely, the wet leaves though are unmistakeably dark rye, more salty smelling than sweet, but still very inticing.

Oh this tea is very well mannered, but not at all dull. This is a black tea that could convert coffee drinkers and white tea drinkers alike, it even reminds me a bit of coffee in this steep, but in the best and most gentle of ways. It is not the least bit rough, astringent or sour. It has cocoa and caramel, a hint of butter and yes bread-yness, something I don’t believe I’ve experienced before.

I’m on my second steep well and very pleased as second steeps haven’t been working out for me lately. This tea sings, it reminds me a bit of a Ceylon in that respect, there is a bit of spice but it is so velvety that reads more as cider (yes another Ceylon association for me). I really do think the husband will like this one and he couldn’t possibly tell me these short steeps taste like boiled rocks, or could he? I don’t understand how his tongue and brain work together.

Third infusion could have been a bit longer, but it is still very nice and there is promise in the bottom of the cup. Update: enjoying these later steeps this evening, these last two cups (steeps 5 and 6? at around 1 min each) are a bit more sweet and mineral and remind me of Verdant’s Yanxin’s Reserve ’04 Shu Nuggets in its angel food cake feel. Yum!

I look forward to introducing it to the husband, brother-in-law and possibly old co-workers, to comparing it the organic sample (I also think this would be interesting to compare to the newer harvest of Laoshan Black as it is a bit grainy) and some epic Yunnan sampling ahead. Thank you again Angel and TeaVivre, it is truly delicious!