black needle yunnan black tea

type: black

origin: china

region: yunnan

variety: yunnan

caffeine: strong

price level: $$$$

Our Black Needle Yunnan is composed of a leaf and a bud from the large varietal (dayeh) of a tea bush. The slender leaves are large and intact with long tips that yield a creamy and malty, sweet-liquoring tea with almost no bite. This is a lush, full-flavored tea with incredible depth of flavor and subtle nuance. It's smooth, rich, mouth-filling and brews a deep honey color in the cup. Yunnan Province is located on the southwest frontiers of China, where the land features rough terrain dotted with cloud-veiled mountains and crisscrossed with meandering rivers. It is the homeland of tea trees and often regarded as the birthplace of tea; the world's oldest tea bushes are here, some dating back hundreds of years. Yunnan black tea is like no other. Chinese black teas are smoother, sweeter, less dry and less astringent than black teas from other sources, but Yunnan blacks (also known as dian hong) are especially delicious. These are made from buds and/or leaf plucked from older tea bushes rather than from new tea gardens. These teas are instantly recognizable because they are either bud-only or consist of lovely, long and slightly twisted russet-brown leaves with an abundance of golden buds. Yunnan blacks are specifically referred to as "the mochas of teas" due to their creamy, lush flavor and delightful orchid-like aroma.