Panyang Tippy Golden Needles (ZP79)

Tea of the afternoon…..

I have been back and forth whether to order this one in a full size or a sample, and just went for the 125g pouch when I needed a refill on Rose Congou. It is no secret that this is my ideal profile for tea, and I am not disappointed. It is less malty than a golden monkey, but has the characteristic Fujian cocoa notes. It also does not have the smoke of a Keemun. There is definitely a decent amount of heaviness as far as mouthfeel. While I don’t think it is quite as good as Tan Yang Te Ji from TeaSpring, it is certainly less expensive (~$3.70 per oz compared to ~$5.80 per oz). It is almost in the range of an everyday tea for me. I can live with that! I will have to try a resteep!

Usual mug/tiny teapot method.

Tea #40 from Another Traveling Tea Box

This is another rich, black tea. The cocoa notes in this are the most prominent. It made me realise that the previous cup had some honey notes that this one is lacking. There’s also some slight bitterness going on; it’s the same bitterness that dark baking chocolate has, so it’s not offensive, but I’m wondering if a shorter steep time or a drop in temp would help it.

It’s another really nice black tea, but I’m partial to the Black Monkey.

Oh Monday morning, you come so quickly. I needed a nice strong black tea to wake me up (and I will likely need another to keep me away during lecture this afternoon) so I chose this one, which came to me recently from SimplyJenW! She knows that I’ve been really into Panyang/Tanyangs and other related blacks lately, so she generously sent me a sample of this one along with the Dammann Fréres Earl Grey.

The dry leaf smells promising; a bit caramelly, a bit alfalfa-ish, a bit cocoa-y. Steeped the cocoa notes come way further, and it’s a bit roasted cacao nibs in character. This is a pretty tasty panyang. It doesn’t totally bowl me over but it is a very pleasant tea to be sipping on this morning while I am writing exam questions. It’s got a slight astringency to it and I’m wondering if it wouldn’t be benefited by a slightly lower steep temp, though it isn’t really bitter bitter, just kind of like cacao nibs or maybe cocoa powder. I don’t really find many caramel or honey notes but those can be pretty elusive. It does remind me of the base of their Rose Congou and I can almost taste phantom rose, though maybe that’s left over from the rose petal confit I had with my yogurt and granola this morning. Thanks again for the sample, Jen!

Taking a page from tunes&tea’s book, this tea was consumed while listening to the new Divine Fits album.

I had this throughout the afternoon. Put a bunch of leaves in my test tube and sort of used it as a gaiwan so I had a lot of short steeps while I started the new episodes of Arrested Development. I can’t say that I absolutely loved this, but I definitely enjoyed it. The flavor is very strong and dark chocolatey. Reminded me of eating dark chocolate with red wine, the flavor was so rich. I wish it was a little roastier, but I overall a very nice tea.

Tea #6 from Another TTB
Wow! This one reminds me of Mandala Tea’s Special dark, however Might actually like this one a tad bit better (guilty). The cocoa taste is very prominent and the spices come through making this a cozy cup. It’s not quite as astringent as I found special dark to be. I don’t know… I’ll need to have these two side by side some time. Unfortunately this was the last leg of this teas journey in the box… I sampled the last bit of it:( I wish there was more:( I’ll have to add this to my shopping list. To whoever added this one, my deepest thanks:) I love it.

Tea #39 from Another Traveling Tea Box

I’ve been looking for a replacement everyday black tea because Rishi has raised prices more than $10/lb in the last year and my current favorite is quickly being pushed out of my price-range. I could see this becoming an everyday tea for me, I’ll have to do a price comparison between this and what I am currently using for iced tea and see if it is more affordable.

Darn, my husband just said he didn’t like the chocolate flavor, so I’ll have to keep looking. He has to approve the change since he drinks the majority of the black tea, not me.

The tea itself has some wonderful cocoa notes that I really liked (even if my husband didn’t) and there is a subtle malty flavor to keep things interesting. I think I liked this so much because the cocoa notes really stood out above everything else. I’m a huge chocoholic so anything that tastes like it without all the sugar and added calories is going to be a hit with me.