Mustn’t forget the queue! I’m not very good at not forgetting the queue, am I?
Last time I placed an order with Teavivre, I got this as a sample. I actually have a couple of samples here from them that I haven’t tried yet, including a dragon pearl one that I was rather looking forward to at the time when I placed the order. Unfortunately the first time I tried it was about an hour or so before it became very clear to me indeed that I had acquired some sort of food poisoning. I remember it tasting lovely, but it is now linked with illness in a way that makes me unable to really face dragon pearl yet. It’ll come eventually, just… not right now. (Once after having had a food poisoning it took me almost half a year before I could eat beans again)
At least I can do the other samples now. I’ve been sort of avoiding them, because I didn’t really want to have anything to do with the dragon pearl one. I didn’t even want to look at it. I know logically that the tea could not have caused the food poisoning (I’m fairly certain that was some mayonnaise), but it was still the last thing I had before it really started, so… Sometimes the mind is just not very logical at all.
ANYWAY!
You did not come hear to read about an illness I had months ago. As I said, I got this one as a sample with my order, and I was a little in doubt about it at first. Yunnans can generally swing both ways for me. Sometimes it’s awesome, other times it just tastes like a cup full of wet hay. Sometimes the same batch of a tea can give both these result even in identical brewings. I have, however, found much more luck with dian hong than I have with the golden ones, so eventually I decided to chance it and give it a go. It’s just a sample anyway, so no harm done if it turns out to be another round of straw.
It smells a bit straw-like, but it’s not the dominant note. I can’t really pick up much in the way of pepper which is another thing I associate with Yunnan, but that’s mostly in the golden types. I’m also getting a bit of cocoa and something vaguely fruity. Berry-y. Generic fruit, really.
It does have a fairly characteristic Yunnan flavour, with the straw note, but again it’s not the dominant note. There’s also a fairly grainy note with a faint hint of dark cocoa to it, but the generic fruit-note remains only in the aroma.
It’s quite nice this, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to acquire more of it. I might get some if I were shopping anyway, but it would be unlikely to be the cause of an order.
