ZY07: Season's Pick Yunnan Black Snail

Mmm, thanks very much to Oolong Owl for sending me a small sample of this.

I’m sipping it right now and the taste is malty, sweet, and complex. The brewed tea smells similarly spicy and chocolaty. In fact, it smells like chocolate-covered raisins! Now I’m craving Glossettes candy, but this will do in a pinch.

I think I’ll add this to my wishlist.

Edit: I just checked the Upton Tea Imports website and found that shipping to Canada starts at $13.60. Yikes. I may not restock this after all. Steepster-folk, do any of you have any suggestions for anything from Yunnan Sourcing that may have a similar flavour profile? Spice, chocolate-covered raisins?

I have been more than pleasantly surprised by this tea. My wife and I are in the process of paying off all of our debt, and part of that means that I have had to cut back my monthly tea budget. Two months ago I was looking for the best quality tea I could get for the lowest price and stumbled across this in the “Seasons Pick” section at Upton. I am huge fan of Yunnan teas and so I went out on a limb and bought an entire kilo of this stuff without having ever tried it. I was a little terrified.

This has turned out to be one of the most enjoyable teas for daily drinking that I have had in a long time. It doesn’t have the same complexity as some of the nicer Yunnans that I have tried, but then I knew ahead of time that it wouldn’t. It did, however, surprise me with a depth and richness that I have fallen in love with. It is not at all bitter, but has the boldness I need out of a morning cup of tea. As I said, I have had one or more pots of this for two months now and have yet to tire of it. I am going to miss it here in a week or so when I run out.

I had this a few years ago, revisiting it with a new batch:
Scents: molasses, fig cookies, chocolate, hot spring mineral water
Taste: Similar to scents. I think the old batch had more toasty/roasty notes and this is a bit more earthy/mineral like? It might be slightly milder than last time too. Still a solid tea at a decent price worth keeping stocked in my cabinet.