Today I am feeling like black tea. I had a busy August and an even busier September is here, so I need to sort my new black teas into either my morning lazy style, gongfu pick me up, or afternoon tea snack time. Hence Tea sent me two more black teas to try – Yunnan Gold Tip and Keemun Maofeng Black. I previously wrote about Hence Tea’s Songluo Black.
Yunnan Gold Tip from Hence Tea
This Yunnan Gold Tip has the scent of sweet canned cherries.
For both black teas, I went with gongfu style with boiling water, using a 1 gram of tea per 15ml vessel ratio. After a rinse, the scent of Yunnan Gold Tip is more chocolate malt and cherry
First, Second, and Third Infusion: Yunnan Gold Tip sips in sweet and fluffy, with cocoa nibs with a slightly fruity finish. Each infusion gets darker tasting, deeper chocolate, and woodsy, with a dark chocolate cherry aftertaste. The texture is slightly silky and has just a touch of astringency.
Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Infusion: As Yunnan Gold Tip goes on it gets deeper and richer, with heavy flavors of bittersweet chocolate, wood, and pepper. The cherry flavor is gone, but the end of the sip and aftertaste shifts to a light caramel. Yunnan Gold Tip fades quickly at the sixth infusion, just finishing sweet and light malt – not a lick of bitterness!
Comments
Hence Tea’s Yunnan Gold Tip is a fine daily drinker for gold tip black tea lovers. Yunnan Gold Tip leans sweet and comforting black tea. I’d likely keep this as work tea and drink the whole thing down quickly! The price is right too.
Keemun Maofeng Black from Hence Tea
Gorgeous Keemun (Qimen) Maofeng Black! I haven’t had Keemun in a while so I can’t wait to drink this tea! This tea is from Anhui Province, China. The floral scent is hard to peg down.
Opening the gaiwan after a rinse, and yes this is cherry blossoms!
First and Second Infusion: Keemun Maofeng has a soft briskness, adding a layer of astringency to the top of my tongue. The flavor overall is light sweet cherry wood but with a high aftertaste and aroma of cherry blossoms.
Third and Fourth Infusion: I over-steeped the third infusion – I was looking at sweater knitting things and I lost track. Either way, the tea colour came out an amazing ruby.
Keemun Maofeng also tastes great here with its richly woody, fruity with the high aroma of cherry blossoms. It is still brisk and astringent, but excellent contrast of beautiful notes and burly.
Fifth and Sixth Infusion: As Keemun Maofeng fades it goes to sour cherry and wood, with a bitter aftertaste. The dryness stays at the back of the throat dryness, quenched by more tea. The final infusion is sweet light and heavily floral, but fleeting in taste before slipping into astringent.
Comments
Hence Tea’s Keemun Maofeng has excellent fruity floral notes, with rich dark flavor potential.
There is a bit of dryness and bitterness, but overall elegant and excellent afternoon tea drinking experience. I wish I had a cupcake to go with.
(teas provided for review)
