Organic Golden Yunnan Black Tea

This is a fairly light bodied, moderately flavorful, slightly tippy Yunnan tea. I've been drinking Yunnan teas for twenty years or more and usually order direct from a shop in Yunnan, China. Compared to other teas from this area I've had, it has an unusual leaf style. It is definitely not an "old tree tea" Assamica like one reviewer said. Such teas have much larger, thicker leaves than this one. The leaves are a bit more broken than I'm used to. They are larger than early "spring tips" style but smaller than most later plucking styles. Not a great deal of malt on the initial tasting, but it then blooms and lingers in the back the throat for a long time after swallowing. It's a pleasant tea but lacks a great deal of the bold, chocolatey, malty taste that the best Yunnan's have IMO. Yunnan teas of best quality have become very expensive at most USA retailers and this one is very fairly priced all things considered.

This is a really good black tea. Flavorful and bold but not bitter at all - a great breakfast tea.

I really like this tea, it reminds me of a "red tea" a student brought me from China some years ago. I often brew it for 45-60 seconds rather than the longer suggested time, but it is nice either way.

It's a solid black tea. I think it's somewhat generic in terms of flavors but stands out for being well balanced and smooth, which deserves an above average score. I'd certainly never turn down a cup. It's a safe play, a good all rounder.

Rich flavors of rose petals along with a malty sweetness. I like it brewed extra strong with nothing added. Very substantial tea.

Excellent tea with subtle flavors. Both the tea leaves and the liquor are beautiful.

This tea is very aesthetically pleasing in leaf form, with a mixture of gold and deep burgundy leaves, which make a fragrant, slightly malty, full-bodies tea, with a complex, but smooth, flavor. It goes well with milk, but I typically prefer my teas without, and this is no exception. I bought in bulk, and I will be drinking this daily for the next few months.

I like to stock a variety of black teas but this is probably the one I drink most often. Nice, full-bodied flavor. It also has a better second infusion (with some extra time) than most other blacks.

I am not a connoisseur of tea but a lifetime tea lover. Black tea. While I have sampled many Yunnan teas from far and wide, this is my very favorite as is the staff who never fail to send a personal note. I love many of their teas but always go back to the Yunnan which is perfect with a touch of cream!

Don't get me wrong, I simply adore 99.99% of Arbor Teas. However this is not my favorite Yunnan because of the hint of smokiness. Just me, but I don't care for even a teeny bit of smokey flavor. Two Hills brand (I purchase at my local health food store) is my preferred favorite Yunnan to date. With no smoke flavor at all.

This tea is wondrous! Very bright but yet so so smooth!

I am quite discriminating when it comes to my teas, due to my background in gong fu, taiji, and Taoist medicine. I must say this is undoubtedly a quality tea, and quite affordable at it's price. With a complexity in its aroma and malty taste, one can tell this tea comes from ancient trees with a maturity only nature can match. If brewed strongly, it always comes out to a pleasant almost ruby red color, as it should. Instantly warming to the stomach and veins. Several layers of flavor. I am brewing the meanest kombucha SCOBY I have ever seen with a batch of this tea and a bottle of High Country Kombucha original flavor. I anticipate the highest quality homebrew kombucha I have ever made. The SCOBY looks like the Wilt Chamberlain of SCOBYs. It also brews a good tea wine as well. Try mixing 5/8 Wuyi Oolong and 3/8 Yunnan Black. Also, this tea is great for circulatory effects, especially in the winter if one has cardiovascular issues or trouble staying warm. This is my go-to tea during the cold months, and surprisingly my preference for gong fu tea ceremony despite the fact it is not an oolong. Also my go-to tea if I'm having any oral issues or bit my mouth recently. Seems to especially promote oral health. One of my 3 all-time favorite teas. Buy this. It will make your Qi strong and your Shen bright. It tastes like dessert.

This is a rich, dark, strong black tea. It reminds me of vaguely of Irish breakfast tea. Overall, I'm quite pleased with this cup. It blows Lipton's black tea out of the water.

I agree with Benjamin Hartwick's earlier review: this tea has a delicious flavor that I love, but it tastes sort of watered down even when brewing with extra tea.

This tea is so nice, it is silky and well rounded without the bitter or astringent after taste that some black teas have.

This is one tea I was not excited about and I won't be ordering more. It is an okay black tea, but it nothing I look forward to drinking. I think I prefer stronger brews, my favorite black tea is Irish Breakfast (which is often too strong for some people) and I am really enjoying the Earl Grey as well.

From the first time I tried this tea, it had perplexed me in two ways, one that captivates me and one that leaves me unfulfilled. The captivation begins for me upon simply smelling this tea before it is brewed. I have never smelled a tea as alluring as this. Others come close but don’t match it. I won’t even try to construct an effective string of adjectives to accurately describe it because that would be tricky. I might even have to resort to poetry. I’ll just say sweet but not floral. The captivation for me continues upon smelling the brewed tea and then continues even further upon taking the first sip, and the captivation centers around something beyond flavor. It centers around texture, and I don’t mean hot and wet. I mean actual tactile texture in the conventional sense of the word. It’s as if this tea is some kind of velvet in the mouth. It’s strange and enchanting, but a few sips into a cup of this is when the a sense of being unfulfilled emerges for me. I want more intensity. Whatever it is that gives this tea its strange and enchanting flavor, I want more of it, a higher concentration of it. I want it to be the same, I want it just as it is, but I want greater amplitude. The obvious solution is to brew it stronger with more tea (not brew it longer). I first brewed it with 1-1/4 teaspoons per cup. It was better but not good enough. Then I did 1-1/2 teaspoons per cup, and the flavor seemed to cross a threshold and began to become discordant. Finally I dropped back to 1-1/4 teaspoons per cup, and I guess I will just have to learn to live with it like that. The flavor (and smell) of this tea are so unique that I will continue to order it, but I still wish there were a way to tweak the plant, reengineer it in a benevolent way to amp up whatever its secret ingredient is. If that could be done, I would give this tea more than 5 leaves, but until then I can only give it 4.

First off, this is not a bad tea by any means. Maybe my tastes are just different from the rest of the reviewers on here, but I found this tea to be pleasant, yet nothing out of the ordinary. Like all the Fair Trade/Organic teas I've tried from Arbor in the last month, it tastes good. But I didn't find it to be all that special. It sort of just tastes like black tea. If that is what you're after, this is a great tea for you. Personally, I'll be ordering more Organic Lychee!

I've always wanted to drink strong black tea in the morning, but have been put off by the astringency of typical English Breakfast teas, although I heartily enjoy them. I decided to try a "higher" grade of loose-leaf tea and, already enjoying Chinese green and oolong teas, gave Golden Yunnan a try. Now it's quite simply my favorite black tea. It's a bit more money-per-cup than some of the other offerings, but its taste is worth it! Slightly earthy, can be brewed to be strong, but will not easily become astringent. I bought the giant package, and will continue to keep it in my tea drawer!

Used to be a coffee drinker. Now, I start every morning with this tea with a little milk. Smooth, very tasty, and aromatic.

My favorite yunnan black that I have tried to date. I would like to confirm the aroma, flavors and mouth feel described below. This leaf will remain in my cabinet as long as it is available

This is a great, full-bodied black tea that definitely wakes me up in the morning. It has a sort of creamy aftertaste to it, even without any added milk. This may become my everyday morning tea - yum!

The dry leaf darkest brown. With the eponymous golden strands flecked throughout. In hand, it does feel like a treasure. The aroma gives up some pleasant leather and smoke. Not scary smoke. Hint of smoke. The liquor brews dark, dark red-brown. This tea possesses an exquisite mouth-feel. So much body, so much briskness, has never been so smooth.

The thought of this tea / waiting for me / in my dandy Arbor Teas canister / helps me get out / of my bed when I should / though I still don’t slide down the banister.

Arbor Teas golden yunnan is my go-to black tea. It has a delicious rich, malty flavor but the highlight to me is the mouthfeel. Even when taken black this tea is so creamy and smooth that it's hard to believe there's not some milk in there. I don't know how they do it. I love a cup of this tea first thing in the morning.

My favorite black tea. It has a full flavor (oakey/spicy) with a bit of a soft feel in the mouth. Pleasant, very faintly honey-like aftertaste. I can sense a touch of cinammon in the aroma. Great overall experience in other words.

This is the best so far I've tried. It is really worth the price. It has the most flavor with no problems. If you want to see what black tea is all about this is it! Worth the extra dollars over the less expensive black teas which are all good. So good that no sweetener is needed.

This is one of our favorite teas ever! Love the copper color and buttery finish of this tea! Highly recommended!

This is my daily tea. It is malty and deep yet not overpowering. It is also a tea that everyone who visits seems to like.