Yunnan Sourcing

Lewis & Clark Traveling Teabox – Tea #7
I really appreciate all of the teas I get to try from this teabox, especially the YS! The leaves here sure look like one of the more interesting teas I’ve seen! It’s green mixed with white. Even with two teaspoons, the flavor isn’t too extreme, but I can taste subtle hints that there is both white and green tea here. The flavors are hints of juicy fruit, sweet lemon, melon, cucumber, peony or some type of flower, nuttiness, creaminess. It doesn’t really taste vegetal/ grassy like a green tea though. I guess double the flavors since there are two types of tea here! Sadly, I think there are also hints of flavor from the ziplock bag the tea was in. It’s very smooth… not too many fuzzies. The second steep was even smoother and all of the flavor notes seemed to blend together somehow, which is distinctly the flavor of THIS tea.
Steep #1 // 2 tsps. // 35 min after boiling // 2 1/2 min steep
Steep #2 // 20 min after boiling // 3 min

This is a very tasty but slightly, very slightly bitter tea. Next time I will lower the temperature to 190 degrees. It is a complex tea with a lot of different notes to it. The ones from the list I can notice are malt first and foremost, then dried fruit, molasses, smoke and sugar. The tea does not quite live up to one thing that struck me in the description, it was fried in raw cane sugar. You would think it would be even sweeter. Still it is quite good and rates highly in my book.

I brewed this once in an 18oz teapot with boiling water and 3 tsp leaf for 3 min.

I’m combining two different tastings for this tea.

The first was steeped at 175 degrees. I loved the smoky aroma, but the taste was just too harsh to enjoy. The taste was dominated by the smoke, with some grass hiding beneath the smoke. By the 6th pot it was starting to smooth out, but still harsh. The nose was always lovely: the best part.

I was disappointed, since I’d just bought 100 grams, but decided to try again at 200 degrees. This time 1st there was the same smoky nose and taste but not the harshness. Lots of cha qi. Powerful, closed-in, just a hint of bitterness. I had about 4 steeps and each one was fairly smooth and full. Good flavors.

I’m perplexed. A month ago I had a sheng that was terrible at 200 degrees, but great at 175. Now I have the opposite. A tip of the hat to boychik, who persuaded me to publish more tasting notes.

There seem to be two alternating flavors in this tea. One I would describe as a sweet flavor, not sure how to better describe it, the other is roasted barley. The roasted barley flavor is not too intense, but mild. The roasted barley flavor also got less intense as I drank my cup. Once this flavor got less intense, a third flavor was noticed. This third flavor I would describe as mildly fruity, but just barely.

I steeped this one time in an 18oz teapot with 3 tsp leaf and 190 degree water for 3 min. Overall this is excellent tea. I give it a high mark.

additional notes: Just a note to say I’m trying to recreate the original steeping parameters where I originally gave this a 98 rating even if that is slightly impossible with a tea from 2014… and also what I bought never really tasted like the original sample I had, despite both being the 2014 harvest. It doesn’t seem like YS really has this sort of assamica anymore. Too bad, I liked it. This steep method tastes really good – strong but not oaky overboard:
Steep #1 // 2 teaspoons for full mug // 10 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3 minute steep

Lewis & Clark Traveling Teabox – Tea #1
Always thrilled to receive another teabox… so many teas to try! Some good ones in this one. This one is everything I love in a solid black tea!

Steep #1 // 2 tsps. // 10 min after boiling // 3 min steep
The color of the cup is a lovely deep red that promises amazing flavor: bready, malty, strong while still sweet, hints of dark fruit. I think this cup was steeped perfect. I’m not sure why the name is “assamica” though and I usually don’t think I like teas called Feng Qing. So very delicious and the perfect start to this teabox!

Steep #2 // just boiled // 3 min
Another gorgeous cup – I think was doing a tea dance that resembled Britta’s pizza dance from Community. Much like Britta’s dance was inspired by drug use (and maybe pizza), tea is my drug! The flavor was almost identical to the first cup! So so good.

Nice little tea, thanks to all for the recommendation. I find it quite smoky, though not overpoweringly so. Smoke, tobacco, strong. I didn’t get much fruit. And a very nice looking cake.

Tried this one on a whim with my latest YS order. It was $10 for a 250g cake so it was low risk. It is a decent cake. I had to push it hard to get it strong enough for my tastes, but that worked. It is a little flat, but not bad, woodsy and slightly earthy, kind of average flavor, fairly smooth and deep, no real fishiness. A fine everyday tea to be sure.

Yunnan Province in China has a reputation as being THE place to find premium teas. Tea cultivation in this area dates back thousands of years. In fact, it is purported to be the birthplace of tea. One of the more intriquing aspects of Yunnan tea is the diversity of tea bush varieties that grow there as well as the number of old tea trees and old gardens that thrive in the mountains. Yunnan teas really define the notion of terroir as there are many particulars that contribute to their flavour and style characteristics. When it comes to dark teas – and, even some blacks – Yunnan pumps out some of China’s best.

So it was with some surprise I learned green teas were coming out of this area.

A short search online threw up a handful of impressions about green tea production in Yunnan…
◾In general they aren’t particularly high quality.
◾The price is often suspiciously low. (Yet, that’s not indicative of a quality tea.)
◾The teas are often heavily roasted, creating a tea that is more aromatic.

As a rule, needle shape teas are difficult to process. The fresh leaf must be quite long in order for it to have shrunk to this the long needle size and shape during the firing.

This particular tea from Yunnan Sourcing is made near Simao from large leaves that are rolled into a needle shape (Xiang Zhen in Chinese) and roasted at high temperature for a short time. This typically helps to impart a strong scent. And it does. The dry leaf is highly aromatic, with standout notes of cooked fruit (peach or apricot) and snow peas.

Time for some infusing!

As with most green teas, the leaves needed to be treated with care. A gaiwan was used and water heated to 80 degrees as per the vendor’s instructions. The leaves had a bluish-green hue, which changed on contact with hot water, to light green. After an infusion time of 1.5 minutes, the liquor looked a clear light yellow-green. However, the taste was slightly on the bitter side. For the second infusion, the temperature was wound down 10 degrees. The result? The flavour was full, rich and distinctively fruity with a backbone that is reminiscent of chestnut and snow peas with a slight mineral note at the finish. It possesses a very nice sweetness without any bitter notes. It reminded me a little of Rizhao Xuequing (Snow Sunshine) from Shandong Province, but fruitier. Overall impression? The aroma is by far the outstanding feature of the tea, but it still rates as a reasonable cuppa. However, it not a particularly forgiving leaf when it comes to brewing. Measurement is critical: use too much and it will be bitter, use too little and it will not seem particularly interesting. The water must be well off the boil, similar to the temperature for a Japanese green tea, but not too cool or the flavour will hide inside the leaf until the third steeping (which you may not even infuse!). In saying that, with a price tag of US$5 for 100g, one can’t really complain.

Yunnan Province in China has a reputation as being THE place to find premium teas. Tea cultivation in this area dates back thousands of years. In fact, it is purported to be the birthplace of tea. One of the more intriquing aspects of Yunnan tea is the diversity of tea bush varieties that grow there as well as the number of old tea trees and old gardens that thrive in the mountains. Yunnan teas really define the notion of terroir as there are many particulars that contribute to their flavour and style characteristics. When it comes to dark teas – and, even some blacks – Yunnan pumps out some of China’s best.

So it was with some surprise I learned green teas were coming out of this area.

A short search online threw up a handful of impressions about green tea production in Yunnan…
◾In general they aren’t particularly high quality.
◾The price is often suspiciously low. (Yet, that’s not indicative of a quality tea.)
◾The teas are often heavily roasted, creating a tea that is more aromatic.

As a rule, needle shape teas are difficult to process. The fresh leaf must be quite long in order for it to have shrunk to this the long needle size and shape during the firing.

This particular tea from Yunnan Sourcing is made near Simao from large leaves that are rolled into a needle shape (Xiang Zhen in Chinese) and roasted at high temperature for a short time. This typically helps to impart a strong scent. And it does. The dry leaf is highly aromatic, with standout notes of cooked fruit (peach or apricot) and snap peas.

Time for some infusing!

As with most green teas, the leaves needed to be treated with care. A gaiwan was used and water heated to 80 degrees as per the vendor’s instructions. The leaves had a bluish-green hue, which changed on contact with hot water, to light green. After an infusion time of 1.5 minutes, the liquor looked a clear light yellow-green. However, the taste was slightly on the bitter side. For the second infusion, the temperature was wound down 10 degrees. The result? The flavour was full, rich and distinctively fruity with a backbone that is reminiscent of chestnut and snow peas with a slight mineral note at the finish. It possesses a very nice sweetness without any bitter notes. It reminded me a little of Rizhao Xuequing (Snow Sunshine) from Shandong Province, but fruitier. Overall impression? The aroma is by far the outstanding feature of the tea, but it still rates as a reasonable cuppa. However, it not a particularly forgiving leaf when it comes to brewing. Measurement is critical: use too much and it will be bitter, use too little and it will not seem particularly interesting. The water must be well off the boil, similar to the temperature for a Japanese green tea, but not too cool or the flavour will hide inside the leaf until the third steeping (which you may not even infuse!). In saying that, with a price tag of US$5 for 100g, one can’t really complain.

When I opened this sample , it was a nice sized chunk of the tea cake, in shades of olive, gray, & wood. The dry aroma is that of grass, a day or so after you’ve mowed it.
It has a nice green fresh kind of scent.
The early steepings gave up a light wheat bread taste. The aroma of the wet leaf in my yixing smelled sweet, tart, & juicy, with a the promise of things to come.
Over the course of the evening & many steepings, a tangy flavor developed, like a mild sourdough bread. There was one pour that that bitter, another was astringent.
The later steeps were sweet & rather like a golden mushroom broth, with a buttery feeling.

Enjoying some smokey sweet sheng today!

Hope everyone is having a good Friday :)

Is this tea really only $5 for a 100g cake??? It is so good, especially for that price! I’m very glad I got a sample of this one from a friend :)

I am getting hints of smoke, and hints of fruit and flowers. Nice mouthfeel, too. Wow, I am going to have to place a YS order sometime soon. YUM!

Lewis & Clarke TTB

This is it, folks! This is the very last sample I took from the TTB before sending it on its merry way. I’m not sure why I haven’t tried this one sooner, it’s been hanging out next to the dreaded Da Yu Ling Oolong sample that is finally gone. Anyway, on to the good bits! The leaves are long and fairly thin, and tightly twisted. Color is a lighter shade of grey/green. The outside bag smells like Hot Lips, oops! Luckily the tea inside didn’t seem to be contaminated, and smells lightly sweet with mild vegetal notes. I steeped mine for 1.5 minutes because I felt like it (seriously).

I think I may have underleafed or understeeped this one, as I’m not getting a ton of aroma. What I do smell is a bit of mineral quality combined with mild and sweet vegetal notes.

Confession: I totally let this tea cool a ton, mostly because I was looking through boychik’s cupboard with my mouth wide open… Seriously tempting things in there! Ahem! Anyway, yeah this is definitely underleafed. I do like the flavor that’s there, and it reminds me of the Bi Luo Chun that I got from Han Xiang on AliExpress. It has an interesting mineral/smoke note to it that I enjoy, along with strong apricot notes near the beginning. Overall, very nice, even underleafed! :D

Trying this after 5 years of home storage. It’s color now matches it’s apricot flavor. It’s fruity and sharp, relatively light body, with heavy Cha qi. Very tasty.

What a fruity tea. Think apricots, the most apricoty pu that I’ve tasted. It’s a nice tea that has very little bitterness, fairly strong cha qi, and medium body. Seems like high quality leaves. I like this one quite a bit.

I had a little time to kill between weddings, so I came home to relax for half an hour, & made myself a cup of this, which I got in my last YS order. I do enjoy chrysanthemum, & of course, I actually have some here, so I guess I didn’t really need to buy a 100 G brick, but it is beautiful to look at, & I am always & forever curious, so I bought it.

I probably should be doing this gongfu, but I don’t want to take in TOO many liquids before the 2nd wedding, so I went with a western steeping of it for 3 min.
And…I don’t really know what to say…lol. It isn’t knocking my socks off, but it also isn’t gross in any way either. Very smooth, very drinkable, I’m getting a bit of a head rush, along with a nice tongue tingle. My sinuses are opening, & that’s a good thing. As I’ve said before, I think Sheng pure helps allergies, & now I guess some Shou Puerhs also are helpful, or maybe its the chrysanthemum flowers? Anyway, flavor wise, I’m having trouble pinning it down…
roasted hominy…a rich soil…a slight bitterness like hops…
my cup is empty, time to go play the 2nd wedding. I’ll try to return for a resteep or 2 later.

So this was a nice little surprise!

It needed 2 rinses because it does still have some fermentation flavor, but once those are done, it’s very mild and pleasant. I don’t get a ton of distinguishable flavors, but I enjoyed this tea very much. For $7 per cake, I can’t really find anything bad to say. I would consider this to be a good daily drinker!

This cake has a deeply satisfying quality about it. I can see it becoming a favourite among those who like a rich-tasting pu’er with lots of sweetness, without the off-tastes. Sometimes, it takes a while for a ripe cake to air out before being ready for consumption. This is hardly the case with this 1938, though just to be on the safe side, you may want – See more at: http://universotea.com/content/2005-cnnp-lucky-brand-1938-prime-grade?ovr=1#sthash.BDTd6KB0.dpuf

i love this tea. its so good.
Its fruity and sweet with some savory smoky meat notes. Smoke is not overpowering, i quite like it.
Gongfu method
5g 100ml gaiwan 200F
rinse/pause/5/3/5/5/10/15/15 sec etc
some bitterness shows up at 3rd steep but nothing major. in fact i like it, makes it more interesting.
This tea was a sample from very generous Steepster fellow. Im so glad to be able to try. Thank you so much.
I’d like to pick up couple cakes, the price is $5.50 on US site

Experimenting with this one again tonight. This time I used one tsp less tea but gave it a longer steep. I think it was improved. Still has a nice sweet flavor to it and an earthy character to it. I really don’t know how to properly describe the flavor notes in this tea.

I brewed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for 5 minutes.

This is a very good tea. It has a nice sweetness to it and an earthy character is how I describe the natural flavor innate to chrysanthemum teas in general. This is one of those teas that just has to be experienced to understand the description of it. I like this tea. I’m not sure, but I think I like it better than the one from Berylleb King Tea which seemed stronger. This one seems more mild.

I brewed this once in a 16oz teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker with 4 tsp leaf and boiling water for 3 minutes.

This is my first foray into Chrysanthemum Tea so I’m not sure where to start. It was very strong, a little too strong but not bitter. It was in a way earthy, but nothing like the way ripe puerh is earthy. I was only guessing on the correct amount of Chrysanthemum flowers to use. Next time I try this I will use half as much in the way of Chrysanthemum. It was very flavorful, I will say that. I don’t think I would want to drink this everyday although a friend of mine at work loves the stuff, he is Chinese. I added a small amount of sugar to cut the flavor down a notch or two. I will go through the flavor list and see if any other than the obvious fit.

I brewed this once in a 1.5 liter teapot with 7.5g Chrysanthemum Flower and boiling water for 3 min.