Tea with the Black Dragon

This tea is from the West China Tea Company tea subscription box  that I got this month. I try to get taste as many teas from my subscription boxes as possible. Sometimes, I can only do it on the weekends! But this one intrigued me, so I put it high on my list.  ...

It's always interesting to compare a tea from two different harvests seasons AND to compare your own tea tastings. I only started keeping a tea tasting journal within the past few years, and my note taking style as changed, as has my tasting of tea. #teafiends As I've learned more about tea, my journal has evolved to catalog slightly different things or to emphasis certain aspects of a tea. This also demonstrates my evolving tastes and what I deem important. Here's a tea tasting of a Wild Tree Purple Varietal Black Tea of Dehong from Yunnan Sourcing --- the Spring 2012 and Spring 2020 harvests.

This tea is part of a large order I put in with Yunnan Sourcing back in September 2019 and received in November. Since it's the American Thanksgiving Holiday this week, I took this week off to get some personal work and tea tasting done! Tea: High Mountain Red Ai Lao Mountain Black Tea Spring 2019 Merchant: Yunnan Sourcing From their website: High mountain tea grow at 2000 meters on Ai Lao Shan in Zhenyuan area of Simao.  Picked and processed only from the first flush of spring this black tea is lightly oxidized and processed similiar to Taiwanese black tea or Wu Yi Rock tea.   There is a still a greenish tinge left to the leaves!  The brewed tea is rich and thick with hints of dried Longan fruit with a protracted mouth feeling! The tea is grown at almost 2000 meters making it one of the highest black teas we offer.  Mr. Guo was born and raised in central Taiwan and his father had a black tea factory there.  Mr Guo, traveled to Thailand and event...

I purchased this tea from Whispering Pines, because, well, I liked the name! It's been sitting in my cupboard for a bit and  I finally got around to tasting this tea. It came in a small 5.5 grams brick.  I broke it in half to try in two sessions. Whispering Pine Notes Toss the leaves into a warm teapot and you'll find aromas of figs, raisins, and hints of cocoa. The wet leaf aroma is very oolong-esque, reminding me a lot of the oolong version of this ( Faerie Pillows )...it's creamy and floral with some maltiness. The mouthfeel is super silky and clean, with a touch of spice and walnut notes. Malt and cream follow with a strong dried papaya note, and the finish brings to mind dark honey. Delicious tea! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - These mini black tea bricks come from the Fujian province of China, and are made with the shui xian (translation: water faerie) varietal of tea. They are triple bagged, first in a paper wrapper, then plastic, and ...