Fujian Province Yin Lan Zao

I purchased several samples from Upton in the China black category as kind of a training course for my palate. I am just trying to train it to taste differences, and we will see how it goes from there.

This is a lovely black. The leaves do look pretty much unlike any other black I have tried. They are largish, thick and wavy. I am drinking this one straight. Yes, very weird for me, but it is good this way. It smells sweeter than it tastes, but that is probably because I normally take sweetener in my tea. As for tasting any notes in this one? It tastes lightly of red wine (which is probably why I like it!) Toward the end of the cup, I detect the slightest bitter edge. Not enough to get me to stop drinking it. Ooops. I am out of observations because I am out of tea!

It brews up with a red-black liquor that has a complex fragrance of tea, grass, chocolate and toast. It has a nice sharpness that I don’t mind. I’m not sure whether that is because it is not just sharp but that the sharpness is part of a pleasant package of aromas and flavors or whether I am just in the mood for a sharp tea today. I don’t taste the hints of nutmeg, but it is a very rich tea.

I ran out of Silk Creamer last night so I whipped up my own creamer from raw cashew nuts, coconut milk, soy milk, and a drop of honey. It turned out quite nice. It made a thick soothing cream. The overtones of coconut complement the tea nicely.