Nepal Golden Tips Black Tea

Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Black Tea Leaves
Flavors
Brown Sugar, Malt, Peanut, Bread, Caramel, Fruity, Grain, Honey, Nectarine, Sweet Potatoes, Wood, Apricot, Floral, Oak, Orange, Plum, Raisins, Roasted Nuts, Stonefruit, Cherry, Chocolate, Cream, Grapes, Herbs, Leather, Orange Zest, Smooth, Tropical, Dark Chocolate, Cocoa, Yams, Spices, Broth, Mineral, Smoke, Sweet, Tobacco, Alcohol
Sold in
Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by What-Cha
Average preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 2 min, 45 sec 3 g 13 oz / 390 ml

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41 Tasting Notes View all

  • “I’ve wanted to try this one for a while, and I couldn’t decide if I wanted to get a small 25 grams or a sample from my last What-Cha order. This one could have been an easy daily drinker for me if...” Read full tasting note
    87
  • “May 2021 Harvest – First Flush This was included as a free sample in my last What-Cha order. Thank you! I don’t think I’d tried teas from Nepal before checking out What-Cha; all the ones I’ve had...” Read full tasting note
    86
  • “Another good steep of this tea. I’m trying to drink through some of my many samples! The flavor is very light this time, so I think I might try it a tad longer next time. It reminds me a lot of...” Read full tasting note
    91
  • “Well, I am continuing to slog my way through all of the backlogged reviews I have accumulated since the start of the month. I finished a pouch of this tea a little over a week ago. I tend to be a...” Read full tasting note
    86

From What-Cha

An incredible black tea made entirely of young buds, the smoothest black tea we have tried with a refined malty taste and no bitterness or astringency.

We are proud to source all our Nepal teas direct from Greenland Organic Farm, who are very much at the forefront of a burgeoning Nepali tea industry dedicated to producing high quality artisanal teas. Greenland Organic Farm are completely pesticide and chemical free farm dedicated to producing tea in an ethical and fair manner. Greenland Organic Farm is located in East Nepal in the shadows of Mt. Kancghenjunga at an altitude of 3,000m.

About What-Cha View company

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41 Tasting Notes

87
1704 tasting notes

I’ve wanted to try this one for a while, and I couldn’t decide if I wanted to get a small 25 grams or a sample from my last What-Cha order. This one could have been an easy daily drinker for me if I tried it sooner. I was surprised by how fruity it was-it reminds me distinctly of fruit loops or apple jacks cereal. It’s got all the trademarks of a Dianhong, and the leaves are thickly dense with golden trichomes. The malt is really nice, and the tea has some sweet-potato and cocoa notes, but then it leans heavily into the honey and fruit. I do get banana in the first two steeps western, but then orange later on. Reminds my a lot of the Kenyan White Rhino. More to come on this one.

Flavors: Bread, Caramel, Fruity, Grain, Honey, Malt, Nectarine, Sweet Potatoes, Wood

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86
1429 tasting notes

May 2021 Harvest – First Flush

This was included as a free sample in my last What-Cha order. Thank you! I don’t think I’d tried teas from Nepal before checking out What-Cha; all the ones I’ve had so far have been pretty good – this one included!

Aroma: The dry leaf smells like some kind of funky tree trail mix, like nuts, something fruity (dried apricot?), floral, and “plant” (yes, tea is plant. I am very observant). The broth is nutty and fruity like orange zest and apricot.

To taste, there are some lovely purple fruit notes, like grapes and plums. The nuts from the aroma carry over and so does “plant” (it’s a tree!). There’s also a “starchy” flavour that is like banana and/or sweet potato. Banana/plantain really comes out in the finish as it cools. It’s nice.

I’m having a good time, in part because of this tea but also because I’m eating Palak Paneer and Butter Chicken (maybe I should’ve picked up some momos in spirit of this tea but I was really feeling Punjabi cuisine tonight. Life’s alright).

Flavors: Apricot, Floral, Fruity, Malt, Oak, Orange, Plum, Raisins, Roasted Nuts, Stonefruit, Sweet Potatoes, Wood

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 4 min, 0 sec
derk

Nice picture of the tea you paint :) And sealing the note with mention of Indian food makes it all the better.

Evol Ving Ness

This tea sounds lovely. And so does the menu. Hooray for those moments that everything lines up and one can exhale, if just briefly, with a contented sigh. Thank you for sharing.

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91
72 tasting notes

Another good steep of this tea. I’m trying to drink through some of my many samples! The flavor is very light this time, so I think I might try it a tad longer next time. It reminds me a lot of other “golden” teas I’ve had, and the sweet taste has a lot in common with the Golden Buds tea from What-Cha, though this tea isn’t as rich.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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86
1048 tasting notes

Well, I am continuing to slog my way through all of the backlogged reviews I have accumulated since the start of the month. I finished a pouch of this tea a little over a week ago. I tend to be a big fan of the Nepalese black teas sourced by What-Cha and this tea was certainly no exception. I found it to be a smooth, remarkably flavorful black tea.

I prepared this tea in the Western style. I steeped about 3 grams of loose tea leaves in approximately 8 ounces of 194 F water for 5 minutes. I attempted no additional infusions.

Prior to infusion, the dry tea leaves produced aromas of chocolate and herbs. After infusion, I noted aromas of chocolate, malt, herbs, orange, and flowers. In the mouth, I found a mellow blend of cream, malt, chocolate, wood, orange zest, and roasted nuts balanced by touches of honey, cherry, banana, black grape, herbs, and leather. Oddly, I could find no floral notes in the mouth. The finish was somewhat dry, yet not astringent. It offered lingering touches of malt, roasted nuts, chocolate, and black grape. What-Cha swore there was a note of nectarine in there somewhere, but I never found it.

This was a very smooth, mellow, approachable black tea with a nice body and just enough depth and complexity. Thankfully, it also did not come off as a clone of a second flush Darjeeling either. If you are a fan of malty, flavorful black teas, then this one would likely be for you.

Flavors: Cherry, Chocolate, Cream, Grapes, Herbs, Honey, Leather, Malt, Orange Zest, Roasted Nuts, Wood

Preparation
5 min, 0 sec 3 g 8 OZ / 236 ML

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78
21 tasting notes

So the tea I’m reviewing is labelled “Nepal Golden Tippy Black Tea” and I think its just this year’s version of the same tea.

To be honest I just had it for the second time and I’ve delayed posting a note because I’ve been lacking the vocabulary to describe this one. There is a smell, from the dry leaf in a warm pot, and a flavour from the tea, that I couldn’t quite place.

Most other reviews mention fruity, which I don’t get. However, someone mentioned french toast which might be close to the smell I pick up. The tea is smooth as described, but the malt is much weaker than I expected. There is an after taste that is difficult to place, a pleasant one. Overall a good tea but doesn’t really stand out for me. For smoother teas I prefer the Georgian ones carried by the same vendor, and for more malt I look to yunnan blacks.

I may try this with a longer infusion time, maybe 5 minutes.

I can definitely see this one being a solid daily drinker for some, depending on personal preferences (eg a little malty but super smooth and no astringency).

Flavors: Malt, Smooth

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 2 g 8 OZ / 250 ML

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23 tasting notes

The dry leaf smells like sweet milk chocolate and is made up mostly of fuzzy pale golden buds. In a warm gaiwan, the leaf smells intensely of chocolate and then fruits. Kind of a fruity trail mix sort of thing.

Starting with a 10 second steep, the tea is lightly sweet and the primary flavor is malt. I push the tea a little harder on the second steep and am rewarded with some of the chocolate I noticed in the dry leaf and decent thickness.

I’m met with some bitterness and astringency in later steeps but the overall profile remains much the same. This tea is fine but unfortunately I think it smells better than it tastes in the cup.

Flavors: Chocolate, Fruity, Malt

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 15 sec 3 g 2 OZ / 70 ML

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80
11 tasting notes

A pretty great tea with an amazing smell of tropical fruits. The flavor is quite malty and sits nicely in the mouth.

Flavors: Malt, Tropical

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 90 OZ / 2661 ML
Poppy

I would love to try it, where can I find it?

Felipe Abarzúa

I bought it from What-cha :)

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62 tasting notes

Rich malt with a brisk edge and a fruity note that expands on the palate, developing a very light sweetness in the finish. This tea is quite enjoyable and most resembles a Yunnan Dian Hong.

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70
258 tasting notes

I’m not sure what I did wrong on this one but it just didn’t pop for me. I followed the suggested steeping directions. 185 for 3 minutes with 2 heaping tsp in 8oz. Both the first steep and the second at 4min30sec just were very watery and flat to me.

I will try to up the water temp and see if that changes anything here and update as needed but for now, it was very watery and lacked flavor.

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 3 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML
Nicole

I’ll try another cup tomorrow and pay attention to how I’m steeping it. I know that I steep higher than 185 and I get more out of it after the cup has cooled a bit before I drink it. But, that said, everyone’s tastebuds are different. :)

mtchyg

Yeah, I thought the recommended 185 seemed a bit low but I always like to try to company’s suggestions first. I’ll revisit it again with a higher temp.

Nicole

My morning cup was 9 grams (about 2 tsp) in 8 ounces cooled 30 seconds from a boil. I did 3 minutes and it was weak. Tried again at 4 and 5. At 5 it was still on the mild side but I took out the infuser and let it cool for about 3 minutes. Then that deeper malt started kicking in. The more the cup cooled the deeper it got but it probably never got strong for me. It’s still a moderate strength tea regardless, but the malt can be more pronounced. Still, looking back at my last tasting note, I wouldn’t have written the same things for this cup. Could be any number of things that made it taste different. /shrug

mtchyg

Interesting. Perhaps it isn’t just me than. That makes me feel a bit better. Thanks for trying and comparing notes with me :) I’ll let you know next time I drink it if I have any more success

Lion

I have only tried doing this tea with gongfu infusions but definitely have not had any problem with it coming off weak. Lots of malt and apricot flavors. In fact it quite surprised my friends last time I shared it because the first infusion, though brief, had some oomph! I brew it at 194F/90C, and tend to do just about any red/black tea that hot other than Darjeelings, which are the only ones I generally drop down to 185F for. As far as Gongfu infusions, it was probably about 4g per 100ml and infused for about 15 sec on the first infusion. I tend to shorten the time for the next couple steepings and then lengthen after that.

mtchyg

Thanks for the brewing tips, Lion! I appreciate the attention to detail and passing it along to me. I’ll have to try it Gongfu and see if I can get anything different out of it

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987 tasting notes

Sipdown!

I took my entire sample — about 6 grams — and brewed it in a small teapot with 85°C water for 1 minute. I could have done it in a gaiwan, but eh, I was lazy.

The brewed tea was dark brown and had a cool undertone to it. It smelled sweet, malty, and slightly sour. Overall, the whole thing reminded me of wet hay.

Down the hatch, I got a similar taste of wet hay, sweet potato, and something sour I couldn’t quite put my finger on. As the tea cooled, a bitter undertone developed underneath. It wasn’t sharp, but I still didn’t like it, because it wasn’t a pleasant bitterness, but one that felt kind of old and reminiscent of plastic.

The second steep, also for 1 minute, was very similar. Unfortunately, I just wasn’t feeling it and had trouble finishing the second steep.

Full review at: http://booksandtea.ca/2016/01/what-cha-nepal-second-flush-golden-tips-black-tea-plus-toronto-tea-festival/

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