Purchased a bunch of younger raw puerh tea (mostly samples) from Yunnan Sourcing USA, to explore my idea that this style of tea might be something I could really like.
So far, I have done one session each with a 2022 Xiaguan Te Ji Tuo, YS USA’s 2023 Ai Lao “Secret Garden” raw puerh, and this “You Le Shan” tea. All of these teas I stubbornly brew using my “western style” technique. Initially I am using 185° water w/a 30 sec rinse, 1-min first steep, 2-min second steep, and 3-min third steep for each tea. As I get a feel for each tea, I can adjust the brewing parameters a bit, but this initial technique has worked out well for each tea so far.
The first tea which inspired me to write a review is this one, because of the remarkably sweet and unusual scent of the dry leaves in the sample pouch. Very cotton candy sweet-like, fruity, and floral scent pops out from the pouch, which I love.
This tea and and the other YS USA tea made me feel a bit “tea drunk,” a sensation which I have not yet noticed from the Xiaguan tea. Also, both YS USA teas are a noticeably smoother ride than the Xiaguan, while clearly sharing a similar character.
This is where I am stuck, now, however, as perhaps due to my inexperienced raw puerh taste buds I have some difficulty distinguishing the nuances in taste between these different varieties of raw puerh. They all seem to have pleasant fruity/floral characters with some touch of a bitter edge, but not overwhelmingly so. Kind of a dried apricot fruitiness, with some indistinct (to me) florals, and some hay/grassy notes. All-in-all pretty enjoyable. The Xiaguan did have a minty aspect to it that I don’t find in the YS USA teas, so there is that as far as a difference. I’ll tentatively give this tea a score of “80,” but definitely need to explore it a bit more to try and better understand its character.
Update: After a little more time with this tea, I’ll dial my initial “80” rating down to a 75. The tea is really smooth with some slight woody notes, but mostly in a fruity zone with notes of persimmons, having also a bit of a vegetal bite to it. And the faintest glimmers of spice, mainly cinnamon/anise notes but way in the background.
I can tell that it is a quality tea, and certainly interesting, but probably will not be a repurchase for me. I suppose this might be where aging comes into play, and perhaps this tea may evolve more interesting flavors over the years, etc. But I really don’t have much of an appetite for heavier/redder teas that are closer to a ripe in flavor. Once in a while I might enjoy these types of teas, but I would usually prefer great teas that are on the greener side.
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Well, bumped my rating back up to 80. My 25g sample is almost gone, but this tea seems to be growing on me. A nice, lazy Sunday today so I brewed this one up three times instead of two. The third time I brewed for 5 minutes western style, and I was surprised to find that the third steep actually outshined the first two steeps. The tea seemed to be a bit more lively and I felt I connected with it a little more. Since it worked really well with a third steep, I went ahead and brewed it a fourth time (at 6 minutes), which was also pretty good, but dropped off a bit maybe from the third steep.
Still not ready to give this tea a top rating, though, as I feel it doesn’t really have any “hooks” that really stand out to me. I guess it seems perhaps like a basic raw pu-erh with no frills for the most part. But I am intrigued by its stamina. I’m thinking the next time I brew this I’ll go ahead and brew for 4 or 5 minutes on the first steep, rather than the cautious 2-minute steep I’ve been using, and take it from there. I’m only looking for 2 or 3 good steeps from a tea at the most on my typical day. I take enough trips to the bathroom as it is, and four or five steeps with my 16-ounce mug will really be overdoing it!
Well, bumped my rating back up to 80. My 25g sample is almost gone, but this tea seems to be growing on me. A nice, lazy Sunday today so I brewed this one up three times instead of two. The third time I brewed for 5 minutes western style, and I was surprised to find that the third steep actually outshined the first two steeps. The tea seemed to be a bit more lively and I felt I connected with it a little more. Since it worked really well with a third steep, I went ahead and brewed it a fourth time (at 6 minutes), which was also pretty good, but dropped off a bit maybe from the third steep.
Still not ready to give this tea a top rating, though, as I feel it doesn’t really have any “hooks” that really stand out to me. I guess it seems perhaps like a basic raw pu-erh with no frills for the most part. But I am intrigued by its stamina. I’m thinking the next time I brew this I’ll go ahead and brew for 4 or 5 minutes on the first steep, rather than the cautious 2-minute steep I’ve been using, and take it from there. I’m only looking for 2 or 3 good steeps from a tea at the most on my typical day. I take enough trips to the bathroom as it is, and four or five steeps with my 16-ounce mug will really be overdoing it!