Okay, I’m pretty sure I’m in the minority here, but I love Adagio’s new bags. They are cute and I like the feel of them and even the samples are resealable. I don’t know about everyone else, but I have a big box filled with empty tea tins – I don’t need more of them to clutter up my pantry. Yay for bags!
And yay for cute little leaves! These are little black and gold not-quite-pellets and smell malty and fruity sweet and possibly a little cocoa-y. The leaves unfurl easily while steeping and brew into a pretty dark liquid. Mmm, that smells very rich, sweet, smooth and malty.
Maybe my taste buds are wonky because everything is tasting sweet to me. Or maybe I’m just gravitating towards sweeter teas… Anyway, this one definitely tastes sweet. Sweet with a hint of grain (barley-ish?), smooth, a little bright fruity (plum? fig? blackberry?) on the front, a tiny hint of toasty on the end. It’s a very smooth tea that is surprisingly mild. The aftertaste really seems to stick around which makes the mildness of the next sip surprising. As it cools, a little astringency builds up but only to the ‘refreshing’ level, not the ‘uncomfortable’ or ‘unpleasant’ and makes the toasty want to turn into smoky (though it doesn’t quite make it there). And my empty cup is giving me whiffs of hot chocolate, which is interesting since I didn’t really pick up any cocoa notes in the taste.
This is actually very pleasant. Definitely recommended to anyone that likes the smoother Panyang or Fuijian type teas. (Yes, I know, Yunnan Noir is the name, but it’s so fruity sweet and smooth that I can’t help but associate it mentally with Panyang or Fuijian teas, just a slightly stouter version of them.)
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Well, I don’t know if it’s all that strange to make the comparison, myself! The Golden Monkey you sent me to try (which I now own, yay) has some qualities that are very strongly like those in the Emperor’s Gold I have a tin of.
Maybe one of the people on steepster with seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of tea processing methods and history can illuminate the reasons for this. I’m looking at you, Thomas Smith. ^.-
Hahah – I was thinking of the same need for encyclopedic knowledge! :)
I suppose ultimately they are all Chinese blacks so it’s not surprising there is some similarity? I just tend to think of Yunnans as being a little stouter/bolder and this one is milder and sweeter than I would anticipate. Of course, a year ago when I got fruity notes from a Yunnan, I thought I had stored it wrong (next to a fruit-flavored tea). So who’s to say my ideas now aren’t as off as that idea was? (And yay for Golden Monkey!)
Well, I don’t know if it’s all that strange to make the comparison, myself! The Golden Monkey you sent me to try (which I now own, yay) has some qualities that are very strongly like those in the Emperor’s Gold I have a tin of.
Maybe one of the people on steepster with seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of tea processing methods and history can illuminate the reasons for this. I’m looking at you, Thomas Smith. ^.-
Hahah – I was thinking of the same need for encyclopedic knowledge! :)
I suppose ultimately they are all Chinese blacks so it’s not surprising there is some similarity? I just tend to think of Yunnans as being a little stouter/bolder and this one is milder and sweeter than I would anticipate. Of course, a year ago when I got fruity notes from a Yunnan, I thought I had stored it wrong (next to a fruit-flavored tea). So who’s to say my ideas now aren’t as off as that idea was? (And yay for Golden Monkey!)