When Tea Snobbery Meets a Black Tea Mix-Up
This is worth savoring: A tea snob’s moment of humility. I received a package labeled as yellow tea, only to discover it was a Dianhong black tea. The mix-up wasn’t just a logistics error—it was a masterclass in how our biases can warp our palate. I brewed it at 80°C, expecting the floral notes of a yellow tea, only to be met with a sweet, almost corn-like aroma. My mind raced to rationalize it—“maybe it’s hay?”—before the truth hit: the leaves were dark, the taste profile unmistakably black tea. The vendor had mislabeled their stock, pairing a Yunnan Golden Tip…