Spring 2025 Yingpan Shan Black

Couldn't decide if I wanted to rate this 3/5 or 4/5, so it gets 4 as 3.5/5 rounds up. I wouldn't write home about it, but it's a nice pleasant black tea. Reminds me more of an autumn Darjeeling than a Dian Hong for one reason or another-- do they grow a small-leaf varietal in Yingpan, maybe? The taste leans more towards wood and nuts than the malt and tobacco I was expecting, with some nut and stonefruit notes. The aroma, while not really spectacular, is pleasantly sweet and fragrant with a clear indication of sweet brown spice. Body is really only good for a black tea like the description says; not bad, but sheng or oolong it isn't. Endurance is surprisingly decent, or maybe it's just that the steeped-out leaf taste here is nice enough to trick my uncritical mind. Has been a good mealtime and work-thermos tea since I got it.

Solid daily black. Definitely good for the price. Not any one thing that I can point to as particularly fancy or exciting, but this tea certainly isn't bad either. I can really taste some "spice" notes (in the sense of spices, not spicy) that's pretty distinctive. Glad I ordered this, but I may be more adventurous next time.