Golden Spring

The Final Sipdown: Day 14.3

Hmm… Could drinking black tea at this hour have been a misstep? I GUESS WE’LL FIND OUT.

Ever smell something and have an image flash immediately into your head?

Here’s what I get with this one:

Staring at the hay covered floor of a county fair as a child.

Brewed, this tea smells unmistakingly of barn. It smacks of barn. Get a little closer to it, and it smells more of malt, but from about a foot away? BARN.

Erin was kind enough to send me a rather generous sample of this tea, but given that TFS is upon me, I dumped the entire thing into my Breville and hoped against hope that I wasn’t putting too much tea into it.

Luckily, the tea doesn’t taste overly astringent so I can only assume that my going heavy on the leaf was not a mistake [going light on the steep time may also have helped].

This is a pleasantly smooth black tea with a mouthfeel that sits somewhere between oily and silky. I get a nice, malty flavor from it rather consistently. Somewhat strangely, though, the taste of hay is equally present when I aerate and in the finish.

I’ve smelled hay in black tea before. [Jackee Muntz possesses it, for one.] But the taste of the tea hasn’t ever really possessed it before. And the taste of the hay in this tea is specifically barn hay. [Those who have been around fresh hay and been around a barn know that the scents, while related, are different. Those who have been around fresh hay and been around a barn also know what factors lead to those differences. The rest of you can probably figure it out on your own.] Meaning that in some bizarrely abstract twist, this tea tastes of barn. I’m not sure how I feel about that.

There is a starchiness about Golden Spring as well, but I can’t relay it to anything specific. The aftertaste, however, tastes a bit like a bagel. I’m not really sure where the meat comes into all of this, because I don’t taste it. Unless you count that there are animals in barns. Animals are meat, I guess.

Hardly any astringency, a smidgeon of sweetness, and overall what I would consider a decent black tea. Not overly complex, but sometimes that’s what you need in the morning. Is it leaping forward as something I’d prefer over Eight at the Fort, or some of the better Ceylons I’ve had? No, it’s not. But I’m not going to peg it as something that might not grow on me. If I find myself contemplating upon it during this week, I might pick up a few ounces to keep around.

[And let’s be honest – considering my relationship with Adagio, that’s really saying something.]

Teas Downed: 24

I need a heavily caffeinated tea this morning, which is gray and wet here in MD. So I opted for this sample I purchased from my last Adagio order. First, I love how fluffy the leaves are – light, airy and super fluffy.

Now, for the taste: bold, hearty and strong. This is a BLACK TEA, versus a black tea; it shouts its intentions of being bold and brazen, with no apologies and no looking back. Normally I can drink my “plain” tea actually plain, but I had to add some Splenda to round out the edges. Even with the sweetener, it’s still strong. But I taste a mossy, earthy flavor, which is quite nice. I don’t mean it tastes like dirt; it tastes fresh from the Earth, as though borne in the height of summer, with sunlight baking the earthly tones into the leaves. It’s poetic, it’s nice. I couldn’t drink this all the time, but for an AM pick-me-up, I’m glad I went with this.

Well after the Earl Grey failure this morning I knew I had to have something I enjoyed. I’ve tasted had this tea before but hadn’t joined Steepster yet. So without further ado…

The leaves are really pretty, the gold and black contrast nicely. They’re small, fuzzy wiry leaves with a smell that does remind me a little of a hay, but that doesn’t come across once brewed. The liquor is a deep amber that I wasn’t expecting.

This is a pretty smooth black tea, a little astringent. No bitterness at all. and I get the “meaty” aftertaste… I think. It may come from the thicker mouthfeel. A very tasty, savory tea overall.

This tea tastes just like miso soup to me, brothy and creamy with a slight sweetness. The aftertaste is a hint of very dark chocolate. This is my favorite by far of the adagio black tea sampler. I don’t know if it’s the pan frying method or what but this is the first tea I’ve had that has had an almost “soupy” mouthfeel. Very good.

Interesting appearance of the tea before steeping. Strangely fuzzy! I don’t know what they do to the leaves to make them become fuzzy, but they are. The multi-color of the tea (black and brown is interesting as well). Pre-steeping the tea smells of fruit with a hint of good smelling pipe tobacco.

After steeping for three minutes the tea is a nice brown/red color. I get a light pleasantly malty smell from this once steeped. Tasting this tea, it is a mild red tea with hints of bread, which is probably the malty smell coming through on my taste buds. The taste ends with something I’m having trouble identifying. Maybe this is the flavor that the label claims is carob? It is kind of the slight bitter you get from very dark chocolate, but I am not saying that I really get a chocolate taste from this, maybe one of the components from the complex taste that is good dark chocolate? I’ll have to keep drinking this to see if I can identify it further.

I am definitely learning an appreciation for the more subtle red teas and this one is a good example of this type of red tea. Not quite as good as the Yunnan gold I bought at the same time (review TBD) but good none the less and a great tea for transitioning into the lighter teas I drink in the afternoon.

Using up the last serving of this. The sampler tin is empty!

I am having this with my late breakfast of an English muffin and sausage patties, enjoying the last of the morning on my couch. Hopefully the sausage won’t affect my taste buds too much!

Brewed in my ingenuiTea. The tea brewed very dark while I fixed my brekky, so it probably went at least 5 minutes, i guess. After I decanted into my mug, I immediately added more water for a second brew, so it will steep awhile.

I’m not getting much taste out of it this morning, but like I said, the sausage might be overwhelming it a bit. Smells nice, not really a jump up and hit you scent. I might amend that after the allergy pill kicks in though.

Ok, breakfast is finished, and a few sips have been downed, and it hasn’t changed to the taste. It still seems like a fairly basic tea to me, nothing outstanding or unique. Not unpleasing, but not impressive either. I don’t think I’ll look to order more.

The smell of this tea hit me in the face right from the very moment that I poured my water over the leaves. It’s a heavier, stronger smell than I’ve ever experienced from a black tea before.

Oh, hmm. It isn’t bad at first, but it leaves a sour, bitter, very strong aftertaste. I can taste it all the way down my throat, and every time I exhale I taste it all over again. I’m not sure how much I like this; I want to like it, but that aftertaste is just too much.

This is a very great and very unique black tea. It’s one of the smoothest and least astringent black teas I’ve ever had. There is truly an umami meaty thing going on in this tea, but not in the MSG powered traditional sense. Upon tasting, I think it could best be described as an extension of and/or a twist on the typical malty sensation and heavy mouth feel of a malty black tea but with a more savory taste/aftertaste attributed to the heavy maltyness. Great stuff!!

This tea is rich, bold, and has that sort of “yeasty” note under the lighter, more pervasive muscatel flavor. Some days I like it, other days, not so much…it’s a mood thing with this tea. Some days (like today), it’s exactly what I want.

I picked up a sample of Golden Spring because I wasn’t sure if I wanted to buy another expensive tea. Damn, I like this tea. Think of it as a lighter Golden Monkey with a more delicate flavor. Faintly chocolate hues and smooth. Now I have to actually cough up real money and get me some.