Golden Bi Luo

This is the first of my sample order from Chicago Tea Garden. How could I resist a black tea that looks yellow and is curled up like snails? It’s a dark, rainy morning, I’ve got the whole day at home ahead of me, and my IngenuiTEA is longing to be broken in. Let’s try a nice malty tea that I can keep infusing all day long.

Thanks to SoccerMom for pointing out the recommended brewing time of 1 minute with boiling water.

The first infusion is a nice orange color. There are light floral notes in the nose; this tea might be a waste if you have a cold. The nose also carries a subtle vanilla, giving the tea a rich and creamy character, balanced by a delicate taste—not at all bitter or astringent. The mouthfeel itself is quite balanced: substantial, but not heavy. Overall, the perfect complement to my wet, dark day.

For the second infusion, I extended the time to 2 minutes. Now the floral wisps have disappeared as a full, malty character emerges. This is a complex and adventuresome tea, and I’m glad that I took the day to explore it. Next time, I’d extend the first infusion to at least 1:30.

The third infusion at another 2 minutes is less spectacular, but no less satisfactory. Everything has quieted down a bit, but the floral malt still lingers.

A good tea, and a good day.

Lightly earthy but mellow. Touch of dry but so mellow you don’t notice it. It has a brightness to it that is unexpected. Call me crazy but there is a bit of fresh snapped green bean taste at the very beginning and end.

The first time I brewed this tea, I was incredibly careful with temperatures, preheating, etc, and it was unlike any tea I’ve ever had. The next time, I didn’t bother as much, and it still came out good, but lacking a lot of the complexity. So this review is for the first time. You’ll want to set aside a good chunk of time to enjoy this tea properly. I think ‘scrumptious’ gets at the whole experience the best.

1st infusion (75 sec): Tasty, creamy, vanilla and malt notes, but not overpoweringly malty like many black teas can be. It reminds me a bit of sweet potato baked with marshmellows, but more savory. Incredibly smooth mouthfeel, even though it’s paradoxically a bit astringent.

2nd infusion (2 min): Slightly sweeter than the 1st, otherwise the same.

3rd infusion (3 min): Oops, may have oversteeped. This infusion is too astringent. It’s starting to get weak.

4th infusion (lost track; 3-5 min): Distinctly reminds me of gyokuro for some reason, but with mellow and savory substituted for grassy.

12 oz water
4 g tea

dark amber steep in color. The aroma is sweet. The flavor does have a bit of malt, but overall i’m not getting a real strong overwhelming flavor out of the tea. Not bitter.

Prepared with the recommended short steeps—1 min., 1 min., 1.5 min., 1.5 min., etc. Very fresh, creamy, definite sweet, vanilla notes. About the 3rd steep, a toasty nuttiness emerges. Tea remains smooth throughout—a very good anytime cup.

A little disapointing. Flavor was mild. Slightly sweet. Didn’t detect the vanilla notes. As the tea cooled, more flavor became apparent, but still very mild.

Really nice, spicy black tea, beautiful in dry leaf form.

Happy Thanksgiving to those in the US!

I have started my morning in a depressing fashion. The BF is being a particular pain today. He doesn’t work, so he had all week to take the kids (who were out of school) shopping for food for us to make for Thanksgiving. But he refused to buy the Turkey without me. So now he wants me to spend one of my few mornings off on his timetable which isn’t setting well with me.

Here I am writing tea notes, so guess who is winning?

Chicago Tea Garden is, I believe, defunct. I have a few tins of tea from them that I’ve never opened, this being one. I love the way the tea looks. Little golden ampersands. Snails, whatever curly thing you want to call them. They have a mild, bready smell in the tin.

The tin, BTW, was only half full when I removed the seal. It looks like it would contain 4 oz tea, but it only had half of that. Strange.

Anyway, this has the standard malty, brown sugary, slightly peppery aroma. A little sweet potato, a little molasses, maybe even a bit of cocoa/mocha. And that’s what I get in the flavor, too. The tea is medium brown orange and clear.

It’s not the best Yunnan ever, but it is Yunnan. And Yunnan is my favorite.

This tea was extraordinary. I’ve not been able to find a Golden Bi Luo that compares in taste, freshness, and price.

I usually have fruit for breakfast but this morning I have gone all out and made a good veggie style English breakfast. Two veggie sausages, baked beans, fried chestnut mushrooms, two fried eggs and some toast to mop up the food explosion that is on my plate. Not healthy but it will keep me going until dinner time and with something substantial in my stomach I am free to taste teas for the rest of the day without getting tea belly.

This sample of Golden Bi Luo Chun has been sat with me for just over a year and I don’t know why I was worried about sampling it before, or perhaps I forgot about it. Anyone’s guess is as good as my own. Either way an English breakfast is never complete without a cup of black tea.

The tea balls were nice and reflective and golden but they were also very small, I’ve had larger versions of this before elsewhere. I brewed this while I was cooking so I had a mixture of smells (my bad) but I could pick up silky malt tones.

I love my personaliTEA teapot from Adagio, it’s perfect size for 2 mugs of tea and comes in handy when I have days off.

Once steeped a dark brown liquid is produced that bares a sweet malt and chocolate scent that is light and silky. Very nice.

Flavour is mild but matches the scent very much ie soft, sweet, silky, malt, chocolate tones. Also a little smoky though it’s very subtle and hints of wood. After a few sips I can also taste a mature raisin or plum fruit.

This tea is wonderful and I’m sorry for keeping it on my shelf for so long. It makes the perfect start to my day.