Yunnan Organic Black Tea

This is a sample I’ve held on to for a while. Right now, I’ve got massive amount of black tea samples to sift through before I allow myself to buy more, and this was one of them. It’s not bad in a Generic Chinese Black Tea sort of way, but it’s not great either. Malty, a little more bitter than I’d like — and also a bit bland. I think its price basically reflects this (CA $4.95/50 grams). It’s reasonable, but I still wouldn’t pay for shipping from Canada to get more of this. There are a lot of broken, crushed leaves, which may be what makes this tea more bitter than I’d generally expect from a tea like this. I needed to add sugar to it in order to drink, and that’s not something I generally do with better quality Chinese teas.

I’ve not been particularly impressed by any of the teas I’ve tried from this company, but I know it’s new so I’m not writing it off forever. It will be interesting to watch the company grow — and to see if the tea selection improves.

I did brew it Western style, which may not have helped matters. But I did it per the instructions provided on the packet because I was in a hurry. 2 tsp., 2 cups water, 4 minutes, 100 degrees C. Also… Really, such small broken leaves don’t lend themselves to gongfu brewing.

I’m finishing off this sample and wondering why I didn’t rate it the first time I tried it. Maybe I just couldn’t think of much to say about it, which is sort of the problem I’m having now. It’s a rich, malty black tea? There’s a flavour note here that I just can’t identify, boo. It’s good, but I don’t feel the need to acquire more of it.

Oooh, I like how rich and smooth this tea is. It’s got that malty thing going on as well as a gingerbread/cocoa notes that I enjoy so much in my Chinese blacks. It’s a decent tea, and I am glad I got the Yunnan sampler pack from T@S. although I did enjoy this tea, it is not as good as my Fujians more. A great cup of tea to have while being grateful that I am indoors :P

I think this is the tea that I drank today?
It says “Thé Noir/Black Tea” on the package.

Ahh well. I got this from the Marco Polo TTB and it’s pretty good! I love Tea at Sea tons. I’ve had some of their samples before and they seem like a really nice tea company! This was a pretty smooth black. No bitterness whatsoever when I steeped it, even when I accidentally oversteeped it ahahhah

I ordered from Tea at Sea almost 2 months ago, and still haven’t tried most of the teas I got. So today I decided to finally try the sample I bought of this.

The aroma is malt and bread and cocoa. The taste is more malt and bread, but not as much cocoa (but it is there). This is not bad at all, and I wish I was into blacks when I placed my order, because I wish I had more than just the sample I bought.