Golden Snail Yunnan Black Tea

After yesterday’s debacle involving Jabberwocky tasting like pretzel dough, I decided to brew this up using filtered water. I do think it’s made a difference, but how much I can’t tell….

The smell when this first brewed up was definitely sweet potato with a bit of malt/honey. The taste was very similar, but I wanted to let it cool down a bit.

Now that it’s cooler, a new variety of flavours are coming out. I can smell honey, but I also think I taste a bit of plum along side the smooth maltiness.

I’m not getting caramel the way others have, but that’s fine. Glad I got to try a bit of this!

This was originally a swap from Ost. I had half, and am saving the remainder to send off to Variatea so this is technically a sipdown.

Another snaily tea! This one has a lot more gold colour, like more gold than black, and a sweeter scent to the dry leaves. As it started brewing, the aroma was actually really mild, but a couple minutes in, it started to get really chocolatey. The flavour has a blend of chocolate, fruit, sweet potato and malty notes, and a long finish with sweetness and a bit of spice. It’s really nice, sweet and smooth.

It’s a beautiful Sunday afternoon here in Richmond. Sunny, not a cloud in sight and almost 70F – What a treat in early February! So, what kind of tea with which to celebrate this meteorological excellence? A happy cup of Golden Snail Yunnan seemed befitting to honor the day.
Oh my! What a delicious cup! The dry leaf itself is golden and gorgeous with a seducing aroma of chocolate. So chocolatey that I could easily imagine that cocoa had been sprinkled upon the leaf. Golden Snail has the strongest note of chocolate flavor of any non-flavored black tea that this unrepentant chocoholic has ever tasted! Along with chocolate, there are incredible notes of sweet maple syrup and malt. A hint of brown sugar, butter and a pleasant wisp of oak bring this cup to Yunnan tea perfection!
Whispering Pines, you’ve done it yet again – This Golden Snail is the perfect example of what makes Yunnans so great. Thank you!
Now, time for another cup of this lovely brew with which to enjoy this lovely, springlike Sunday in Old Virginia.

Was craving this one when I woke up! And it definitely hit the spot. I forgot how rich and almost creamy this one is. It tastes strongly of sweet potatoes and honey to me.
On top of the amazing flavor, it’s also freakin’ adorable. Love how it looks. Just makes me smile, no matter what!
Really good tea to start my morning out with. And I’m happy to say this one is definitely a staple in my collection!

The dry leaf is so cute to look at and scoop out of the package.

Tastes of sweet potato, malt, cocoa and some spice – delicious and smooth.

Very nice!

Mmm, I love this tea! For the first steeping, I can detect strong notes of bread and honey, both in the scent and the taste. If I sip it nice and slow, I also taste a cocoa note near the end of the sip (and I even catch a little of the gardenia aftertaste that’s described on the WP website!). I took my time with this tea today, and savored all three of the recommended infusions for Western-style steeping. All three were excellent—though I will admit that the first one was my favorite.

This is a wonderful Yunnan black tea, smooth and complex, just like so many of the teas from Whispering Pines. I’m definitely considering restocking this one (and I’ve tried tons of excellent teas lately, so that’s saying something). I need to try it gongfu style soon!

Thank you TeaTiff for the swap! It’s terrible it’s taking a while for me to try these teas. I’m trying! These leaves are little coils of gold with hints of black. There is a fragrance of tomato soup before I even take a sip. The flavor is lovely – very smooth, tomato soup, honey, hints of chocolate, sweet potato, bit of spice. A ridiculous combination if you think about it, but the flavors work perfectly together… only in tea! The second steep really melded together and deepened… more difficult to pick out the flavors like I did in the first cup but very delicious!
Steep #1 // 1 tsp // few min after boiling // 3 min
Steep #2 // just boiled // 5 min

Comforting is a word I would use to describe this tea. I made a 64oz pot of it and my husband and I have been sipping the lightly-honeyed cocoa maltiness for a few steeps now. I am totally hoping to order more now that I’ve found my groove with wee snail yums, but I really, really, really want to get Rivendell with my next order, too. I wanted to order it with both of my last two orders and its been out of stock forever. Since my favorite flavored green from Butiki is gone now, I need a vanilla or creamy replacement. Any suggestions?
For the Redditors-TL;DR: I like this tea. And I want Rivendell or something like it really bad.

Another WP sample from Cameron B.! Get used to seeing that line, because I have a bunch to go through. :)

This is quite delicious. A very nice golden yunnan tea. Nice and sweet potato-y, and with a hint of molasses as well, like a sweet potato with brown sugar. Mmmmm. A little bit of cocoa flirting around the edges, and overall the texture is thick and creamy. Thanks for the sample of this one Cameron, it was very enjoyable!

Cold brewing this one for the last days of summer. Clear honey sweetness, a touch of malt and baked-goods flavor, and a rich buttery finish that lingers on, clearing up to just a hint of something floral. The previous time I cold brewed this tea for a long time (8+ hours instead of 6 like this time), I also got a distinct note of fresh, fibrous stone fruit. As expected, this is a very wonderful iced tea, rich but crisp.