Yunnan Sourcing

This tea has long, medium large slightly curled and loosely wound leaves covered in a copper gold down. They are beautiful to look at.

I used 1.6g in 150 ml of water, and the result was a golden brew that lasted me through 5 good steeps. ( 50*2, 2,3,5 min) in 85-90°C water.

50s. Honey, smoke, cocoa, spice, dried fruit.

Savoury spicy taste like a mole sauce, dissolved in honey and smoke flavour added in.
Plum lies underneath. The taste is surprisingly bold and rich for a delicate looking tea. The broth is creamy with a medium viscosity. Touch of malt apparent as it cool.

50s hint of butter, malt and stronger fruit among the other previous scents.
Very faint hint of candyish floral.

Savoury, smoke has dissipated and fruit, cocoa, lighter malt and spice all meld into each other, hint of citrus, bright mole and fruit, with a hint of beer.

Honey and citrus as it cools along with cream and plum!

2min in strong honey cocoa, plum, light malt, nectar, light citrus., butter. Faint leather and grains with a touch of smoke. It has a faint nutty tone.

3min leather, plum and a hint of grape, malt, honey, floral tone, hint of cocoa.

5 min, honey, malt, and floral notes, a hint of ash.

7 min. Discarded, vegetal.

This tea was richer and more savoury then I expected initially, but it was a great accompaniment to the first half of my day.

Thanks boychik I really appreciated the chance to try this tea. I like it.

Stephanie threw this one into our swap as a bonus tea. Thank you! I’ve been eyeing the teas on Yunnan Sourcing’s website recently. Everything looks delicious, but I really better wait on buying more tea. ;)

This is a nice black tea. It was malty, sweet potato-y, and after looking at the description, I think I’m convinced I tasted molasses as well. Sometimes I wonder if I actually taste a note listed, or if I’m just easily persuaded! Ha! Overall, though, a very enjoyable tea.

I much preferred this ripe pu-erh to the “Hong Kong” style I tried earlier. This was much softer, and felt more mature. It wasn’t musty but had a delicate sweetness to it.

I had to modify my brewing time because the first brew was quite weak (I guess the leaves hadn’t fully woken up), but the second brew created a very deep dark liquor.

A very faint smokiness on the second infusion that dissipated on the third that just revealed a sweetness. A very easy one to drink for a beginner like me!

New Ranking
Price = 100
Taste = 85
Representation = 80

New Rank = 88.33

Lewis and Clarke TTB

This tea is pretty, brown and gold leaves twisted into strands.
4g 4oz 195F 1,2,3 minute steeps. Sweetened

The first cup is dark and malty, and a touch of dark cocoa. The second cup looses the cocoa, and is very malty. The third brings back some of the cocoa again. I don’t know if its because of the sweetener I added, but I (thankfully) didn’t get any bitterness from this.

http://yunnansourcing.com/en/yunnan-black-teas/2885-feng-qing-classic-58-dian-hong-premium-yunnan-black-tea-spring-2014.html

Lewis and Clarke TTB

I can almost believe that theres an ever so slight cinnamon note here. There’s also some subtle cream-like notes, and what seems like honeysuckle. Later steeps bring out some hay and oats.

This is a light and delicate tea.

http://yunnansourcing.com/en/whitetea/2887-silver-needles-white-tea-of-feng-qing-spring-2014.html

Lewis and Clarke TTB

This tea is so cute. Little fuzzy bud and the first two leaves.

First steep, is very light and delicate, it sort of reminds me of nectar. But there’s just slightly the barest hint of something deeper. There’s also a nice, refreshing, cooling mouthfeel.

Second steep, the flavor deepens a little. Like I have a cup full of sweet gentle nectar, and someone drips a drop or two of molasses in there.

Third steep brings out a faint floral note, and an almost hay like note, while still tasting sort of nectary.

Forth steep is honey and grains. Sort of like oats drizzled with honey.

Fifth steep theres an almost fruitiness to this cup, while still honey like.

http://yunnansourcing.com/en/whitetea/2913-yunnan-yue-guang-bai-air-dried-white-tea-spring-2014.html
Another tea I’m glad I got a chance to try!

http://yunnansourcing.com/en/yunnan-black-teas/2908-light-roast-wild-tree-purple-varietal-black-tea-of-dehong-spring-2014.html

From Marco Polo TTB. This is the last of the YS teas I am trying from the box. It was different from the others and I liked it. It smelled a lot like a darjeeling, sort of a grape-y smell. It transfers over to the tea. It isn’t malty at all, but has a sort of darjeeling flavor and a bit of an astringent finish. I enjoyed it very much!

Lewis and Clarke TTB

I usually like to use my little cup I got from Cozumel because it only holds about 9oz when filled to the brim, making it my smallest mug and the best choice I have for gongfu style. But I meant to put it in the fridge yesterday to cold steep yesterday’s golden strand, and instead accidentally put it in the freezer, and I guess it cracked during the expansion from freezing. sad face

First cup I steeped up for 2 minute and was rewarded with malt, cocoa, and molasses. This is delicious.
Second cup I forgot to set a timer so I have no idea how long it steeped for. I didn’t notice any bitterness or astringency though. Just more malt and cocoa and bread and molasses. Yum!
http://yunnansourcing.com/en/yunnan-black-teas/2934-wild-arbor-feng-qing-black-tea-pure-assamica-spring-2014.html

This was really nice, more subtle and lighter than what I usually drink so it was a nice change of pace. Photo of my gong fu with it: http://imgur.com/LWCu73p

I don’t drink a lot of whites, but really enjoyed the chance to try this one.
http://yunnansourcing.com/en/whitetea/2887-silver-needles-white-tea-of-feng-qing-spring-2014.html

Lewis and Clarke

This tea is so pretty. Lazy curls of golden fuzzy buds.
First steep (60s) this a sweet potato drizzled with honey. So much honey sweet potato it’s crazy.
Second and third steeps are sweet potato and honey and raisins and malt.
Forth steep I forgot about while it was steeping, but I didn’t notice any bitterness and only a very mild astringency at the back of my throat. But not in an unpleasant one.

This can probably keep going, I’ll try some more with it later.
Product page:
http://yunnansourcing.com/en/yunnan-black-teas/2875-jinggu-golden-strand-pure-bud-yunnan-black-tea-spring-2014.html

From Marco Polo TTB

I like Assams, and this one is very multi layered and deep. It brewed up as dark as coffee, but isn’t so strong that it is off putting. It’s just smoothly bold and very enjoyable. Thanks to Yunnan Sourcing for providing the samples for this box!

http://yunnansourcing.com/en/yunnan-black-teas/2934-wild-arbor-feng-qing-black-tea-pure-assamica-spring-2014.html

From the Marco Polo TTB.

The timing on this was great, since just this morning I was looking at Yunnans on the YS site. I was debating if I should order a large quantity of a tea I had never tasted. Then the TTB arrived and this tea was there. Serendipity!

It was quite delicious. I drink a lot of Yunnan blacks and found this one to have all of the malty, yammy qualities that I love, but with a really nice smoothness. None of the flavors smacked me in the face, but blended together in a very balanced brew. I definitely won’t have any issue ordering this one!

http://yunnansourcing.com/en/yunnan-black-teas/2875-jinggu-golden-strand-pure-bud-yunnan-black-tea-spring-2014.html

I used this tea to refill my Kombucha crock yesterday evening, & it smelled so good that I decided to drink a cup this morning.

This tea starts out with what I would call a robust flavor that builds & thickens in layers on the tongue with each sip, developing an Old World Sourdough Rye kind of savory chewiness to it. There is some astringency, but not unpleasantly so, & there’s a gentle floral in the aftertaste that initially brought to mind honeysuckle, but as the cup cooled a bit it reminded me more of geranium. This tea feels especially wonderful in my throat, with a sweet & rich umami brothiness, & the chaqi is very lively in my head & throat.

When the spring Black teas were unveiled on the YS website, I have to admit I went a little nuts, LOL. In part it was the unending urge to try all the black teas, & also the desire to have teas on hand to share with my BBBB sisters. I still haven’t sampled all of them yet.

I just added this one to the steepster database, which required me to visit the YS website, a dangerous activity!

I’m drinking a cup of it now. It definitely has a floral edge, which kind of makes me think of geraniums, along with a little bitterness, & a touch of astringency. It also brings to mind a really dense chewy natural rise German bread I used to buy, back when I could eat things like that. It was kind of dry & chewy, with a hoppy kind of taste, & especially tasty with avocado… I’m not sure if this is the brand, but this is the type http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/asda-compare-prices/Bread/Schneider_Brot_Organic_And_Wheat_Free_Rye_Bread_with_Sunflower_Seeds_500g.html

Happy Saturday!
The London Tea Room, a tea room is St. Louis that is run by a gal from England who wanted to provide a place for an English style tea, is having their annual Christmas Tea today, with all the glorious tiny sandwiches, scones, devonshire cream, preserves, etc (all the lovely things I can only dream about eating, because I can’t eat any of them).

http://www.thelondontearoom.com/index.html

Guess who is providing the live music today…Me, Myself, & I :)
I’ll be playing a mix of Classical pieces, along with music from my Christmas CD, Midwinter’s Canon , which is available at http://www.harpsinger.net/Terri_Langerak/Midwinters_Canon.html

So, although I won’t be partaking of the beautiful foods, I will be sipping pots of tea, & helping to create an atmosphere through music, which is really my favorite thing to do anyway. Plus I get money, can market my CDs there, & a generous gift card, just in time to provide Tony with a supply of Jubilee (his favorite tea from LTR) for his birthday, which is tomorrow. And some other things for my tea drinking pleasure, because I did say generous, right?

Meanwhile, I’ve started the day with breakfast & this one, which is wonderful, & which I have reviewed before. Today it is tasting malty, sweet, a hint of bitter, & a little more floral than I remember, but very very good!

ahhhh…nothing like a cup of deliciousness & the time to enjoy it.
I made one of my awesome breakfasts, & drank a couple of steeps of this one, with it’s rich malty & sweet taste, nice thick & kind of shiny mouth, hint of florals & tantalizing bitter edge. I’m sure it would be even better gongfu, but we do what we can.

The 2 yixings I ordered came this week. I started seasoning one of them for smokey zheng shan xiao zhong types, & my plans for the other one was for either yunnan or fujian, but I’m having a hard time making up my mind which.
Now I’m having 2nd thoughts about the smokey tea, & thinking I might reboil that one & start over…or maybe I’ll order another tiny teapot…LOL

Heading out to my youngest Grandchild’s birthday party (he’s 8 now), but I plan to spend the rest of the weekend in my PJs, sipping teas & getting caught up on all my favorite steepster friend’s reviews (there are so many of you!)

Dry – Sweet, caramel, chocolate, spice(cinnamon), cream, tart fruity, some mineral oolong notes.
Wet – Very sweet, caramel, floral, cinnamon, creamy, tart fruity, hints of chocolate, more apparent mineral notes.
Liquor – Light-golden to copper – Very aromatic, cinnamon, fruits, caramel, hints of chocolate.

Early steeps are honeyed sweet and tart fruity that resembles caramel, but develops a richer chocolatey character up front. As it goes down, it feels thick and creamy with chocolate and cinnamon notes over a tart and fruity background. A complex and satisfying finish.

Once the tea starts to open it wears the same notes as the initial steeps, but the floral notes take a front seat. The thickness, chocolate and cinnamon notes are still apparent and very pleasant, more mineral/oolong character appears.

Later steeps are mostly tart fruity and floral with mineral oolong notes. The thick/creamy, chocolate and cinnamon notes take a backseat here; they seem muted, but are still present if you pay attention.

Final Notes
This is a very satisfying Oolong, I feel like this outshines the ’Classic Rou Gui" in over all taste and quality and funny enough in the cinnamon aspect.

This tea is amazing.
gongfu
6g 100ml gaiwan 212F
rinse/5/5/10/10/15sec etc
Its a sample . i have it for some time. But i was stupid enough to try only today. YS sold out those cakes. i can only pick up sample size 25g on US site. thats what i will probably do.
Its very smooth. sweet, bitter(nothing major)
Sweetness is lingering in a mouth for a long time
I enjoyed it a lot

Nice shou. Clear burgundy soup, clean sweet taste. Some coffee notes. I wonder if it will be good as breakfast tea. Long lingering sweet and sour taste. Maybe like citrus. Smells like when you soak dried fruits with boil water.
Gongfu
6g 100ml 212F
rinse/ pause/15/15/20/30/45secs etc
The more I drink it, the more i appreciated quality of this tea.

Dry – A ‘dark’ / roasted sweetness, mineral oolong notes, some wood-spice (Cinnamon? not getting clear Cinnamon notes), Caramel.
Wet – Oolong mineral/rock notes, very floral, wood-spice notes, sweetness that comes from a roasted/dark source not so much line honey.
Liquor – Copper — very aromatic of Wood-spice(Cinnamon), Honey, mineral, floral and roasted sweetness.

This tea is very aromatic, it has very apparent floral-bitter/tart notes that emanate from the cup, sweet mesquite honey notes and finally get an apparent Cinnamon/wood-spice scent followed by the hallmark mineral/rock/hay Oolong notes.

The liquor is fairly smooth but pieces are not uncommon, filter if you don’t want residual astringency, however I feel like this is very pleasant. It wears all of its floral notes well, the Cinnamon character is lacking in my opinion; mostly caramel sweetness with floral and mineral. As it goes down some more of the wood-spice notes come forward and after a while the Cinnamon is more clear. This is definitely a tea to keep at work, I’ve done very short steeps and some a bit longer and the taste barely changes. It doesn’t endure much in western cup style, I’d stick to using portable Gong Fu methods, and enjoy 3-5 good cups.

Nothing too special. A great cup of work, the aroma is VERY enjoyable, definitely its best trait.

I picked this tea randomly this morning from amongst my morning teas. It is very good. It is slightly sweet without any hint of bitterness. There is a little fermentation flavor left but not much. It has notes of dates or plums, not sure which. This would have more notes if I was brewing gongfu style.

I brewed this once in an 18oz teapot with boiling water and 10g leaf for 25 sec. It is hard to brew this tea wrong.

This is an excellent ripe puerh that has lost some but not all of its fermentation flavor. I brewed this once in an 18 oz teapot with 12g leaves and boiling water. It yields a pleasantly sweet brew with no bitterness or astringency. It has a very nice mouthfeel and is quite tasty.

From the (Mostly) UTTB

Oh my.

The dry tea is really pretty. It’s little buds. I wanted to try it when I saw it through the packaging, before I flipped it over to see what it was.

I went looking for directions and only found suggestions here on steepster, nothing on the Yunnan Sourcing page. Since I’m trying to get through as many teas as possible today, I went with the more western approach, 180° for 2 minutes to start.

My first sip: sweet. Very sweet. Delicious. Amazing.

I am blown away.

I keep sipping. It’s still sweet. It reminds me of cream, the flavor not the feel. It’s like sweet cream. It’s a touch floral, but not really flowery at all. It’s really light.

I offered a taste of this to my husband and he said, “It doesn’t suck.” That’s how he says something is good. And then he actually said, “I like that one. It’s good. I’d drink it.”

It’s so good.

I was going to only do one steeping of each tea, but this one is getting another one.

I’m keeping some of this one so that I can try a true gongfu style with this tea.

And I’m adding it to my wish list. If I were buying tea, I think I’d order this one right away.

This sample came from Nicole. Thanks to her and to everyone else who has been willing to send me these Yunnan Sourcing samples. I really appreciate it! I know I have tried this tea before, and I remember enjoying it, so I’m excited to give it a second try. The leaves are medium-sized and they’re rather thin and twisty/curly. Color is jet black. They have a very mild dry scent, just a bit of malt and some sweetness and hay.

The steeped tea smells rich and caramel-y with fruit and floral tones. Mmm delicious. The texture is thick and silky smooth. I can taste a bit of baked bread, but the main flavors for me are honey and caramel, thick and rich. Even though it’s such a rich and sweet tea, it doesn’t seem all that heavy. Perhaps it’s the airy floral notes that start to pop up midway through and linger to the end. It’s a very light and inoffensive floral. Aftertaste is all honey and flowers, yummmm.