Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Stone Leaf Teahouse
Tea Description:
Jinggu, Spring 2011
Smooth, velvety, nutty
The most delicate combined with the robust; a skilled harvest of just the tips of the tea plant, exposed to the outside world for one day, then processed as black tea. Features characteristic earthy tones of Dian Hong, yet yields an incredibly soft, sweet cup. Notes of grape, slight pepper, and olive.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This Yunnan Golden Strand Spring 2011 from Stone Leaf Teahouse has the sweetest bready flavor. It reminds me of raisin bread, or fig cake. There is even a yeasty quality to the sip that makes it even more like a true gourmet baked good.
While it is sweet, very sweet, there is something interesting about this tea that brings it toward a savory note as well. I do get the olive note that is mentioned in the description, and just a light taste of black pepper, which is very nice, but I also taste bulgar wheat, and milo.
The mouthfeel of this tea is heavy but not thick. It fills the mouth and has a near creamy feel, but with all the sweetness it finds a way not to become syrupy. It has a clear finish.
The leaf itself is beautiful, one of the lightest colored Golden Strand teas I have encountered.
Other notes worthy of mention are caramel, cocoa, fruit, hay, cane sugar, indeed it is a strange brew, but quite delicious.
Stone Leaf Teahouse never fails to provide tea of the highest quality.