TGFOP Tea Reviews (c) Silverneedles est.2005

Puerhshop.com (review)(product link) . $2.99/100g/3.5oz = ~13$/lb is really cheap.

Leaf: Aged in CNNP factory storage since 2000. Jim recommended to wash it before proper infusion. I tried with and withoot wash and don’t remember any significant differences in taste (maybe less astringent with a wash, but not by much. The subsequently infused washed leaf did produce a slightly less cloudy liquor.)

This tea comes in a box, inside a paper bag, not sealed, no lining.

Method: 10sec swirled wash, then 3 min @ 200F.

Flavor: Thump of astringency/tannin on the tongue bordering on bitterness, follows a …”generic” yunnany black flavor but it does not hold much power in itself (~1/3 of total taste). Astringency is strong with this one. Maybe the expression is “brisk” not sure. Seems to remind me of breakfast teas… the bagged kind. Might have some good caffeine levels or maybe its just the HEAT IN THIS ROOM …melting my brain cells.

Overall: Not that interesting in flavor - low yunnanness. Baggy feel.

Puerhshop.com (review)(no more available). $4.99/100g/3.5oz = ~23$/lb is cheap.

Leaf: alright, not many gold tips but its got a little gold ‘dust’ in the package…

Method: boiled filtered water/200F stream hitting the cup.

Taste: yunnan black but sort of …”generic”?, not really wine, not really caramel, some very distant smoky? More flavor that the other yunnan black from Puerhshop & much less astringency 1/3 compared to 2/3 or more in the other one. Not really tea bag flavor…Interesting part seems to leave a sweet aftertaste feel. Interesting part #2, on 2nd infusion seems to get a greenish sensation as i remember from this keemun maofeng tasting… not “black-ened” enough?

Overall: its ok. not enough flavor. not sure i’d get again.

Ito En $7/oz (ok, i just read that, i read that right, yes $7, …112/lb… damn! thats one expensive oz i bought.)

Leaf looks black, i see 1 gold tip. */* overly critical
but do you see the rightmost 2 pics? thats all gold tips… picture shadows make some look darker, but in reality theyre all gold , GOLD BABY GOLD.

this should be called Yunnan Gold Tip.*/* now i’m just mean
Where is gold tips ??!!!
Show me gold tips ! … yeah i like seinfeld

sortof blind testing - i already know taste of 2/3 (bias) but tried it anyway,
lined up the cups, tried to measure similar quantity of leaf with my dispenser, marked all the cups on the bottom,
poured water ~200F , less than 1/2 cup so about 5oz(i think i shoulda used less), took pictures, figured some time passed,
maybe 2-3 minutes. strained in bottom marked cup, took to another room, and switched the cups around.
marked the cups with their reviewing #, and started teasting: (at end i put the actual tea in the paranthesis next to the #)

please excuse the lack of ability to describe in better detail someone else could relate to

#1 (Yunnan Gold Tips .Ito En)
aroma: fermented? black + astringent +”vegetal”
taste:
not very “defined”,
most astringent,
sort of a generic black +vegetal? sourish?-pinches-”stings” the mouth cheeks
very mild and faded honey, not smoky, nothing that interests me…
not a yunnan i’d like to drink.

#2 (Premium Yunnan Black Gold (Dian Hong Cha) .Yunnan Sourcing LLC)
aroma: maybe black? …triggering memories …cant describe, chicken farm…?!
taste:
similar astringent,
taste not as powerful honey-wine as #3,
very mildly smoky (i think this is the memories stimulant). i like this one.

#3 (Yunnan Pure Small Bud Black Tea Gold Tips .Yunnan Sourcing LLC)
aroma: strong “honey wine”
taste:
some mild astringency,
a dark black honey malty,
like the taste.

Adagio Teas 2$/ea or 24$/case of 15 + s&h
anteadote Black, Oolong, Green, White… i dont know what anteadote means, obviously a play on the Tea word, but to me it just sounds related to a medical drug or something. antidote is a substance used to neutralize a toxic substance.

Package:

Product of China.
no “organic” wording on this one… OMFG !

nice packaging: the label is really crooked, rotated on a corner… (if its the chinese packing plant, they should slap them around with a large trout.)

Liquor: dark-brown.

Smell: a little sweet, reminds me of assam.

Taste: black tea taste about medium strength, astringency is low! feels like a sortofa mixture maybe, assam-ish something. *** apparently after a little live chat on their website, they say its just Yunnan gold black tea (oops, its there too, on teh label…i should clean my glasses, …i should buy some glasses to have some to clean) … i really have to wonder where my tea tongue is at… oh yeah, here it is:

to me it tastes like an assam/sortof wine-y, maybe if i stretch it i would place it with this Yunnan Pure Small Bud Black Tea Gold Tips from Yunnan Sourcing but this bottled tea i dont feel any tobacco-ish-ness-y in it.

The bottle label says something of ’smooth peppery taste’ <– what the * that means i dont know. there is no pepper of any kind in this tea, i’m pretty sure, i just went and sprinkled some on my tongue.

…after tasting, i find there is a weird little flavor i cant describe-maybe faintly medicinal, but i think its there, like in their green tea bottle.

Not much aftertaste, but doesn’t feel completely watery, some remnants on tongue and back of throat.

Overall: taste is medium, ok, not bad, if found in a store i’d buy it, but if Tejava was there… i pick Tejava Premium iced tea bottle-which is more crisp, strong, defined, astringent. should i put this one on the Favoritea Bottled tea list… well ok, there isnt much choice out there…

Tavalon Tea Bar
12oz cup at $2.50 +1.50(uhm… “premium tea” extra bonus price? special water? royal cup?)

they sell this on their website for … 108$/lb …!

waited like 5 minutes for the cup.

12oz hot water + tealeaf bag.

taste: uhm… mild yunnan, minor astringency, watery-not much aftertaste.
yeah. i didnt feel too royal after drinking this, except by having the money to throw around…

in contrast to this watery thingy i ‘enjoyed’ some assam…

Yunnan Sourcing LLC $24/250g = $2.72/oz
Production period: Spring 2007
“Early spring tea is picked when the buds are still young, the tea is then rolled, briedly fermented and then wok-dried by hand. The flavor is the smoothest… “

Dry leaf: leaf smells pretty medium-high like apricot+honey
theres little hairs on the leaf, and leaves behind plenty of golden dust on the paper.

Method: 1 blk dispenser ‘tbsp’ 3min 190F, also tried 200F

Liquor: probably the same golden dust makes a contribution to liquor being cloudy, and adds some frothyness on the margins of the cup(when it dries you can see the gold dust particles), also the gold dust adds texture in the last sips (when most it is settled around the bottom of the cup). [the picture here is from 2nd or 3rd infusion].

Flavor: mmmm yunnan, id say flavor is more strong/prominent than the premium yunnan from them maybe its the young leaf it has stronger flavor to be extracted= there is a more prevalent sort of mild astringency feeling, not very harsh, aftertaste does not stay long. but its not watery as some of the cheap crap yunnan from WHF.

i’m not going to say smoothest flavor. i’ve had smooth, this does not fit that.

i’d say this taste profile goes towards my ‘foody’ sensation, and wine-y. some tobacco-ish sensations?! ,,, …not my liking. i think im about to say it feels …confusing… might be due to my feel of the astringency and the prominent flavor - i think they wine-y part reminds me of keemun/qimen. no, i think its sort of …darjeeling-ish, from that tobacco sensation. oy.

this definitely has caffeine. yup… not felt that in a while from a tea. i think its rather strong. good for me, i need it at the moment.

Overall: i like it. but i personally prefer yunnan with a touch of smokiness, not the wine-ceylon-foody (as i sense it).

Yunnan Sourcing LLC

info added after tasting:
16.4/250 g = $1.86/oz :O :O
“Fall 2006 tea * Aged just enough
liquor is mellow, smooth but with a depth of flavor that is not to be missed. Other black teas don’t stand up to this!”

Dry: This smells good from 1 meter away (thats 3 feet). I’ve not seen a black tea with such long intact leaves in my last year of tasting teas! (or maybe i have, what do i know, i’m getting senile anyway…)

Method: 1black scoop “tbsp” 4oz @ 190F

Liquor: little dust/residue in the liquor. smell hint of smoky.

interruption: Ohhhhh sooo goood…. mmmmm…
…ok… i’m back…

Tongue: so good… “full taste” (fills mouth with flavor), chocolaty aftertaste with a little tiny astringency, oh so nice

not bitter, not wine, not watery, not “foody” (personal sensation)

i want to say ’soft’ but not lacking flavor, soft as in not rough, no unpleasant astringency, everything melts very nice on the tastebuds. i think as they say it ‘mellow‘ is better.

good, longlasting aftertaste.

i so want to describe the flavor in more detail but i dont have any other words to match…

Compared: to the yunnan gold from Jing Tea, Jing’s was more caramel (but it had what i call “foody-ceylon” flavor which is not my preference). another comparison with Yunnan Gold Tips looseleaf tea .Ito En

Overall: lets just say… friggin’ awesome (imho) three thumbs up (thats all the thumbs i got).

this is their regular yunnan black, the cheapest one. yeah, indeed.

2.25$ for 1/4lb (4oz)

leaf smells good. thats the only good part.

and so it does smell good after infusion: thick creamy soft yunnan black,

taste: … ~2/7 low flavor,
if my tongue is not messed up this is “thick”, low flavor yunnan, astringency medium, maybe low smoky.
good aftertaste.

.
feeeling confused… the smoky sensation, lack of flavor.

T-score: .NO. definitely.

so i thinks… lets try some mixing today…. hoping to make snapple iced tea TASTE LIKE TEA,

but i was wrong.  dont know what snapple puts in its drink, but its so strong it blocks all other tastes… this sweet citrusy/lemon, mildly astringent liquid…

8oz snapple + 1 tbsp yunnan black loose tea (now i feel kinda wasted it…and it was gold tip too…)

result: 1 snapple flavor with a totally separate perfumy creamy yunnan black flavor (blunted by the strong snapple flavor).

this totally does not work.

i dont even think ill try to mix it with anything else, it obviously will block out any real tea taste.

local store NY: ~2$ /1.41oz /20 tea bags

“organic, no preservatives” (…says Royal King from the Republic of China), i do believe them… really… seriously… i swear

Method 2: 2 teabags ~ 8oz ~3? min, 190F–>

Taste: better, more familiar tho still …rather mild yunnan black tea flavor, and somewhat watery,
mild astringency/tanninic, some very low aftertaste - coating the tongue, palate.
but i have to say: better than lipton :O :O (@_@)

hot the liquid tasted ok, but some minutes later, the about room temp liquor tasted almost like nothing, i had to wash my mouth to retaste and most of the flavor was astringent.

Method 3: 2teabags and then stirred around, stressed them a little, and there is a little more taste, more astringency, and prominent cruddy tea bag taste. NASTY.

Method 1:1tbag/4oz … not even 4oz of water could concentrate some f* damn flavor…

taste: watery, faded, yunnan black tea flavor, no astringency.

poor results thusfar.

will try 2 teabags in 6oz water…
i figure more infusion time or more tbags will throughly ‘astringentize’ this infusion… oh well, we’ll see…

Overall: final score 2.0/7 … no… thats not a good score= i would not buy this on purpose… damn, its getting rather depressing with all this tasteless stuff…

sample from Jing Tea

opened the bag: good smell, black Yunnan - with a bit of flowery.

testing here being compared to local shop’s (WHF’s Yunnan GTR 1105).

leaf: very nice, long, soft, golden, with tiny hairs (guess: which break off and create the gold dust-the third image which is very close-up zoomed picture). Leaf is much nicer than WHF. Jing wins 1-0

infusion: just boiled water dipped for 3min.

liquor: brownish, WHF’s cloudier but red in color… Jing wins 2-0
liquor: smells winey, it seems to remind me of a ceylon, WHF’s smells smoky.

dont know why i couldnt get the liquor to come out as i see it, but WHF is more red in color, Jing’s is brownish. Difference is minor. The picture is a combination of both therefore not a true representation of either.

flavor: the specific yunnan taste, malty, CARAMEL but in my taste its got a touch of what i call ‘ceylon’ (from last time i drank a ceylon black tea). While WHF got a touch of SMOKY flavor (not disgusting gasoline like that lapsang i had).

Conclusion: excellent yunnan, handsome leaf, yes. id go for a couple pounds.

When drinking black tea with moderate or more astringency the tannins that remain in the mouth actually kinda inhibit my sense of hunger (unless my stomach is already growling).

39.99/lb

leaf, dry: looks like the regular yunnan.
brew: oops , 8min.
taste: … yunnan, but watery… i mean- strong yunnan mouthfull, but then almost nothing left, it all goes down the tube! its like drinking tea water or something… perplexing …
its not like the yunnan black gold-tip rare 1105 (which is very smooth), its more like regular yunnan black.

tea-keep-o-meter: no………

looseleaf $46/lb

aspect: very aspectous leaves are uniformly long ~ 3/4in, mostly orange in color, touch feels soft.

as you see upclose the leaf has little hairs on them. while brewing the leaf swells up (i think i underestimated how much i put in the pot.)

taste: like regular yunnan, but better, smoother, very pleasant. detect some mild smoky scent, also some smoky flavor (very mild).

goes good with sugar. (not much nasty sugar aftertaste).
tastes good cold as well.

tea-keep-o-meter: OH YES.!

looseleaf $0.43/oz ($6.99/lb)

aspect: leaf is attractive, long but varied length, with lighter colored leaves (are these so called gold tip?) (sorry about the 1st image is over-sharpened)

brewed: just boiled water
smell: strongly woody
taste: full strong woody, i did not sense any strong fermentation like pu-erh (but maybe i dont remember)
aftertaste: minty fresh (not sure about this) & a little malty
very nice.

update 07/12/06: water 198F, more than 1 cup water, ~1.5tsp , 10 min. Wow, this is great! strong taste, low bitternes, low astringency, but the taste is very good, like it alot. Can feel some agitation from caffeine or related chemicals. really really enjoyed this, very good for morning, breakfast tea, wake-me upper. mm so good.

yes. i want more