Thé de printemps fil d'or

I lived in Taiwan in the late 1950’s. My dad was USArmy. My mother always drank tea so she loved all the oolong varieties. My brother and I learned to drink our iced tea brewed with a local black tea. No sugar was needed. I loved to go to the tea shop with our Amah. This has superior flavor with a beautiful color. No sweetener is needed. And oh the aroma! This is a wonderful black tea. Measure it by weight or use a pinch . You need a small pinch with one finger and thumb for a cup and one large loose pinch with thumb and three fingers for One L. Or one Quqrt.

I purchased it at the same time I also got a Yunnan Dian Hong from another company, and at first was less impressed with this Yunnan Golden Special. This in part was due to my looking for a particular variety of so-called "red" tea that I could never seem to find in the U.S.. But the more I have tried this Golden Special (and the more favorable comments I have heard from friends I have served it to), the more I like it! I find many Yunnan teas (especially featuring "golden buds") can have a distinctive malty, even slightly sour aftertaste. However, this tea (to my taste) has a wonderful balance of sweetness and smoothness that makes me want to drink more than I should. (And this is even more the case when you add a bit of honey.. :-) Great stuff and I'd recommend it to any lover of Chinese black teas.

Flavors are chocolatey and malty, very subtle and fragrant. I wouldn't touch it with milk or sugar, all of the flavor would be completely lost. There's no astringency or bitterness, and next to no tannins.

Well packaged, nary a broken leaf in the bag. Leaves are large and beautifully rolled with lots of golden tips.

I find 2.5-3 grams of tea per 8 oz water is perfect, so 8 grams of tea in my 24oz teapot is perfect.

Butter flavor very prominent in 1st steep. Added a bit of maple syrup which cut the butter some. 2nd and 3rd steeps butter note was much restrained and tea very pleasant. An interesting tea that will take some experimenting.

Surprisingly sweet and full.