Yet another trip to San Francisco where i spent more time in the Chinatown tea shops than engaging in sightseeing. Maybe I'll see the city on another trip..
Golden Horse was one of the first teas we tasted with Chris, I thought he told us that it was a yellow tea but there was a smoky taste to it that I did not experience with any other yellow tea. For a few days this made me very curious, until a little online research and a lucky reference on a blog pointed me in the right direction.
Golden Horse [China, smoky, black] **** $$$ by Vital Leaf Tea, USA
Small leaves, subtle smoky flavour and an uncharacteristic deep golden/brown colour made me wonder if I had remembered correctly what had been said in the shop. Could this really be a yellow tea? It was so unlike other yellow teas that I had experienced.
First clue that I might be on the wrong track was that the label on my tea said "RED TEA". In China, fully oxidised teas are called Red teas, this is what we usually call black tea in the west*. Certainly the colour of the brew would be more characteristic of an oxidised tea. A googlesearch threw up nothing for the term Golden Horse tea (besides a reference to the Vital Leaf website) but another blog mentioned that it was a shorter version of the full name Golden Horse Eyebrow.
Eureka! Golden Horse is a version of Lapsong Souchong tea, albeit a very drinkable version as the smoky tones are subtle. Well I'll be damned!
Its a tea from WuYi region which explained a certain familiar taste as I drink a lot of the WuYi rock teas. This is a very interesting little tea and worth checking out even if you dont like other Lapsong Souchong tea.
* The chinese reserve the term black tea for Pu'erh, a type of aged fermented tea.
First clue that I might be on the wrong track was that the label on my tea said "RED TEA". In China, fully oxidised teas are called Red teas, this is what we usually call black tea in the west*. Certainly the colour of the brew would be more characteristic of an oxidised tea. A googlesearch threw up nothing for the term Golden Horse tea (besides a reference to the Vital Leaf website) but another blog mentioned that it was a shorter version of the full name Golden Horse Eyebrow.
Eureka! Golden Horse is a version of Lapsong Souchong tea, albeit a very drinkable version as the smoky tones are subtle. Well I'll be damned!
Its a tea from WuYi region which explained a certain familiar taste as I drink a lot of the WuYi rock teas. This is a very interesting little tea and worth checking out even if you dont like other Lapsong Souchong tea.
* The chinese reserve the term black tea for Pu'erh, a type of aged fermented tea.
Similar Teas: Da Hong Pau, Lapsong Souchong
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