Black Snake 2025 Spring Yiwu Sun Dried Black Tea
Price range: $4.00 through $108.00
- Description
- About the Land
- Additional information
- Reviews (3)
Description
Using the same left-to-grow material as our annual Year of the Snake Yiwu raw puer, this tea leans towards a floral fragrance, layered over a sugary sweetness. This year’s pressing continutes to serve as a solid daily drinking black tea.
Similar to its puer counterpart, this tea demonstrates the difference a good environment and well-tended (or rather untended) land can make in terms of the final product.
Pick up both the raw puer and white tea versions in order to compare the same material with different processing.
$0.12/gram
As we highlight each year, a big draw with this tea is the quality of material used. The trees were planted by this farmer’s family over 45 years ago, at which point plantation style terraces were more common. However, since the 2000s, these trees have been converted to fangyang (放养, or “left to grow”). This means no pesticides, weed killer, pruning, fertilizers or over-picking.
While this style of farming isn’t ideal for producing maximum output, it does contribute to much higher quality tea than neighboring taidi productions, which adhere to conventional farming methods. The other downside is that the trees left to grow taller on their own tend to compete for space and may require relocation, which isn’t always successful. Additionally, manual weeding is a laborious task that takes at least a month each year to complete. Picking tall trees, even if they’re only middle-aged, is also a more difficult task than pruned bushes.
But if we had our way, every tea would be like this. The deeper roots and more concentrated yield produce a tea richer in fragrance and flavour than typical plantation productions in this price range. And of course, all this without the presence of any pesticides or harmful substances.
Additional information
| Weight | N/A |
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3 reviews for Black Snake 2025 Spring Yiwu Sun Dried Black Tea
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Tim Vaught (verified owner) –
A great tea for a great price. Somewhat floral and grassy tasting, has a malty character that lingers in the mouth and on the tongue as an aftertaste. Sweet, mellow, very smooth even when brewing with boiling water.
Giving 5 stars because I think it’s a great value at $24 for a cake, just a solid tea. I’ve had worse black teas that cost more.
Alexandra Verville-Paris (verified owner) –
A serious candidate for your everyday tea: rich – sweet – tasty. Floral notes appear midway through the session, adding another layer of complexity.
// Smell: Raisin bread, buttered toast, homemade caramel, cooked fruits, cranberry cake, sun-dried tomatoes
// Texture: The liquor instantly clings to the palate, smooth, medium-bodied, fills the cheeks
// Taste: Herb and sun-dried tomato biscotti, rich beef and vegetable broth, dessert bread, cranberry sauce for meat
// Body sensation: Warm palate, full cheeks, calm mind, comfortable warmth, serenity, smile
Alen D (verified owner) –
A solid, but not an average Dian Hong in a sense of taste. Mouthfeel is medium, hydrating and slightly dry in the finish. I’m getting more of a vegetable broth/tomato soup impression than of malt, but not overpowering like it can sometimes can happen with i.e. non-smoked Lapsang. In gongfu session it takes a few steeps to open up, then it shows some more: rose sweetness, a touch of wet wood and a cooling mint and thyme aftertaste.