Golden Bud · Chocolate · Sweet
Our supreme grade, the top of the line. A Yunnan black tea famous for its fat golden buds, this Supreme grade carries a high concentration of those golden tips. Brewed, it pours a clear reddish brown, bright and luminous in the cup. The aroma is sweet and floral with a soft chocolate undertone. The taste is smooth and sweet, and the aftertaste is refreshing and clean. A warm, generous cup, poured when the cup is meant to matter. Origin: Yunnan, China Tasting: Golden Bud · Chocolate · Sweet Brew: 90°C · 3g / 150ml · 3 to 5 minutes
Brewing Guide
A fine black tea is the warm, comforting cup of the morning and the cool afternoon. In Traditional Chinese Medicine black tea is read as warming, gentle on the stomach, and good for the digestion, the fully oxidized leaf considered the kindest of the teas on the body, which is why it is so often the cup poured to start the day or to settle after a meal.
A golden-bud Yunnan black is rich in the theaflavins and thearubigins that form when the leaf is fully oxidized, the compounds behind black tea's reddish-brown color and rounded character, and it carries a steady, comfortable level of caffeine for a smooth lift without the sharpness of a green tea. None of this is a medical claim. It does explain why a sweet, golden-tipped black tea feels as nourishing as it does easy to drink.
Tradition
The warm, gentle morning cup — black tea is read in TCM as warming and kind to the stomach, easy on the body.
Modern lens
A smooth, fully oxidized cup with a steady, comfortable level of caffeine for a gentle, sustained lift.
Tradition
Reached for to start the day or to settle comfortably after a meal — the everyday digestive cup.
Modern lens
Low in astringency and easy on the stomach, the rounded golden-bud leaf sits gently after eating.
Tradition
Drunk daily as a warming, nourishing tea through every season.
Modern lens
Full oxidation develops theaflavins and thearubigins, the well-studied antioxidants behind black tea's reddish color and body.
Tradition
The bright, sweet cup that wakes the morning without the edge of a sharper tea.
Modern lens
A comfortable caffeine level paired with a smooth, sweet body for a clean, even lift.
The Reserve
Yunnan Crown Reserve is our supreme grade, the top of the line. It comes from Yunnan in southwestern China, a region long famous for excellent black tea, the Dian Hong (滇红) prized for its fat golden buds. This Supreme grade carries a high concentration of those golden buds, the plump downy tips that set a fine Yunnan black apart. Brewed, it pours a clear reddish brown, bright and luminous in the cup.
The aroma is sweet and floral with a soft chocolate undertone. The taste is smooth and sweet, with no rough edge, and the aftertaste is refreshing and clean. It is a warm, generous cup, the kind a household pours when the cup is meant to matter. Steep just below boiling, 90°C, three grams to 150ml, three to five minutes.
Heritage
Yunnan is the home of Dian Hong, the black tea of China's warm southwestern mountains. Made from the broad-leaf tea trees of the region, the same large-leaf varietal that gives the province its pu-erh, Yunnan black is fully oxidized into a sweet, mellow red tea rather than left to mature. It is a younger style than pu-erh, born in the last century, but it has become one of the most celebrated black teas in all of China.
What sets a fine Yunnan black apart is the bud. The plump, downy tips turn a bright gold in the making, and a high grade is judged by how many of these fat golden buds it carries. The more golden tips in the leaf, the sweeter and rounder the cup, the chocolate-and-honey character that Dian Hong is loved for. Picking and sorting for that high a proportion of bud is slow, careful work, which is why a true supreme grade is uncommon.
Yunnan Crown Reserve is that supreme-grade leaf, dense with golden buds, the cup a household pours when the cup is meant to matter, sold beside our Signature and Select grades from the same Yunnan source.
Flavor
Brew this supreme grade just below boiling. Use water at 90°C, with about three grams of leaf to 150ml of water, steeped three to five minutes to the strength you prefer. A black tea this golden-tipped is sweet and forgiving, so there is no need to rush the cup off the leaf, and a white porcelain cup shows off the clear reddish-brown liquor.
The cup pours a clear, bright reddish brown. The aroma is sweet and floral with a soft chocolate undertone, the signature of a high-bud Dian Hong. The taste is smooth and sweet, full but never sharp, and the aftertaste is refreshing and clean, leaving the mouth bright. The golden-bud leaf gives several good infusions, the sweetness carrying steep after steep.
Tasting Notes
Sweet and floral with a soft chocolate undertone — the honeyed, cocoa-rich signature of a high-bud Yunnan black.
Smooth and sweet, full-bodied yet round, with no astringency and the golden-bud sweetness up front.
Refreshing and clean, leaving the mouth bright and the sweetness lingering gently.
Across the session韻
Opening
The wiry golden-tipped leaf opens quickly, the liquor turning a clear reddish brown and the sweet chocolate-floral aroma lifting off the cup.
Full flavor
The cup at its richest — smooth, sweet and full, the chocolate undertone and clean refreshing finish at their best.
Soft tail
The golden-bud sweetness carries on, the cup softening into gentle, honeyed later infusions.
Opening
The wiry golden-tipped leaf opens quickly, the liquor turning a clear reddish brown and the sweet chocolate-floral aroma lifting off the cup.
Full flavor
The cup at its richest — smooth, sweet and full, the chocolate undertone and clean refreshing finish at their best.
Soft tail
The golden-bud sweetness carries on, the cup softening into gentle, honeyed later infusions.
