Yunnan Gold 2011

Name; Yunnan Gold 2011
Type; Black, China, Yunnan.  Yunnan Pure Gold (金芽滇紅)
Price; £ 8.00 for 50 grams from Jing.

http://jingtea.com/tea/type/black/yunnan-gold

Yunnan Dian Hong Cha

“Appearance: Long, olive-gold twists dappled with orange
Infusion: Bright yellow-brown with mustard-green rim
Aroma: Sweet, graceful golden straw and meadowsweet notes with a little haunting dried mushroom and spice

Taste: Dark, rich, tangy and deep, with lots of tapered liquorice spice notes to lend the rich fruit gravity. Some gentle tannic grip provides textural brightness and bite”

Review; Last week we went for the silver, this week it’s time to go for the gold.  Another tea from Jing, Yunnan Gold is also often called Yunnan Pure Gold.  Fine tips that are picked not necessarily in spring, processed in a delicate manner to give it just the right level of oxidation.

Yunnan produces a wide array of teas.  Claimed by the team at Camellia Sinensis to be the birthplace of tea (which there is no scientific data to support that claim), Yunnan is home to Pu-Erh teas.  Teas that will remain mostly un-touched in this blog.  (There are many wonderful Pu-Erh websites, this one is the best http://half-dipper.blogspot.co.uk/).  Yunnan also produces green and white teas, but these teas while nice are in much less demand from this distinct province.

And once again Jing has succeeded.  When I first opened the bag it smelled of candied apples.  That sickly sweet caramel aroma, with hints of apple or other fruit. As it brewed in the pot you get that traditional spicy-sweet aroma.  And now as I drink the cup I am in heaven.

Yunnan black teas to me are characterised by a lovely “barn-yard “ aroma, a clean barn yard.  The smell of a freshly brushed horse; musky, and sweet, and hints of hay and grass in the aroma too.  Due to the high number of tips in this tea, or at least following a level of logic, there is little bitterness or astringency to this tea, though a slight kick at the end.  Full-bodied and full flavoured in the mouth, the tips that are present in this black tea make it truly wonderful.

I did not taste any liquorice, or notice a mustard-green rim to my cup.  What is olive-gold?  Can we stick to colours that are actual colours please? Otherwise it just comes off arrogant. (Pot calling kettle black, yes I know…) Congratulations Jing, you pass the test again. (Though you could do with lowering your prices a little.)

-Tea Fan