Qing Pin Black Tea

Method:
2tsp/10oz
Preboiling
First steep: 1min 30sec
Second steep: 2min 05sec
Third steep: 3min

The first steep tastes of cocoa and malt, along with a grapey fruitiness. There is a nuttiness and a roasted component as well. The body is medium-full with a savory, chewy flavor and texture. The finish is surprisingly clean: it has no particular overwhelming flavor, and there is no flavor or mouth coating left behind. The second steep is very much like the first. There is a light honey sweetness that I couldn’t detect before. It’s brisk and breakfast-y without being astringent or bitter. It vaguely reminds me of a Keemun but without the smoke. There are notes of toasted grain, too. This steep leaves a malty, nutty fruit taste in my mouth after sipping. Third steep has barely any cocoa, but it does have more fruit, more honey, and baked bread flavors. It’s very light compared to the first two steeps. (…it does, however, remind me of light and fluffy buttermilk pancakes. Maybe I’m just craving pancakes.)

(:

Good, but not a keeper. It’s definitely high quality. I kept a small sample in a folded, unsealed pouch for over a year in my cupboard, and it still retained a lot of flavor. I need to stop being so negligent. I bought A LOT of teas when I first started drinking loose leaf, and I haven’t gotten close to drinking them all.

This tea is reminding me a lot of a classic Bailin Gongfu. The flavors are mellow, malty, bready, a little sweet.

This tea lasted far fewer infusions than I’m used to with a red tea. The flavor was enjoyable but not as complex as I’m used to from other high quality reds. I was really impressed by Yezi’s Jin Jun Mei a couple days ago and in comparison to that, this tea is missing the mark for me. There’s nothing wrong with it, but as far as red teas go, I also feel there’s nothing that particularly sets it apart from the crowd. The flavors hang on the woody, roasty, grainy, malty, side of things, and don’t dip down into the darker more fruity or chocolatey tones as much as some of my favorite reds, nor do they rise into the more bright honey sweet and floral tones. At least that is my experience with this sample.

Brilliant stuff!
Aroma of cocoa, and bread.
Taste reminds me of black Dragon pearls, but better!
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a lot more of this to drink up tonight.

Ahhh I am being bad tonight! I have had a horrible weekend physically and haven’t let myself drink any black teas. But I kept craving them all weekend, but it has been especially bad today….So…I had to give in…
But oh…It was worth it.
I have really been wanting to drink more of my Yezi teas lately for some reason. Wanted a bready tea today, and when I was looking back at my tasting notes of the these teas I have, this one was the closest to being a bready tea.
Got a lot of malty, creamy flavors for the most part. A very subtle hint of bread, but more sweet potato flavors than that.
Still a delicious tea. Had a couple cups of that tonight…I really shouldn’t have had any black tea, but…I couldn’t resist. Steeping one more different kind of black tea and then I will have to go back to not drinking them again till I don’t have to be jacked up on pain killers 24/7. I am happy I gave in right now…I’ll just regret it later haha xD

Another Yezi tea (yes, a black tea at 10:30 PM – I’m living on the edge!). I must say, I find the name quite amusing. I can’t look at it without thinking “Kingpin” and then I imagine this tea at the head of some kind of secret black tea crime organization. Epic. The leaves are rather thin and a mix of chocolate brown with some golden tips. Dry scent is quite hay-like with honey sweetness.

Wow, there is a ton of cocoa in the steeped aroma! I can also smell some caramel and these two notes make an interesting contrast with the savory rye and slight smoky element. Hmm, this tea is definitely more savory than it is sweet. There’s strong and thick rye bread paired with a light smoked meats taste. I think I can taste cocoa here but it’s definitely unsweetened cocoa powder as opposed to chocolate. There’s a very light touch of floral at the end, along with a caramelized sugar richness. Overall, it’s quite good.

Ooof, I am getting out of bed late. I was woken up this morning around 4:30 by my noisy steam heater and finally went back to bed for a nap I am just getting up from around 10.

So it’s tea to the rescue, and here is a lovely sample by Yezi. I don’t know how long I steeped this for because I forgot the timer, but I think it was around 3 minutes.

The tea liquor has an aroma of cocoa which is really nice. It has fruity elements, and smoke just like the description says. The smoke isn’t overwhelming but it’s enough to give a slight tobacco flavor to the tea which I am not really loving. It’s also a smooth tea and devoid of astringency but I definitely prefer the ming hong over this. If you’re a fan of keemuns, you might want to try this.

This is a very interesting tea. The first cup was smooth and quite light. It reminded me a bit of Joseph Wesley’s Bai Lin Congfu, only softer. I’m now on my second cup and it seems to have changed its tune a little bit.

The sip starts out rather savory and brisk. It seems to become a little bit sweeter and I detect some mild floral notes in the finish. There is something that lingers in the background that adds strength and astringency. It doesn’t take over, but is quite noticeable. I don’t seem to catch any smokiness which is definitely good news for me. I wish that it could be a little bit more sweet as I think it would make the tea more interesting, but it is still enjoyable.

Overall, I think that I liked the first cup a bit more, but this is a nice tea for the morning or for the afternoon when you need a little boost!

Life has been challenging for me the last six weeks or so, and now just when I thought I was getting back into some sort of normal routine, it reaches out and kicks you back to the ground.
This is a really nice black tea. It’s reacting well to my weird steep parameters at work. It’s exactly what I need this morning. I’ve overleafed it a bit, and that has caused a little bit of bitterness – but in a good way. Makes it a bit stronger, a bit more breakfast blend ish.
I’m just going to take some comfort from some good tea and hope this day passes quickly.

Thank you Sil for the opportunity to try this tea. It is one I was really interested in after Jin Pin inspired me to explore Yezi’s site and try new blacks. Compared to Jin Pin, this is a much more smooth and mild tea. There is only a hint of malt but there is a fair bit of nice bready notes and honey. The sip ends with a touch of astringency but not enough to detract from the drinking experience. I am liking it a lot and I am happy I have more but in the future, I think I would prefer to order more of Jin Pin than get smaller amounts of both.

From the Nanhu Mountains, China
Dry leaves are tiny twisted black brown with a few golden ones mixed in. They have a malty scent.
I brewed this Western style.
Wet leaves smell like baked dark pumpernickel bread.
Liquor is a deep amber red with scents of spring water, malt, and honey.
Flavor is smooth, well balanced with notes of the pumpernickel bread, malt, honey. Very good red tea!! I have enjoyed all the teas I have tried from Yezi Tea.