Yunnan Noir

Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Black Tea Leaves
Flavors
Honey, Molasses, Spices, Stonefruit, Malt, Smoke, Smooth, Fruity, Sweet, Wet Earth, Cocoa, Earth, Pepper, Toasted, Dark Chocolate, Metallic, Roast Nuts, Yams, Grain, Wood
Sold in
Bulk, Loose Leaf, Tea Bag
Caffeine
High
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by JulieWyant
Average preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 15 sec 2 g 10 oz / 290 ml

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96 Tasting Notes View all

  • “So I am in the “happy” position of having the course schedule of dumb. Specifically, on Tuesdays, I currently have class from 9-10 am and then 3-9pm. THREE TO NINE WTF. I may drop one of the...” Read full tasting note
    83
  • “Sipdown. Infusion number one before I head off to work. (Edit several hours later) So I did like 2.5? teaspoons of this in ~2 cups of boiling water. Didn’t let it steep quite as long this time,...” Read full tasting note
    84
  • “Tea of the morning (my that seems so long ago) shared with the husband, thanks to Michelle! A decent black tea, not astringent, nothing offensive, held up to three infusions but no shining...” Read full tasting note
  • “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...” Read full tasting note
    83

From Adagio Teas

Yunnan Noir is a black tea from the Yunnan province of China, the birthplace of tea itself. Much of the tea in this southern province is a large leaf variety. Grown at 1500 meters above sea level where the mountains are veiled in mist, with clean water and rich soil form ideal growing conditions and contribute to the unique flavor. Our Yunnan Noir is a hand-rolled tea, with leaves tightly curled into a ‘black snail’ shape. The aroma is sweet with hints of honey and spice. Savory and winey on the palate, with smooth, deep fruity astringency, tremendous depth of flavor, cinnamon bark and nutmeg in the finish. A terrifically textured cup of tea.

Film Noir is a genre of movie most associated with the post-WWII era of the 1940s. Frequently centered around crime and detective stories a la The Maltese Falcon’s Sam Spade, they’ve given us the classic gritty detective trope we know and love and influenced everything from film classic Bladerunner to beloved comic Calvin and Hobbes and even Spider-Man, which featured Spider-Man Noir (voiced by Nicholas Cage) in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Similar to the animated superhero flick, we’ve taken a lighter take than the old films with our tea too, focusing on the tea’s color, rather than a tone.

Black Tea | High caffeine | Steep at 212° for 3-5 minutes.

About Adagio Teas View company

Adagio Teas has become one of the most popular destinations for tea online. Its products are available online at www.adagio.com and in many gourmet and health food stores.

96 Tasting Notes

80
421 tasting notes

Tea from early this morning. I enjoyed it. There was a great malty flavor to it that I loved. There was also a general all around richness to it. Shame I only bought the sample size!

Flavors: Honey, Malt, Sweet

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 30 sec 2 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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87
14 tasting notes

I made the mistake of picking this one up as a generic black in an attempt to wean my co-workers off Lipton. The mistake was not in picking it up, but rather in identifying it as a generic black. Anyone who is introduced to Yunnan Noir and switches to a more generic darjeeling or assam will be sorely disappointed. This is not a flavored tea, but nonetheless, hints of honey and chocolate are distinctive in the aroma; nearly as strongly as in Harney & Sons’ Elyse’s Blend. I would imagine that left long enough it could get bitter, but it seems reasonably tolerant of time and temperature, reliably giving a full-bodied brew with no objectionable spikes in the flavor profile. I debated rating this one up in the 90s, holding off only because I haven’t yet settled into what the bounds of my rating spectrum properly are yet, and how I’ll account for my mood and comparison across individual teas, blends, herbals, etc. But within the category of undoctored blacks, this is definitely near the top.

Flavors: Dark Chocolate, Honey

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184 tasting notes

Gaaaaaah! This is not my cup of tea. It might be yours though. This Yunnan offering from Adagio is a darker leaf than the usual Yunnan, and rolled into wee balls. The smell of the dry leaf is musty and tealike. I missed the yam and apricot smell of my usual cup of Yunnan. First sip was Gaaaaaaah! I wasn’t expecting smoke and oak in my cup of Yunnan, but there it was. There is also more astringency than I like.

This is a manlier version of Yunnan Gold. Yunnan Noir should be named Adagio YuMAN, because it’s manly notes speak for themselves. I won’t be finishing this sample.

Flavors: Earth, Grain, Smoke, Wood

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML
Lee

Does Adagio say to prepare this one with boiling water?

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80
3986 tasting notes

Hooray, another Yunnan to try! :D I picked this up in my recent Adagio order because I had a $5 coupon and the sample was $5, so I figured that makes it free! ;) Do not question it! The leaves are very cute. They’re all curled up into little loose balls, bi luo chun style. Mostly dark with some golden tips in there too. The dry scent is strong malt with honey and a hay accent – pretty much what I expect at this point. I brewed this twice, first at 4 minutes and then at 3 (not a resteep, with separate leaves each time).

I did 4 minutes first, because it’s the average time for this tea on Steepster. The leaves get pretty big when they unfurl! :D Smells mostly malty with some bread and honey notes mixed in. The taste seemed kind of one-note to me. It was a ton of malt with a little earthy smokiness in there. Meh. Trying again.

Then I did 3 minutes in hopes I would get some other flavors. The aroma was similar, with more honey and some hay as well. I still taste mostly malt, but now there is some honey in there and none of the earth and smoke taste. Still not a super complex flavor profile. I added a bit of sugar and I felt it helped to round out the taste for me. I found this tea pretty good but not great. Somewhere between H&S Tippy Yunnan and Yunnan Golden Tips.

On another note, I saw several reviews for this on Adagio in which people said it didn’t have the normal Yunnan taste. This confuses me a bit because in all the Yunnans I’ve tried so far, the predominant flavors have been strong malt, bread, and honey notes. And this tea definitely has some of those. So I guess I don’t get what the “typical” Yunnan taste is supposed to be. :P

Flavors: Earth, Honey, Malt, Smoke

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML
boychik

I make Yunnan blacks only gongfu. With short multiple steeps you can notice diff flavors. Just my 2c ;)

Cameron B.

I will definitely keep that in mind, although I don’t have any kind of gong fu equipment yet. Soon maybe.

TeaTiff

On the gong fu front… a smallish dish/bowl about 4oz with something to strain. I used a glass cooking dish I had for a while with a ziplock plastic lid. Worked just as well, wasn’t pretty, but no body was looking.

boychik

I used to make in Pyrex cup with saucer on top and strainer;)
This easy gaiwan is the best, I use it daily
http://m.ebay.com/itm/350927580204?nav=SEARCH

Arshness

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dragon-Phoenix-Porcelain-Gongfu-Tea-Set-6-Pcs-/271333384037?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f2cbadf65
That set is cute and damn cheap for what it is.

I remember being warned tho about buying painted dishes from China. Something about lead in paint. I wonder how to be sure they are safe.

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85
630 tasting notes

This is nutty and delicious for a hot morning cup!

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec

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82
7 tasting notes

1 tbs tea 8oz water 1-3 min 2- 3 steepings

Preparation
Boiling 1 min, 0 sec

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11 tasting notes

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100
6 tasting notes

This tea has a gorgeous velvety liquor and it always surprised when I took the first sip from each cup. I loved the way that it felt drinking. I would definitely recommend it for its delicacy and boldness as a everyday tea.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C

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100
4 tasting notes

This hits the spot when its freezing cold outside and I want a woodsy, malty black tea to warm the bones. Its very complex at different temperatures. Right after steeping, it’s very earthy, almost smokey, with a malty finish. After cooling, some sweeter notes came out and they lingered on the tongue before fading to a wine-like taste. Definitely a favorite for breakfast!

I also had to extol the shape. These leaves are wrapped into little spirals and snails, making it very easy to spoon out with a baking teaspoon, unlike leafier teas that can be a pain in the butt to measure.

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 2 min, 0 sec

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71
10 tasting notes

Very rich, delicious, malty tea. Some chocolate and something sweet and fruity as well. Very smooth and rich mouthful.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 30 sec

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