The first #tea I ordered was the last to arrive. The two I ordered on a whim came within 48 hours. This took over a week.

But it was worth the wait.

This is a : #滇红茶 (#Dianhong Tea). More specifically a : #金丝滇红茶 (Gold Thread Dianhong Tea). Even more specifically it's a #金丝滇红茶云南凤庆野生古树 which is to say an uncultivated old growth tea from #Fengqing #Yunnan.

This is a late-season harvest (December, 2023) so this is not tippy and has no buds. But frankly, it doesn't matter. Even the late-season harvests of this tea are better than a lot of first/second-flush teas from elsewhere.

The aroma is flowery with a hint of tannin. The flavour is sweet with just an undercurrent of walnut on the first brew with an aftertaste that lingers lovingly forever. And it is an endless tea. That serving you see here is on its fifth brew as I type and it's as rich and complex (albeit slightly different on each brew) as it was on the first brew.

There's a reason why this is my favourite black tea of those that are available to me. (If I could get a TGFOP1 Assam here that would slightly edge out this one.)

@[email protected]

(As before, Mastodon users will have to click through to see all five photos.)

Another day, another #tea.

I'm running out of my #庐山云雾茶 (#Lushan #CloudAndMist" tea, a green) at home and decided that for my once-in-a-blue-moon occasion I'd pick up my favourite black: #金丝滇红茶 (golden thread #Dianhong tea). (More specifically it's a 金丝滇红茶云南凤庆野生古树 which is a mouthful translating very roughly to "golden thread #Fengqing #Yunnan old growth uncultivated Dianhong tea".)

This is not that tea.

This is a tea I've heard of before, but never tried, so I picked up 250g of it on a whim as it crossed my screen while searching for the other. This is a #金骏眉红茶 (#JinJunMei black tea, where the name really translates to "golden excellent steed eyebrow" so, you know, it's just a name.) It was being sold at loss leader prices because it's a 2023 tea and the 2024 teas will be coming soon enough that some places are trying to get rid of stock.

This is a very nice tea. Like, almost as nice as my beloved golden thread Dianhong. It's very floral in its bouquet, is very sweet even with only a minuscule wash, and has an aftertaste that I swear reminds me of banana on the greener end that lasts FOREVER¹.

The deep colour of the liquor is also really nice (the photos don't do it justice: in person it's the *perfect* black tea liquor colour!).

Needless to say that this tea is now in my rotation.

@[email protected]

(Note: Mastodon users will have to click through to see all five pictures since by default it will only show four.)
---

¹ OK, not forever, but it's still there a good 45 minutes after I finished the last sip of this batch, and only now beginning to fade.