I was thinking of having a Yezi tea this morning.. or should I say I was thinking specifically of the flavor of a Chinese black (or red) tea? No, I knew Yezi wouldn’t fail me. I’ve been holding onto this one from the Butiki traveling teabox so I thought I’d try this one. The Yezi black teas I’ve tried seem to be variations on a theme when it comes to flavor… especially if you happen to be able to steep them with exactly the same parameters. Yezi suggests a teaspoon for each three ounces of water, so I steeped the entire sample: three not-entirely-full teaspoons. The black and golden leaves have exactly the flavor I was looking for: not quite chocolate, not quite sweet potato (it’s a nice middle ground that only Yunnan seems to have), with something in the flavor that reminds me of wine. There is something about teas like this one that it seems like I’m actually chewing food – very rich and satisfying. Three amazing steeps with this one. Perfect every time. It’s hard to tell which Yezi red/black tea is the best, but I’d sure love to try them all to find out.
Steep #1 // 3 tsps for 12 ounce mug // 10 min after boiling // 2 1/2 min steep
Steep #2 // 5 min after boiling // 3 1/2 min
Steep #3 // just boiled // 4 min
This is You :-D
Profile
Bio
Hi! I love tea and trying new ones – it adds a bit of variety to my day! Books, music, TV & movies are my thing… and tea, of course.
Some of my favorite tea shops (still operating):
birdandblendtea.com
teavivre.com
52teas.com
svtea.com
teakruthi.com
harney.com
angrytearoom.com
Dammann Freres
Yunnan Sourcing
fusionteas.com
AprTea.com
Javateaco.com
Lupicia
Plumdeluxe.com
Octaviatea.com
Davidstea
eco-cha.com
what-cha.com
justea.com
singleoriginteas.com
teasenz.com
tealyra.com
whisperingpinestea.com
Mandala
verdanttea.com
thenecessiteas.com
Favorite tea shops (RIP):
butikiteas.com
steapshoppe.com
steepcityteas.com
aquartertotea.com
dellaterrateas.com
zentealife.com
theteamerchant.net
joysteaspoon.com
tealiciousllc.com
Rivertea
Specialteas
My icon photo is Richard Mayhew from the graphic novel ‘Neverwhere’ by Neil Gaiman, Mike Carey & Glenn Fabry.
Most of the teas listed in my cupboard are actually sample sizes. I don’t really have 2,000 ounces of tea around here! Many of my teas have only one teaspoon left… maybe two. But I like keeping them in my cupboard list for reference to what I could be sipping. Usually, I write tasting notes once for each tea. I’m still drinking them, just not writing tasting notes each time!
My dislikes: hibiscus, ginger (unless in chai), turmeric, bee pollen, charcoal type flavors
My ratings:
95-100 – Super awesome deliciousness favorites – cupboard essential
80-95 – Also pretty delicious
65-80 – Pretty good
50-65 – Okay
1-50 – Probably won’t want to sip it again
I’m planning on being a Steepsterer as long as there IS a Steepster, so if you’re not hearing from me, that means something happened to my health… if you know what I mean. (Or as evidenced by the great computer hiatus of 2019, something happened to my computer.) :D
Happy sipping!
Location
USA
I just recently tried all of them (not at the same time, that would be epic) and I think Jin Jun Mei might be my favorite? I have enjoyed all of them immensely.