Hello hello!

Crimson Lotus Tea released a wide variety of shou puer for their 2017 productions. One of those shou puers includes a beeng titled ‘Black Gold’. Black Gold is a shou puer aged from 2010, and is made from the same material as their famed sheng puer ‘Midas Touch’. It’s also described as being very drinkable and being delicious. So one must ask, is Black Gold really as tasty as Crimson Lotus Tea describes? Let's find out!

Water Temperature - Boiling

Session Parameters - For this session, I used 4.5g of tea in a 65ml gaiwan.

Steeps 1 - 4

First, before this session started, Black Gold was rinsed with boiling water (to wash away any bacteria). Anyways, Black Gold first gave off refreshing tasting notes of black peppercorns, which left an aftertaste of Earth and tree bark. After a few more steeps, this tea quickly became bold.

Steeps 5 - 8

The base tasting notes of black peppercorns became lighter as the gritty tasting notes of dirt and tree bark became more prominent. This teas texture was on the rougher side, as its liquor was turning black in color. After a few more steeps, this tea left a light bitter aftertaste on the sides of the tongue.

Steeps 9 - 14

Black Gold’s body was stronger than ever, as its strength began to make me feel lightheaded. After another steep, Black Gold still held the base tasting notes of black peppercorn, with an undertone of Earth and tree bark. Black Gold still left a light bitter aftertaste but was quickly becoming smoother than it had before. After fourteen steeps, Black Gold completely mellowed out and it was time to say goodbye…

Conclusion

Black Gold is a shou puer released by Crimson Lotus Tea, and is made from shou puer material that was aged since 2010. One thing I liked about Black Gold was its longevity. This tea held a lot of strength and seemed to keep going for a very long time. Even after a fourteenth steep, this tea still had fuel to burn. Another thing I liked about Black Gold is its tasting notes were easy to drink. The tasting notes were also robust and bold. For me though, this tea’s energy was enough to make me tea drunk.

Overall, Black Gold is a great shou puer that’s all around easy to drink, and to me, held great energy. This is a shou that’s $89, and for that price tag, it seems that you can make this tea stretch a lot further by using less leaf in your brewing vessel. So next time you’re looking through Crimson Lotus Tea’s new shou selections, hopefully you’ll find out why this tea is called ‘black gold’…

Would I Beeng This Tea? - Yes

disclaimer - This tea was sent to me as a sample by Crimson Lotus Tea. Although this tea was sent to me, this review was not paid for, and wasn't shown any mercy when reviewing ;)