Golden Needles

Ah Yunnan teas, how I adore you. This was a Christmas gift from my husband that we picked up in London (Covent Garden) on a trip last year. I have been drinking Earl Grey all day and now it’s 9pm I thought I would move on to the stronger/harder stuff (which funnily enough is what I would do with alcohol if I were drinking).

The needles are a wonderful mixture of gold and brown with a shimmery effect. Very hypnotic. It has a sweet almost woody scent that smells very fresh.

I am brewing two teaspoons worth of needles which I estimate to be 3g-4g in my Gongfu. I’m having a cup and my husband will have a cup which means it will be used at least twice (if not more, I will see how re steepable it is). Times and temperature taken from the back of the tin.

The colour is a wonderful golden reddy brown with a magical aroma of sweet malt.

Steep 1 – 4 mins –
In taste this is rich and malty with delicate sweetness. Very clean tasting and fresh, also very smooth. A somewhat malted caramel concoction. Delicious, so far it’s one of the tastiest Yunnan’s I have had the pleasure to drink.

Steep 2 – 5 mins –
The colour looks to be the same shade as the first steep but it’s scent is more mild. The sweet malty tones are still noticeable however. The flavour is still pretty much the same. Sweet, malty, caramel, velvet, woody Yunnan. You make my tongue dance with your flavours before you slip naughtily down my throat giving me a loving warmth.

I believe I can get another two steeps from this tea. Steep 3 will be 7 mins and steep 4 will be 10 mins. Joyous. :)

EDIT NOTE: My steeps for this reached number 3. Unfortunately it got lost in translation after that :( Oh well, two teaspoons and three cups is a worthy feat of tastiness. I have 100g of this so there are plenty more cups where that came from. :)

The quality of this tea is amazing and is now hands down my favourite Yunnan.