Yunnan Golden Buds

MY ORDER FROM VERDANT TEA CAME AND I CAN’T EVEN CONTAIN MY EXCITEMENT!

Included in the package were the four teas that David generously let me custom pick for a sampler pack, a generously sized sample of the Wuyi Mountain Big Red Robe, and a nice handwritten note from David! Verdant is truly such a wonderful company and I can’t wait to order from them in the future!

I got my package last night on my way home from a Fair Trade event that I hosted at our school with the Environmental Club (it was pretty successful, a good number of people came!) and my mom handed me this package in the car! I freaked and ripped it open (in the car :P) with the cap to a soda bottle (one of the ones that are reminiscent of a beer bottle)! Obviously I couldn’t try them at 9 at night, so I had to wait until now to try them! I picked this one because a black tea always makes sense to me in the morning.

Dry, this one smells so good! It’s got kind of a peppery scent, with a sweet aroma somewhere in the mix! I followed the directions and used a tablespoon and a half of leaves for my cup. I used a bottle of filtered spring water for this because I’m a firm believer that high quality teas should be made with pure, untainted water. Steeped, the aroma is very similar, but a honey like scent has come out. The color is a really nice golden amber. This is a fine example of a beautiful cup of tea.

The first steep is yummy! A nice honey taste is present and there’s a slight spiciness in the background, crawling around. It’s a bit dry on the swallow, but a nice juiciness arises just before the finish. Alright, I’m breaking down and adding a little bit of honey to this for good measure! I didn’t add too much, but OH MY GOD! This is delicious! I agree with every other review-this tastes like you’re drinking honey candies! I’m not generally a fan of pure honey, but this is so nice! Sweet and then there’s still that spicy note in the background. This is delicious. Truly liquid gold.

Second Steep-Boiling water for 3 and a half minutes. OMNOMNOMNOMNOM! This one is so good! Even better than the first! The honey is more subdued and the other flavors come out more! There’s still as nice lingering sweetness, and the astringency has all but disappeared! This is very good! I can’t wait to try the other teas I got!!!!

I know I just complained about drinking hot tea, but I just have so many new samples from generous Steepsterites that I can’t resist!! So, I cranked up the A/C, and now it’s time for some hot tea! Woot! :D

This one in particular is verrrrrry exciting! I thought it was Golden Fleece, but it’s actually Yunnan Golden Buds. Which means I received yet another awesome Yunnan Verdant tea from Kittenna!! You rock!

The brewed tea aroma is resplendent! Can I say that to describe a tea? I think so. Resplendent!!! After the first sip, I sighed with pleasure. This tea is just…I’m speechless. It’s just incredible. Amazing. It has natural notes of cocoa and malt with some honey thrown in for good measure. Sooooo good!!!!

It’s a good thing I’m home alone, because this tea is evoking some salacious sounds from me, hehehe. ;) I was originally planning on steeping the Golden Fleece right after this to compare the two. But now I kind of want to hoard it, haha! The second steep for 2.5 minutes is just as delicious as the first! Nearly identical, only slightly milder and smoother.

I’m probably gonna’ go for at least four infusions here. There just aren’t enough adjectives in the English language to describe how spectacular this tea is. Thanks soooo much for sharing Kittenna!!!

First Review of this lovely black Yunnan Golden Bud tea. Each infusion 3 minutes. 1TB Leaves used per instructions on the Verdant Website Per Cup. traditional method (PIAO 1 glass pot used).

1. Beautiful medium golden brown (with a twinge of green) colored liquor. There is a very pronounced honey scent that picked me up and carried me away…I mean it…all through this first tasting…to my crazy place! (You should all be afraid!) I went to my cupboard and pulled out some honey. Buckwheat honey…yuk…not that one…too strong. Then the local Prairie Wildflower Raw honey (Copoco)…which was closer to the scent( I’ll get back to this later). I needed to taste this tea! The flavor reminds me of those honey seseme candies…but slightly astringent on the finish. Juicy and bright.

2. This I was hoping would be the ‘MegaMillion’ Pour. Soooo much darker! Rich and silky looking caramel orange liquor. The same color that you don’t want your tanning lotion to do to your body! This smells like a slightly floral honey…here we go folks…that Prairie Wildflower Honey! Sumptious and bright on the tongue! Juicy! I just HAD…yes HAD to add sweetening to see what would happen to the honey and it was the best thing I ever ate. No, that’s a show…but it was so darned good! That sweet addition brought up the cinnamon and spicy pepperiness which made a huge difference to the whole cuppa experience. I have to say that when I finished this second cup, there was a feeling and coating on my tongue like whipped creamy honey thick and gooey.

3. The liquor is getting lighter now but still nice and amber. What to expect here? No floral notes but still some honey flavor exists. What is so pronounced at this stage is cinnamon and pepper. If you are a spice-aholic…this is where you jump for joy and say “Mama Mia! "
(I’m thinking Verdant is going to bar me from writing comments about their tea!)

How fantastic to have honey and cinnamon in your tea without having to add it! It’s there already naturally! This is worth a try!

I’m brewing this western-style since I only have one gaiwan, and I’m using it for oolongs. I hear you are only supposed to use a gaiwan for one type of tea?

First steep:
Wowww, this is so good! My only other encounter with a Yunnan black tea was Davids wild yunnan or something, and it tasted like baked goods, like soft pretzels or something. This is like that too, only with more natural sweetness and a strong honey note. The aftertaste gives me the impression of a very dark chocolate. I haven’t had a cup of tea this nice in awhile.

Second steep:
This cup doesn’t have as much of an aroma as the first one did, but the taste is just as intense. The baked goods taste is still there, and the sweetness, but less honey. I think I like this steep better actually! There’s something almost cakey about it, and I can pick up a bit of the cinnamon people were talking about.

I know this would be good for a couple more steeps, but I have to go to work :C
MASSIVE SADNESS.

Way to go, Uniquity. This is another tea that I have been hoarding/savouring since ordering it from Verdant. 1.5 years ago. I have another order dreamed up and am just waiting to see if a co-worker wants in so I am really feeling compelled to finally drink up the beautiful teas I got last time. Despite it’s age this has been stored well (score!) and maintains a lovely sweet yunnan smell. I’m thinking more hay than pepper or cocoa. I am likely in a better position now to appreciate this tea than I was when I bought it, so this is for the best, right? :)

Steeped for 3.5 minutes, the beau and I shared a pot while he finishes Silent Hill Downpour. He’s been finishing it for days, but who am I to judge? I’m the “just one more page/chapter/book” girl. After pouring the tea, I even gave a bit to my tea pet (also from Verdant way back when). Aren’t I generous? Steeped, this almost puts me in mind of chocolate cake. It smells rich, sweet and decadent. Sweet hay remains a strong aroma.

First sips are clean and sweet, not as bold as other yunnans but very tasty. I get some light cocoa, and the sweet hay continues to dominate. For now I am going to sit back and enjoy it. Then maybe steep it again. Mmmmm. I think this is one of those teas that would be impossible to over-steep. I feel confident that I could steep this the whole time I drank it and it would only get stronger without ever going bitter. Lovely!

Ahh… I think I shall be sipping on this tea for a while, because I want to enjoy the many infusions that the description promises. This tea is so delicious. The first infusion is sweet and tastes like honey. There are mere hints of a smoky, spicy background that is masked by this sweetness. These background notes peek out every once in a while, just to let me know they are there, and enticing me to continue to sip so that I can move on to my next infusion and taste more.

To my recollection, this is the first tea that I’ve tried from Verdant, and it’s solid gold! I love it.

Beautiful leaves; thick, delicious smell.

I made this tea up in a gaiwan over many several steepings, and it was excellent; everything I could have hoped a golden needle could be. The very first golden needle I ever tried was ridiculously good and spicy and complex, so it set the bar for me very high. Every other golden needle I’ve tried afterwards has fallen short, except for this one. This was so relaxing and satisfying to drink, because it honored my first memories of Yunnan Golden Buds, and was as delicious as I could ever want! This is doubly excellent, because I only have about an ounce and a half left of that very first YGB, so now I can feel free to drink it at will and just replace it with this. Hoorah!

The first steeping of this tea was quiet and surprising: honey candy. It was as if we’d steeped a piece of honey candy for three minutes, and added some honey to our cups for good measure.
The second steeping is where this tea really opens up and commands your attention. The cinnamon and spices have come right in, and they are a pleasure to discover. In my notes, I wrote down that I felt like I was wrapped in a blanket of spices. It is lightweight, but absolutely strong.

The texture is creamy, and the aftertaste feels like something is evaporating off of the tongue. As I continued to steep, a surprising floral taste establishes itself. The florals are dark, the kind you would taste in dark chocolate, though this doesn’t have any particular cocoa for me. It feels like a guilty pleasure to drink at this point. I imagine someone grinning, checking the room with shifty conspiratorial eyes, and then indulging in the cup, quite delighted to find that no one is going to come and take it away.

Simply my ideal Yunnan Golden Buds.

Tried this again in the gaiwan with more leaves. The floral notes and spiciness are decidedly stronger this way, and the honey is a background supporting flavor. I find this tea changes more over time if I use a normal amount of leaves in my gaiwan, but there are definitely days in the coming fall where I will want to use a little more leaf for a more intense experience.

I have since tried this iced, and it is DARN GOOD. The billowy, full texture is exquisite (I keep wanting to say mellifluous, even though that only applies to sound; however, it is the texture of mellifluous sounds that I am tasting here). Even better- I do not feel guilty making this iced, because it is several dollars cheaper per oz. than the lower quality YGB’s available at my local teahouses.

Short short review of this as I should be studying for my final (worth 50% of my mark)..

I’m on the 3nd steep and was trying for the life of me to figure out what this sweet burnt honey sugar taste was… Caramel Brule. Spot on in my mouth.. playing hide and seek with my taste buds on a magical journey. I’m loving every minute of this.
That is all for now.. I will give this a better review later on, but I know that I will need to have something to quickly help me identify that delightfully mysterious flavour that likes to play hide and seek when I try this again =)

Hmm, black tea at 10:30pm? Why not. I have a ton of stuff to do before tomorrow anyhow.

I got this one as part of the budset sampler (and also as a sample, because I’m rather dimwitted and asked for it without realizing I’d be receiving it anyways). So, lots to try!

To be honest, the smell just screams “black tea” to me. It’s a familiar smell, but I can’t place it to anything other than “a black tea that I have tried previously”. shrugs There is a hint of sweetness though, so it does smell like a black tea I might enjoy.

Ok. Too hot. Will continue this later. First sip was good, though I can’t place anything. Definitely some astringency. But I’m not risking another now. Stay tuned.

First infusion: Oooh. Finally cool enough to drink, and I’m getting such a full-bodied flavour. Almost some hints of caramel… burnt caramel, perhaps. There’s definitely astringency, more than I would like, so I should go with a shorter infusion next time. It’s not bitter though. Hmm, what’s this like with additions… + cream, + a bit of agave … Ok, regretting the agave. The flavour, even with such a small bit, is overwhelming. Still a good cup, but anything special about the black tea is now kind of lost. Oh well, next time.

Second infusion, same parameters: Almost no smell?! Weird. Taste is very light. I’m not sure how this is supposed to go to 3? 4? infusions western-style. I think I’m done with two. Again, there’s sweetness. Less astringency. A little on the weak side for me though.

I’m not sure whether I’m still iffy on blacks because of too much on Monday, or if blacks just aren’t my thing (thinking a combination of the two), but this didn’t do it for me tonight. Not really disappointed. I did like the Laoshan Black, if I recall correctly, so should try that one again.

Where to begin?

First…this is FAB!

But this is also DIFFERENT…but in a GOOD way! Here are my thoughts…

Most Yunnan Golden Buds I have tried are very strong – some cigar like, some super malty, some have even a grainy texture.

Verdant’s are smoother, creamier, not cigar-like – it’s sweeter and I can taste the honey notes the product description mentioned! It’s quite nice!

Multiple infusions!!!!!! More notes coming soon!

This one is just alright in my opinion, definitely not one of my favorites from Verdant. I’m sure that it is a high quality tea, it’s just not really appealing to me (at least at this point). More than anything, it tastes like citrus and it is a bit creamy, but it seems a little too astringent and it’s reminding me of some bagged orange pekoe teas I’ve had. Of course I’ll keep playing around with what’s left of the ounce I bought, and I’ll come back with a rating later. Maybe my expectations are too high after the Golden Fleece and Zhu Rong black.

Honey. Clover. (Maybe clover honey?) As it steeps, I’m getting something that reminds me of skiing in Steamboat Springs, CO. It’s mouthwatering…

1st steeping (4 min, boiling water): Honey. Slightly creamy. Now I’m getting a wave of cocoa—this IS like chocolate milk! Also, the clover is coming through. Still gives me the taste of skiing in Steamboat, and because that’s kind of confusing, I’ll explain: Every year around spring break, my family and another family that we’re all best friends with (the family we choose) go skiing in Steamboat, CO. Every year except for one we get completely dumped on with an out-of-the-blue late-season blizzard, and we get to ski in 3 foot deep powder to our hearts’ content. Pretty lucky. There’s this sunscreen/anti-windburn stick we always put on our faces when we’re out there, and the smell of it—whatever essential oils are in it—takes me back to bright shiny morning, riding up the gondola, wrapped up in base layers, coats, mittens, pants, gaiters, helmets, goggles, clipping into bindings and launching off into another adventure that gives meaning to life. It’s one of the sweetest memories I have.

Now does that make sense?

2nd steeping (4 min 45 sec, boiling water): Something I forgot to mention in the first steeping—the cocoa taste reminds me of the chocolate milk I would get at a diner I went to on some special mornings with my mom when I was little. I never got chocolate milk pre-made anywhere else (I claimed it tasted like cardboard), but I got it here and it was delicious.
Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled programming. Same mouthwatering aroma while it’s steeping…I’m probably going to use my coupon to get more of this…upon sipping, the cocoa taste is predominant, still with the delicious clover honey note, and wow, this is fantastic.

3rd steeping (~6 min, boiling water): The cocoa has receded a little and the clover honey’s coming back. Mmmm. This is a more subtle sweetness. I’m getting a bit of tingly cinnamon warmth on the back of my tongue, too.

4th steeping (~8 min, boiling water): Put this in my travel mug. Prior steepings have used up much of the flavor, but it retains the slightest hint of cocoa. It’s comforting nevertheless.

Overall: Sweet mercy, this is amazing. I love black tea, and this is one of the most comforting, tasty, unique ones I’ve ever tried. This has made it into my hall of fame—I’m going to always have some of this on hand.

It’s raining here and I need something to lift my spirits. Sometimes you just look at the dried leaves of a tea and you know it will be special. It’s a very comforting tea. It’s exactly what I need at the moment. Sweet, mellow, warm indulgence.

I am having this as my morning brew today – it is a bit lighter than the black teas I am used to drinking. It seems medium bodied- sort of like a Ceylon but with different flavors. It seems very full with rich honey or buttery tones. I am picking up a bit on the spiciness as an aftertaste. Sadly I will not have time to infuse this more than once this morning, my verdict is an elegant and mild tea which seems suitable for anytime drinking. I hope to add more notes to this as time permits.

I am drinking the last of this and realized I never wrote a review on it. So as I drink it down…

Prunes
creamy cinnamon

not my favorite Golden Buds, but good.

Had some minor issues with steeping both gonfu and western style mostly due to water and teaware issues but did get some good first and later steeps with this. Can’t say I got much honey or cinnamon but a very nice linen texture that tickled the tongue and a sweet finish that lingered on the palate.

I could be wrong, but this tea seems to be not composed of just buds, but also some leaves. At least, when I compare it to Rishi’s Golden Needle, after that has been brewed, it appears to be only buds (there are no open leaves at all…). Whereas, after brewing this one, the leaves seem to open, and there is also a good amount of broken/leaf parts present (nothing small, but it isn’t as homogeneous as Rishi’s GN).

I don’t know if that translates to the higher astringency that I’ve been getting from this tea, especially on the first infusion (and somewhat the second), but it does have a noticeably stronger astringency present than two other Yunnan Golds that I really enjoyed (Rishi’s and Life in Teacup’s). That being said, there is something earthy about this one that makes me really feel like it is from Yunnan (unlike the others)…. it is something about the aroma that reminds me of pu-erh, which is really cool. This was a unique experience for me – having a tea that helped me to understand regional characteristics, because of what it has in common with a completely different tea, but from the same area.

By the third steeping, the smoothness and honey-sweetness that I love or have come to expect about this kind of black tea does come out. I enjoyed the sample size that I’ve now finished, but this particular version of Yunnan Gold didn’t impress me quite the same (as others that I’ve found from different vendors).

I drank this lovely tea yesterday, but found I didn’t have time to sit and log it, so I’m doing so now :)

I wasn’t really sure what to expect with this tea since I’ve read that it can have a peppery quality to it and I wasn’t sure how that would translate into a tea. But I was more than pleased when I took my first sip. The honeyed flavor of the tea on it’s own had a subtle spiciness and maltiness that was lyrical on my tongue and with the addition of that little bit of honey into the cup, it just came alive.

Thank you to Bonnie for sending this sample my way! :)

My newest shipment from Verdant just can in today, and I was very excited the try this tea out. My previous experience with Verdant has been excellent, with teas that outshine their competition

This is by far the best Yunnan golden bud tea I’ve had. The first infusion was the perfect balance of sweet and creamy, and not nearly as harsh as some versions of this tea that I’ve had. There was also a hint of cinnamon as a bit of foreshadowing for the second infusion.

The second infusion was still sweet, but the cinnamon flavor had strengthened considerably. The creamy flavors are surprisingly weak, but other than that, this is a delightful cup of tea.

The third infusion was mellower than the previous two, and – like the description said – reminded me of a Tie Guan Yin. It wasn’t fruity, but it had the same feeling. I was also rather impressed that the tea was still this strong, as most of the black teas that I’ve had waned more bu the third steeping.

The forth infusion was similar to the third, but weaker. This was also my last infusion, so I have a few closing remarks: This was a remarkably good black tea, and I’m really glad that I got 4 ounces of it. Also, there was no astringency in this tea, so I’m planning on experimenting this weekend to see if it can be brewed grandpa style. Regardless, I can’t wait to have this tea again.

Very little water, very small seeps, let it slide to the back of the throat instead of covering the tongue and this one truly shines. The most nectary Yunnan black I’ve tried.