Yunnan Rare Grade - ZY84

While this is a nice cup of tea, it’s not up to my preferences for an unflavoured black. It’s certainly got a really nice smooth finish to it, but the overall cup is a little boring. I’m not picking up as many notes of flavour as I do with some of my other blacks. Now, this may be that it’s because it’s a yunnan, which i haven’t had much experience with, but i’ll passs on restocking this one. It’s a good tea, but there are others out there i’d prefer to drink. Would i pass this one up if offered? hell no :)

FrrrrrrrrUIT !!!

Dry leaf: overwhelming aromas of roasted peaches, apricots and figs.

Wet leaf: Even. More. Overwhelming. Aromas.

This is either going to be the best Yunnan I’ve had, or it is going to be so bold and sweet I’ll absolutely hate it. But, that will be a matter of my taste, not the quality of the tea. “Rare” grade, indeed.

1st ~ Aaannnd… mmmmmmm… Oh. Man. When I go through these long stretches of saving money buying tea at the market instead of ordering direct, I forget just HOW MUCH BETTER these teas are than what you can get from big retailers.

For all the boldness in the leaf this is a remarkably shy first steep. Cacao (not cocoa), fig and a mild finishing astringency which keeps the sweetness from becoming too cloying.

2nd ~ This is making me want to either re-locate my work computer into the kitchen next to the kettle, or move the kettle into the office next to my computer. I can’t keep my cup full long enough or refill it quickly enough.

This tea helps you understand why people started adding honey to lesser teas. The roasted fruit is mellowing into more like a buckwheat honey (if you have never had very dark amber, buckwheat honey, it will COMPLETELY change how you think about honey) and the balance of the fast sweetness and lingering dryness remains intact.

3rd ~ Already even softer. Perhaps the exchange for this amazing flavor profile is that the candle is burning at both ends and we may only get but a handful of steeps from the leaf.

All in all, a FANTASTIC leaf.

Ohhhhh so good. I ordered a large-ish bag of this after tasting a sample. This morning I made a little pot of it, and I broke out in a big smile after the first sip. Rich, mellow, a little spicy but not identifiably peppery. I will be drinking this for breakfast again tomorrow morning, no doubt about it!

A Yunnan that fits my usual tea profile. This was very good. The leaves are a large percent golden, and long and curly. They brew up into a lighter version of the typical Fujian blacks I drink. The taste is smooth, and sweet, with a light smokiness that fills out the base. It is not as full tasting as darker deas, but still lovely and satisfying.

This is another perfect tea in my book. Just deep and dark enough for the morning, but good anytime really. When I opened the bag and sniffed, it was a delightful sensory confusion. Fruitcake? I finally settled on apricot or maybe even ripe persimmon, although it has been so long since I had a persimmon that I can’t be sure of that. There is more, but it is elusive to me. Brewed, it looses the fruitiness and again is hard to describe, I guess cookie is a good description of the flavor. Maybe an old fashioned sugar cookie? I would love to hear other thoughts on this one, the reviews on Upton are as confused as mine. I got 160 grams/5.6 ounces and I was not willing to review this until I ordered it again. So within a week I placed a second order for 320 grams. It is that good.

At the time of this writing, ZY84 is the second best Yunnan gold tips tea I’ve ever tasted—the best being ZhiTea’s Royal Gold—and it’s a very close second. In fact, I’m still having a difficult time deciding whether Royal Gold is worth its significantly higher cost, relative to ZY84…but these notes are about Upton’s Yunnan Rare Grade, so I’ll stay focused on that.

There is certainly ZERO problem deciding whether ZY84 is worth its cost. It is a superb value in a Yunnan gold tips tea. The bag aroma is astonishing. Yeah, I know…it sounds like hyperbole, but anyone who has had the pleasure of sticking El Schnozzola in a freshly opened bag of ZY84 knows exactly what I’m talking about. The fruitiness is remarkable.

It’s less fruity in the cup, but I don’t care. It’s still an extraordinary tea. My notes on the first cup say, “It’s a richly flavored, naturally sweet tea, but it has no single dominant characteristic. There’s some leather, some spice, more malt, a bit of cocoa; it’s a melange, really.” (4 infusions in the first tasting.)

Second tasting: “…has a smooth, almost creamy mouth feel. There’s a light sweetness on the tongue, and a lingering light sweetness in the finish.” (4 infusions)

Third tasting: “Magnificent tea. It has an intense cocoa-malty creaminess…”

…and so on until I polished off the entire 80-gram bag — more than enough to explore this tea thoroughly.

I typically use 8 grams of leave in 12 ounces of 208° water for the first two infusions (1:00 and 2:00 minutes, respectively). Then I reduce the water to 8 ounces or less with gradually longer steeping times for the subsequent infusions…up to 5 infusions.

Is there Yunnan tea of this kind that’s better than ZY84? Yes, so for that reason alone I won’t give it a 100% rating. But so far I haven’t had any better Yunnan gold at this price point.

UPDATE: Alas, Upton has raised the price of this tea…significantly. I haven’t tasted the new lot. Perhaps it’s better…although it’s difficult to imagine it being sufficiently better to justify the cost increase (nearly $11.00 per pound more than the previous price…and it wasn’t cheap then either). Too bad for Upton, but there IS better Yunnan gold, and I’ll buy that instead of ZY84. They’ve priced themselves out of consideration.

This one was surprisingly just above average for me. A smooth and tasty cup to be sure, but I’ve had better Yunnan and Fujian teas than this one. The leaves are huge with quite a few golden tips. It has a nice dose of cacao and maltiness in the flavor with a lingering bit of honey on the palate. It is definitely quite smooth and I’ve enjoyed drinking it, but nothing makes it really stand out for me from any other high quality Chinese black tea. I would say the most exceptional thing about this leaf is that it stands up to quite a few brewings. I was still getting a lovely mild tea flavor even on a fourth brew.

Has that chocolatey smell and taste I usually associate with Yunnans, however this is the smoothest one I’ve had thus far. Also has a bit of a sweetness going on in the smell and taste, kind of makes me think of figs, and maybe even spaghetti squash. In addition, I’m also getting a bit of earthy-mineral notes. Great tea. I prefer this one with a little sugar added.

Wow, this is a complex tea. I’m congested so I feel like I’m not getting the full effect, but can taste the fruit notes. Will have to try this again.

I’ve tried two different lots of this tea and loved them both (though the first lot from last fall was a little richer). Typically smooth and sweet, and earthy after a 4-5 minute steeping, I drink this tea any time during the day. Frankly, other than fine darjeelings, or lapsang suchongs I find myself drinking gold bud Yunnan teas almost every time I drink black tea.