Season's Pick Yunnan FOP ZY06

Slow Sunday morning … ample time to check out a new tea … ahhh!

This one has autumn written all over it. (According to my son, there are really two mini-seasons, fall when the temps dip for the first time, and deep autumn, when there’s been a frost and the leaves are past their prime.) So by his seasonal calendar, I’m a few weeks early.

At any rate: nice leaves with plenty of blonde in them. The steeped color is absolutely gorgeous—deep reddish mahogany. Flavor leads off with some smokiness, but once that wears off, there’s a rich woody taste. Not sawdust; old oak and maple planks with a bit of cinnamon bark. Enjoying it plain too much to mess it up with milk.

You know, the fun thing about tea tasting is that it’s so crazily subjective…I could’ve said this tasted like a gym floor that had been mopped with Worcestershire sauce…and it still would’ve been accurate (who are we to contest the accuracy of each other’s taste buds)?

Enjoy whatever it is you’re tasting today.

A very nice yunnan, mild and with only a hint of smokiness. The leaves are dark, with a few golden tips. The smell is straight up hay, which had me worried – Yunnans have been tough for me so far, as I don’t like the grassy note they sometimes have. This one brewed up nice and dark in 5 minutes. The taste is sweet and slightly of cocoa, with a tiny bit of smoke. No hay or grass detected, thank goodness! This is a solid tea, but not my favorite – I’d like a little more depth to the flavor. Still, a nice afternoon cup!