1113 Tasting Notes
Pu’erh TTB 2015 Tea #9
Today is going to the craziest tea day… I’m going to drink 15 steepings of 8 different W2T pu’erhs to compare them to one another. As of right now this one is light but then creeps up on you after multiple steeps which is nice. The flavor is consistent and rather smooth, yet there is still astringency running through every sip that I take which kind of kills it a smudge. W2T has me hooked on their products with the Repave alone, but this one isn’t going into my small shopping cart as of yet. Maybe in say 3 years it’ll decide to not sting my tongue a tiny bit every time.
Pu’erh TTB 2015 Tea #8
I can’t even…
This is the first tea I have on my Christmas list (yes it’s about that time to prepare it)
Absolutely mind blown by the freshness of this pu’erh. It reminds me of Japanese tea in a way. Smooth with a hint of sweetness associated with the vegetable tones. Clearly this is a top notch pu’erh and I’m not looking at price until after it’s purchased
..l..
and it’s sold out…
aww :(
Mmmm Adding to my wishlist. Maybe they will have a Black Friday sale.
Nope. Sold out.
This is literally the ‘softest’ sheng I’ve had. I drink a lot of Japanese tea so make the comment I did, I stand by it. This is one seriously well prepared and cared for tea leaf.
This was one of my favorites from the 2015 season. Their Whispering Sunshine is even softer and is very good!
If you liked Midas Touch then Planet Jingmai is worth considering. We still have stock of that. It’s from trees planted only a couple mountains away. Planet Jingmai is really good material. Don’t let the form factor fool you. I think I like it more than Midas Touch.
Green tea season is over for me due to the weather change, but Yunomi had recently put up this spring harvest sencha with the name dragon in it… I’m a sucker for such things so I picked it up with my banchas for the winter.
Here’s the thing: This leaf is small and ugly, but after trying this… I can safely say that the price was worth it. At something like $20 an ounce (for the sample price) that’s steep. This is the second best Japanese green tea I’ve had, behind the Okinawa shincha which was mind blowing good. The long lingering mouth feel is slimely with a taste of vegetable goodness. What confuses me about this tea is it’s overall taste and aftertaste. I’ve used three cups to taste this because each time I get the sensation that I just ate a cooked vegetable. I’m not sure if I like that or not, but it’s pretty dang cool. The leaf once brewed is still small and ugly, but I’m after taste and it is giving me a wonderful taste with an interesting experience.
Pu’erh TTB 2015 Tea #7
Thanks AllanK for putting this in the box after I made the request. The 2012 Wild Monk still has a memory associated for me because it has continued to be the best of what I have tried in regards to the wild variation of sheng (with Repave as the non). While this may be smoother than the YS tea I had today and only a year old, the taste just isn’t as explosive as the 2012 was. This sample was exactly what I wanted before I shelled out lots of money for a few cakes; I still find it odd that a small ‘higher’ quality cake doesn’t seem to have the flavor that a cheaper cakes has. Maybe the price is for the material?
i find some cheap cakes to have a fishy smell/taste on top of the dui wui (aka fermentation taste)
Let’s get you some of the 2015 wild monk that just arrived and see how it compares for you.
I could buy a cake and split it up for some people :)
I’m waiting for that umpf that the 2012 had
Brought this tea into work today and was very happy.
https://instagram.com/p/9uIbInRYHz/
I bought this because it is priced very nicely for the look of it: https://instagram.com/p/9pC8CwRYMI/
Now at 13 cents a gram, it’s less than $1 per session which is quite appealing. Now this is one tea that is not as smooth as what I am going to compare it to, but I enjoy the flavor much more. Today I also finally tried the 2014 Wild Monk from Mandela which is a tea I have contemplated buying a tong of because the 2012 version was amazing. Unfortunately, this Yunnan Sourcing tea is more promising in regards to taste. The cake breaks easily, smells nice, brews beautifully, and includes levels of taste as it steeps throughout a session.
I’ll more than likely buy another one in a few months once I finish this one off :)
i shall try this one someday
it appears it may be out of stock, i cant seem to find it. can you help me find it?
thank-you very much! :D alas, i cannot afford any cake over 30$ :(
but i will try and buy it sometime hopefully
I believe the 2013 YS “Wu Liang Wild Arbor” is not the same tea is 2013 YS “Wu Liang Ye Sheng”. It’s confusing since although “ye sheng” means “wild”, that version is actually a purple tea and tastes entirely different. It’s seems to be quite popular here on Steepster, whereas this tea “Wu Liang Wild Arbor” is not a purple tea, but the common base species “zhong xiao ye zhong”. Not trying to show off or be pedantic, but I’m curious which one you reviewed since I purchased this one and am letting it air out in my drawer before i dig into it. It hasn’t received much coverage online.
@tanluwils, what about ys’ 2013 Yunnan sourcing autumn ye sheng raw puerh? is it a true wild tea?
I don’t know if really any of these “wild” teas are truly harvested from Yunnan’s forests. From what I understand, “Ye sheng” mainly indicates that a tea is from the purple-leaved cultivar. The purple color is part of the this varietal’s built-in defense system against high exposure to UV rays.
the tea doesn’t look purple
No, but the processed dry leaf is much darker in color than your regular base species. On the plant, they actually are purple.
ohhhh! i get it now :D
Pu’erh TTB 2015 Tea #6
LaoCha is one of my favorite variation of the ’pu’erh’ world. With that being said, I took all the LaoCha I could find in the box beside the W2T which I have. At first I thought this was disappointing because it wasn’t thick and the taste was weak. So what did I do? I yelled at it and then decided to boil it with some water as punishment. Three minutes later I came back and tried to see if the punishment yielded better results. It did
This is one of the few teas I would ever recommend anyone brew for over a minute in regards to a dark/ripe tea because something they become too much like wet dirt and that is no fun. So three minutes it is which is odd when you gongfu…
Anyways, a great taste is leading me to the thought that I had before: LaoCha is a hard variation to have someone just jump out as a winner in regards to quality and taste.
I’m not sure if I’ll find the LaoCha I buy a kilogram for to put in a crock… but maybe one day I’ll stumble upon it.
Lao Cha always takes a long time to open up. I start steeps and go till the water starts to darken. They are tightly bound with the pectin from the tea and take a while top brew up.
I always double the amount. If regular shou 6g I take 12g for Lao cha tuo. Works every time and lasts longer
Yunnan Sourcing posted an image of this tea before it was available and I began stalking their site once that happened…. well, it went up for purchase and I had to buy it because it is a hand rolled white tea and it such a great price to it.
The tea is beautiful. Curly fuzzy white tea is a fantastic thing, but does the taste provide what a tea lover wants? Absolutely. There isn’t any funky taste and no overwhelming wildness as many white tea has (as I would call it). I was able to resteep this one four times before I left for work this morning. It went very well with my toast as the tea wasn’t bitter nor sweet, just a nice white tea taste with a liquid that I was able to control via steeping time. I tried one darker steep to my lighter and it didn’t disrupt the flavor which was one great thing about this; that means I can play around with it :)
This is one of those teas you can show off to friends, take pictures with, drink, or pet the curly fur :)
So cute
You say you want the close up? http://www.yunnansourcing.us/store/img/p/3/3/4/2/3342-thickbox_default.jpg
that is lovely!
I’m nearly out of white, i saw you need to stock up as well, would you do it with this one if based purely on taste?
Have you got any of the yunnan or jingu to compare it with?
Do you want sweet, wild, or a floral white?
Has to have some sort of sweetness & floral present. You say this isn’t too sweet. Its hard without a point of reference to know just where it lies
Pu’erh TTB 2015 Tea #5
I took this tea out because I have enjoyed one younger De Ye that was somewhat sweet awhile back. My thoughts were along the lines of: “this should be more smoothed as it has aged a good 3 years more than the last I drank”
Those thoughts didn’t take into consideration of tea factory, storage, and my exposure to sheng in the last few months. With all pu’erh I steep at least 8 times and by the fifth steep I knew this wasn’t going to magically become a liquid sweettart. The liquid is dark and has a nice taste, but as far as comparing it to others it would land in that realm of average. It also doesn’t have any strong enough notes to make a flavor claim on either.
Dear Everyone,
I’m willing to bet money that this tea will sell out.
I purchased it because it said “wild arbor” and it’s a black. Let me just say this real quick: Dian Hong will always have a special place in my tea stash, but this tea just kicked some serious ‘butt’.
This tea is so smooth, but that is not what is making me purchase enough to last awhile.
This tea has a sweetness that comes through with every sip that I have yet to experience with a black. I’ve found malt and chocolate notes that make me smile in other blacks, but a sweetness like this…. not even close.
Absolutely amazing.
Have you tried their Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong? Very similar to the notes you mentioned here.
Ive got a different Yunnan Wild Arbor Assamica but im expecting malt – Its from a different area
No. Seriously though, YS says 15 kilograms of this was made and I’m probably going to buy 1kg myself. This stuff is superb.
Did you drink it Gongfu? How did it hold up
I will have to try this! Thanks for the heads up.
