Reading the Tea Leaves

There are Silver Pearls and Silver Needles to be found in teas, and as these Jasmine and White teas become better known, “silver” attached to tea has entered common parlance.  The grey-silver sheen of certain types of teas comes from the fine, downy hairs of unopened buds.  Silvery sproutings contrast against darker leaves in some teas or they make comprise the entire tea; in either instance, this whitish luster is an easy-to-recognize marker of tippy quality.

Golden tips in fully oxidized teas also make for an elegant, dramatic contrast against darker, black leaves, and this feature is sometimes the basis for a tea’s name, such as Golden Monkey Black.

A lavish Black tea, full of golden buds

Of late, I have noticed a clamor for such teas.  Years ago, a gold-tipped Yunnan Black was always a steady seller among a select number of knowledgeable customers, but now there is growing, serious interest in and demand for teas with ever increasing proportion of gold to black leaves in the tea.  Suppliers clearly see this and are sending samples that reflect this trend.   This group of five, for instance,  is from a selection that arrived last week.

Yunnan has been more prominent in the news this season because of the drought that continues in southwestern China, so it is especially heartening to receive these beautiful and well crafted teas.

The tea I show here is intriguing at first glance: here is a Black tea that is virtually all coppery and golden in its hues.

King of Gold Sprouting (Black) tea

I have seen such teas before and while there were some loyal customers, the volume was never significant (given that the supply is limited in any case), but more importantly, I felt the flavor was not commensurate with the visual element, and the taste did not meet the expectations the price would have inspired.  Here, however, was a new batch to try.

This King of Gold Sproutings tea was surprising in the lightness of its leaves.  They certainly look hefty enough (2-3cm), but pick up a few dry leaves, and your fingers tell you feathers instead of tea leaves.  With this color in dry from, one would predict many budsets and this expectation is met amply:  robust, beautifully formed budsets tell of expert, precise plucking and good sorting afterward as well.

Wet leaves still showing a coppery hue

Here is a closer look:

Such budsets are rarely seen in Black teas.

Buds and tips yield more delicate brews, and indeed, the cup is a light apricot-orange, thinner in body than one normally associated with Yunnan Black teas.

Tippy buds produce a light colored cup.

The familiar Yunnan type aroma was fine and could be tasted in the mouth, finishing smooth with no trace of astringency.  The absence of any astringency was note-worthy since all the leaves turned out to be budsets.

The next pair of golden hued Black teas are made in a style I’ve being seeing more often in the last two years.  The names are usually variations on a theme of something gold and spiral-y.

Fine tips crafted into a rolled finished form.

Quite expensive, like the first tea above, these also engage one’s visual sense immediately.  The leaves are not only quite fine (i.e., tippy) but have been hand crafted (when the leaves are still warm and pliant) into fairly uniform curlicue shapes, with the gold much in evidence.

The pair of Gold Spiral teas: the tippier one is on the left.

These little (0.5 cm) squiggles are wispy and almost thread-like in the better grade, which also contains a larger proportion of gold tips.  This first in the pair is about 33% costlier than the second, but this “lesser” tea is nothing to scoff at.

A closer look

It looks more modest — slightly thicker leaves and more black in the mix — only when placed alongside its more select counterpart.

From the 1st Gold Spiral Black

The light orange color in the cups remind of me high-grown, tippy Ceylon Blacks, beautiful self-drinking (no sugar or anything else need be added) teas, light in body, sweet and lively.  These teas share an uplifting brightness, a light sparkling zing that speaks of high altitudes and leaves high on the bush.  These are not the dense, bold, full-bodied Black teas one usually associates with Yunnan.    The first in this pair imparts an astringent note, which is not surprising given the generous amount of gold (tips) but compensates with more fragrance.  The second is a little richer in flavor, and a tad sweeter, displaying more of the characteristic features of Yunnan Blacks.

From the 2nd of the Gold Spiral teas

The final pair are both Gold Tip Yunnan teas (“A & B”), of a quality higher than the standard Yunnan Black one usually finds at a tea shop.  Standard Yunnan Blacks give solid value; they are consistent in giving mellow, full flavors with a sweet, round finish, marked by a distinctive and immediate aroma that soon becomes familiar and comfortable.  In these grades – that usually sell for under $15/lb – there might be some gold flecks in the leaves, especially if the tea is a good quality FOP, but the two here are named for a greater show of golden buds.

Here is Gold Tip Black, tea "A"

To place these in some cost context, the first Gold Tip tea shown here is about 1/3 the price of the King of Golden Sproutings.  This might be a good place to look at the two together.

Here on the left is the King of Gold Sproutings, and the Gold Tip "A" is on the right.

I prepared and tasted this group of five together, and so could not help but form expectations as the teas were being laid out.   At the same time that I was aware of  my preconceived notions, I also had a hunch that I might be proven wrong in my premature judgments.

Choosing between the two Gold Spiral teas was difficult; the heartier sweetness of the second, and of course, its more welcoming price, were in its favor.  The first tea had the advantage of a lively charm in aroma and taste, not to mention its obvious visual superiority, and yet I felt if one did not have the two side by side for comparison, the second would stand out well enough on its own.

From Gold Tip tea "A"

Note how the budsets aren’t so evident in these teas:

The brew is tasty but the leaves are more prosaic.

Back to the first tea and the Gold tip here: take away the dry teas and if there were only the two cups, the decision would come more quickly.

This is Gold Tip tea "B"; the photo is dark but this tea holds more golden tips than tea "A" and yet is less costly, which seems puzzling at first.

The far less expensive Gold Tip was sweet, exemplifying the unique character of Yunnan Blacks.   There was no need here to sip slowly, to roll the liquid in the mouth, to concentrate on the finish to collect all the attributes of a fine Yunnan Black.  With the more expensive, and unarguably, the prettier tea, it was as if I had to look for reasons to justify its expense; I kept tasting to see if I could pick up something I missed in previous sips, hoping to find some remarkable flavor note that would reveal the basis for its higher price, in flavor — its visual appeal was obvious from the moment the packet was opened.

As for my preconceptions, there was yet another unexpected discovery when the teas were brewed:  the second of the Gold Tip teas – the cheapest in the group – showed more gold in the dry form than its counterpart, which was about 20% higher in price, and yet this Gold Tip #2 brewed up darker.

Gold Tip "A" on the left and "B" (with more gold in the dry form) on the right.

This makes it a good buy for those who prefer a bolder, denser Yunnan Black, with deep amber color in the cup.  Lighter in the cup, Gold Tip #1 had more finesse and elegance to it; this was a mugful to savor when one has a few minutes to really savor each sip, not when one is on the go and wanting satisfying flavor that develops quickly.  Not as full tasting as #2, the first Gold Tip seemed a more refined version of classic, bold Yunnan Blacks.

As it happened, two or three days before tasting these five teas, I was speaking to a tea shop owner who was asking for a Yunnan Black with many, many gold sproutings — of the thick, robust type shown in the first tea photo.  She was well aware of the priciness of such teas and when I remarked that there are cheaper teas that taste better, she commented that well, that’s what her customer had asked for.  I imagine her customer would readily agree that there were heartier, fuller flavored Yunnan Blacks, but even I could not argue with her preference for the visual element, so striking in this tea.  Yes, the flavor is more subdued, in fact quite subtle for a Yunnan Black, but I wrote recently about the visual pleasure derived from certain teas, and here is an instance of someone who values this in the teas she drinks.  There aren’t many showy Black teas like the ones described here, and easily marketable monikers such as Silver Pearls haven’t really come into play yet for Black teas with these lavish gold tips.  But clever names aside, there are rewarding Black teas to be discovered.

This group consitutes a level beyond the standard Yunnan Blacks. For myself, in terms of drinking enjoyment, I would not select the first tea described in this post. I thought the first Gold Spiral better, more fragrant more pungent than that more expensive tea and also better than the other Gold Spiral, but a colleague thought the second Gold Spiral rounder, smoother, and displaying more sweetness.  The last tea in the series is undeniably better than most standards but for 20% more, one could enjoy a more interesting tea — one that engages the drinker in a novel way.
The familiar Yunnan character is there, but this Gold Tip tea (and as costly as the three before it) inspires some further thinking about leaves — how they attain their final form and color, and ultimately, of course, their taste, and how all these components come together in such myriad ways where tea is concerned.