Northern Tea Merchants: Yunnan

(Northern Tea Merchants Yunnan in it's own caddy)

Tonight's review is of Northern Tea Merchants rather lovely Yunnan tea which is a Chinese black tea from the Yunnan province.

I have always been partial to Yunnan tea. It's a tea that I've encounted once or twice but never in loose form so earlier this week I excitedly ordered 50g's and waited (not so) patiently for the tea to arrive. Today was my lucky day!

The first thing I did was decant the tea from it's wrapping into a spare tea caddy that I found after sorting out my tea cupboard. I was somewhat surprised at the smokiness of the aroma which is very reminiscent of Lapsang Souchong - a blend regular readers will know I'm not overly keen on.

The second thing I did was fill up the infuser with two good teaspoons of the tea and pop the hot water on top. This tea brews to a rather lovely and attractive copper colour. The aroma after brewing was somewhat smoky but far more delicate that the lapsang that I have tried.

Yunnan tea on tasting is a tea that takes you on a rather special journey.

As I've said before I drink my tea black and I have to say this is perhaps one of the strongest, most forceful tea's I've experienced since I have stopped taking milk. It has serious wow factor and makes a huge impact.

Robust is the prefect word for this tea in every sense of the word. It's really strong and full bodied and it almost knocked me for six - and I loved every single sip of it. I was hugely excited about ordering this tea and now I've tried it I'm just as excited about drinking it. It's probably the most different black tea I've tried.

When I stopped taking milk I thought Assam was a strong blend. Well Northern Tea's Yunnan leaves that in the shade, yet, even though it's smoky and had elements of lapsang to it, it's far more delicate then Lapsang Souchong. 

Yunnan is a well rounded tea. It has nutty elements to it which I really have always loved about this multi-layered blend. And in addition, one almost can taste a citrus twang to it too. It's really hard to describe in words this tea but it has many different elements to it that I'm sure readers would pick up on in different ways.

I'm not a coffee drinker. So Yunnan would be the perfect kick start, get up and go blend for the tea lover. A cup of this in the morning would really get you up and going. It's just fantastic. If I were lucky enough to own a teamade then this is the blend I'd use for my wake up cuppa.

What amazed me about this tea is how long the flavour lingered in your mouth. It was almost like it doesn't want to leave you, but not in a unpleasant way. It's incredibly  moreish too.

I infused this tea three times (I always limit re-infusions to three times!) and it packed a punch for the first two infusions. On the third it was slightly mellower, and the nutty element came out for me even stronger on the third infusion. It was almost a different drink but still extremely pleasant.

So how should you take this tea? Well, for me, as a black tea drinker, it was possibly the strongest tea I've ever tried. If you are not keen on taking tea black or if you are unsure about the strength, I don't think adding a little bit of milk to Yunnan affect's the tea at all. But .. if you like your tea strong and sturdy then it's black all the way for this blend.

Over the next couple of months I'm going to be taking a couple of rather long train journeys. I can honestly say that Yunnan will be my companion (in my Bodum travel mug). It is just the blend to keep you going on the long trip. It's just marvelous.

Since I started drinking tea I was always a bit afraid of strong tea's. But my tastes are changing and I'm grateful for that. For now I can really appreciate Yunnan in all it's perfect glory.

The big question is though, how long will 50g's last? Not very long I suspect!