Bailin Gongfu Black Tea

This tea came to me in the dead of winter, and it’s such a comfort in the cold! Warming, rich, and pleasant; this tea is mildly sweet and flavorful on its own, with a lovely creamy finish. Brewed by teapot, it starts off with a stronger, almost tangy barley-grain note, then mellows out over time and steepings to become more malty, with cocoa notes.

Steepings with the gaiwan heightened the grainy vs malty divide, although the resulting brews were heavier on the barley notes and were less sweet overall than teapot brews. It’s still definitely worth a spin with the gaiwan, but I’m finding myself seeking the full-bodied, more straight-forward profile of the brews from my teapot with this one.

I also like the tea more as it develops; I do like the first, tangier sips of a fresh brew, but I let my cup sit for a minute to let that sweeter, creamier taste and mouthfeel to develop.

I only wish that the tea could resteep a little better, as it does get weak relatively easily for a black tea, but that’s a minor criticism and is probably just another way to show how much I love it!

Trying to remember, but I’m pretty sure this is the first unflavored or non-blended black tea I’ve had besides a Spring Darjeeling (during an Afternoon Tea at the QVB Tea Room in Sydney). It’s also the first of my samples from Teavivre, so there’s another reason to be excited about it. Well never fear, it’s lived up to the high expectations and surpasses them! That seems hard to do given such glowing praise it’s received on here, but the fact is, I finished the first cup well over half an hour ago and I’m still relishing the flavor in my mouth!

It is what everyone has already mentioned. Semi-sweet (TeaEqualsBliss). “Psuedo-smoky” (Angrboda). Thick mouthfeel and very malty—a new flavor in tea for me—without aggressiveness (Dylan Oxford). And so many others said how rich and bold it is. I may have missed it, but didn’t see anyone write how long the sensations last: it is astounding!

Since I’m really learning now and trying to train my palate, I don’t think it’s fair or helpful for me to give number scores yet. But this tea is a real lesson in richness, length of flavor, and HOW GOOD a straight black tea can be without any additions! I’m looking forward to a couple more steeps for these leaves (and the 2nd sample pack of it!) and my big stash of other Teavivre samples is looking even better than it was before!

Yum! I am not usually a fan of black teas, but this tea is something else! Bold and round in flavor, yet very mellow at the same time. It’s one of those teas that’s easy to gulp down, but you’ll miss out on the subtleties if you do.

This tea is rich and malty with bready tones, and a very pleasing aftertaste. I’d like to say it calls to mind caramel and cocoa, but that’s not necessarily a very accurate descriptor. It has the gentle, comfortable characteristics of caramel and cocoa without being very sweet about it. Even though it’s not exactly a flavor descriptor, I’d like to say that this tea makes me feel cozy. It’s yummy alone or paired with desserts! Resteeps well at least three times, and it tastes great even if I forget about it and steep it a bit too long. It never gets overly aggressive or tannic! Excellent! Now that I’m out of my sample, I find myself remembering it fondly and craving more.

I love a good strong black tea. The stronger the better. This was mid-strong I think, but there were other qualities to make it delicious, like the slightly sweet carmel flavor, a bit earthy with a bit of a floral scent. The flavor here is silky smooth. The steep color is a medium to darker brown. You can really taste the quality of the tea. I’ve tried a couple others from Teavivre and they are excellent. Also, I was sleepy this morning and the tea woke me up enough to write this review.

Check out teavivre.com for generous free samples! I sure appreciated them!

First of all, this tea looks and smells GORGEOUS. It’s got this malty, chocolate-y aroma that just makes your toes curl. MMMMMMmmmm.

That said, on to the specs:

Leafage: The first time, I only made a single cup, so I used one and a half teaspoons. The second time, I used about 4 teaspoons for 16 oz. of tea. I’m discovering that I prefer the stronger, manly side of black tea. It puts hair on your… nevermind.
Leaf color and smell: Pre-steeping, it was that lovely mottled gold/brown color stated in the tea’s description. The leaves seemed to me to be a bit… puny, I suppose is the right word. They looked smaller than other black tea leaves I’ve seen before. The smell was, as I said, malty and chocolate-y, with promise of lots of creamy flavors. Post-steeping, the leaves hadn’t opened all that much, just enough to look like grass shards. I suppose they really are smaller than other leaves I’ve seen, though I’m not trying to say that’s a bad thing. Just be prepared, if you decide you want to order this one. Of course, it may just be this particular batch. le shrug

Taste: I maaaay have walked out of the room temporarily while the tea was steeping the first time (don’t judge me D:), so when I came back, the timer had been going off for probably a couple of minutes. However, I sugared it anyway, prepared to soldier through the tannins to the bitter end (ha ha ha)… but then I found that it wasn’t nearly as bitter as I had expected. In fact, it tasted very much like someone had sneaked in the room while I wasn’t there and poured some semisweet chocolate chips in my tea. The texture wasn’t right for chocolate… but the flavor was SPOT ON. I didn’t have to add any milk (which is typically my cure for oversteeped tea, which happens in my house more frequently than I care to admit… myself not being the most fastidious person in the world). I was floored.

The second time, just today, I decided to break it out again for myself and the hubby when he came home for his lunch break. :) This time, I deliberately steeped it for about four minutes, instead of the recommended two or three, to see if I could achieve some of that chocolate-y flavor without quite so much of the bitterness from last time. Sadly, the chocolate flavor wasn’t QUITE there… but it was nonetheless enjoyable, tasting more like the creamy notes I detected in the smell. I will be trying this one again! Sooo gooooood :)

Mmmm. This was just the cup of tea I was in the mood for. Straight, simple, tasty. It is a naturally sweet tea, and brewed as I did, didn’t get too bitter by the end of the pot. Brewed this Western-style in our new little teapot I picked up from Staples in their post-Christmas clearance for $3.50, two and a half minutes in boiling water. This tea is light and sweet, but leaves a pleasant aftertaste with just a hint of smoke. Thank you once again to Teavivre for their generous samples; this is going right to the top of my straight-tea collection.

The scent of this dry is tantalizing! Mild chocolate and sweet hay notes together! Very interesting.
And the taste…oh, the taste. To me, all the hay notes remind me very much of white tea; it’s also sweet and full bodied. I see why this is a favorite here on steepster! Thank you Teavivre for this generous and delicious sample!

This tea was a nice surprise yesterday morning. I had it with breakfast and even while eating a high fat, high sugar meal, I could taste the strong as well as subtle flavors in this tea. I can’t pin point exactly what I tasted, but I can say that it was a very refreshing black tea. Most black teas are extremely complex and while this is by no means simple, it feels like this could be drank hot even on a hot day. The flavors are very clean and apparent from the first sip to the last.

Thank you god for Teavivre. I received a sample of this in the mail today and i gotta tell you all…. it rocks. I haven’t reached out much as far as different companies for teas, and before today, besides Lipton and Twinnings boxed bags, i had not ventured past Teavana and Adagio. So… needless to say, i love this tea. It is nice and affordable and just perfect.
So.. with further a due: The Review.

Opening the bag is always interesting because the first hit of the aroma is always invigorating, however, I was almost disappointed when i didn’t smell anything when i opened the bag. it didn’t take long to realize that, upon looking in the first bag, i found several smaller bag actually holding the tea. i fiddled with those smaller bags and when i was done…PERFECT. The Aroma was out of this world. A bold, black mildly sweet and a touch spicy scent waffed into my face and filled me with joy. I put a teaspoon into my Tea-rex steeper and steeped the tea for 3 ish minutes at about boiling 212 degrees. After the steeping, the leafs we sweet and open and the liqueur was amber-gold color.

The first, unsweetened sip: Roasty and earthy, as would be expected from a black tea, nice and bold with a little peppery aftertaste ( but nothing like the Yunnan i’m used to.) Second sip, still earthy, little coco and a little spice but very much a bold tea flavor.

First sweetened sip (1 half teaspoon clover honey): In the dry leafs i detected a sweet aroma that didn’t come through in the unsweetened sip, but now it is brought to the front and center. Not to heavy but silky mouth feel and over excellent taste and aftertaste.

In closing, an Amazing tea, if i was better off with money, i would invest heavily in a good order of this.
Thank you Angel for your generous sample. I feel your generosity will work wonders for you and for you company.

This is the 3rd tea I got recently from Teavivre and they have all been great and this one is no exception. It has a rich aroma, sweet taste and a wonderful freshly sweet aftertaste.

I was able to make 6 perfectly tasting steeps and the 7th one was mildly tasting so I threw leaves away after it. Steep duration varied from 1 min to 3 min.

This is one hell of a tea. No wonder it’s TeaVivre’s highest rated so far.

I’ve received a free sample of this tea, thank you TeaVivre.

I’m pretty much into black teas, 60-70% of the time, it’s black. That’s why I ordered all three grades of Keemun and I’m going to order this one as well. It’s packed in foil, 5 gr each, which is great.

Leaves are longer than average, with a decent amount of buds. Upon opening one pack I used a half of it with 150 ml water on 85 C and brewed it three times, starting with 2 minutes and increasing by one for the rest.

First sip was amazing – lingering caramel and smooth touch, made me remember of my first sip of Dian Hong and Jin Jun Mei. It’s somewhere between those two.
While drinking second infusion I got a really hot feeling in my stomach, like Qi in Dantian… superb!

I’m definitely sparing my rest three packs for special occasions, until I order some.

I had to try this one a couple of times. I had to amp up the water temperature and increase my serving size. In the end, I had a chocolaty malty tea. I enjoyed it…eventhough this is not my favorite type.

The finest Bailin black tea I drunk. Strong chocolate notes with sweet burnt sugar tones. The tea is good for 6 and more steeps. The energy flow into the body is unbelievable! I am going to give it 100 points. The tea is truly remarkable.

leaves smell dark/dull smell, liquor smells like a fujian

tastes very earthy and maybe a bit what would be described as dark chocolatey, overall a very blunt flavor… i almost want to say it has some taste characteristics of a keemun but very earthy

got this because people said it had a caramel taste to it, i dont really taste it and this tea isnt one of my favorites. was far outshined by the tea i got just for the heck of it, the yunnan dian hong

This stuff is terrific! I’m always scared of blacks because if you steep them too long the tannins really come out and they get really astringent, not the case here! This one never get’s astringent. The dry leaves are very classic for a Chinese black and have a nice, spicy, cocoa scent to them. The smell of the liquor is a bit drier but the flavor is completely there. With notes of chocolate, warmth, never astringent, spicy, this is exactly what I expect of a fujian black tea. If Teavivre keeps it up I don’t know what other tea merchants will do . . .

Until I discovered loose tea, I never particularly liked black tea, finding it bitter and too astringent. I have probably tried 50 loose teas in the last couple years, and finally decided to give black tea another try. Thanks to Teavivre, I got a generous sample of their Bailin Gongfu and I just love it! I have tried only about 5 unflavored blacks from a few different companies, but this is my favorite. I steep it for 2 min. at 185, and add 15 seconds for each additional steeping. I got a total of 3 good steepings, but didn’t try for a 4th. To me, it is perfection, without any bitterness or astringency to spoil it, so I’m getting ready to re-order it.

I am going to preface this review with two facts
1) Black tea and I aren’t the best of friends
2) I brewed this with boiling water, for a long time and with an ordinary travel mug and a drawstring tea bag, so not ideal brewing conditions for a high quality tea, and I will try again once I have time to do it properly!

Now to the reviewing… I found it to be too strong for my liking (although it wasn’t bitter, which is my number one put-off for black tea). I may have brewed it for too long, I often get distracted at work and forget about my tea just waiting for me on my desk! Anyways, I didn’t get any of the caramel flavours that others did, it was just strongly vegetal for me, and not my favourite flavour. I am going to hold off on the numerical rating until I have a chance to brew it properly and mindfully and then record right away, as this rating is coming from my morning cup yesterday.

I’ve developed a bad habit of taking this with a teaspoon of condensed milk, much to the dismay of my waistline. Usually I drink my teas with nothing mixed in, but this tea is so smooth and well bodied that it begs for the richness of condensed milk. It ends up tasting like a weak Hong Kong milk tea..which is fine by me.

Usually I don’t drink black teas throughout the day because I find them too robust, but this one is very smooth that I like it even in the late afternoon.

Looks: Leaf texture is pretty typical of black teas. They look shredded, and a chocolate brown once brewed. Honestly, this is a tea to brew for the taste, not for looks.

Fragrance: This tea smells awesome. Very rich, caramelized fragrance. When I smell it I can taste it right in the back upper palate, it’s rich with a little astringency.

Taste: Very mild, for a black tea. With the smoothness of a smoky green tea. Full bodied with full aroma, but not so much that it makes you heady. As I said, I like it with the condensed milk because it adds richness, but you shouldn’t try it, or your waistline will cry too.

Brewing note: I cannot get as many multiple steeps out of this one as my other teas, two or three at best. The flavour degrades very quickly. Oversteep will result in extreme astringency.

(This sample was generously provide to me by Teavivre. Thank you Angel and the whole Teavivre Team.)
Dry Leaf: Has a malty smell with a nice sweet aroma.
Wet Leaf: I get a malty maybe even a toasty aroma with a sweet aroma.
Liquor: Has a dark amber and a nice brightness I would say.
Taste: I get a maltiness with a bit of sweetness. The broth has a little heaviness to it with a dryness. Also, I get a raisin flavor in the after taste.
My Score/Over All Opinion: 90, I think this one was a nice tea to drink specially if you drink a lot of green teas this would be a nice change of pace.

This is a tea I would be delighted with if it were served to me in a restaurant… smooth and full-bodied with natural notes of simmering caramel sweetness. Just a slight astringency adds a little extra interest without being puckerish. Noteworthy dropoff in character and flavor on the second steep — making it an unremarkable cup, but the first steep is worth the price of admission. Very nice overall, thanks to Angel at Teavivre for the generous sample!