Yunnan Sourcing

Side-by-side comparison with Ailaoshan Black by Whispering Pines

This sample came from Nicole, I think this is the last tea from the first box she sent me. I remembered that at one point, boychik had mentioned that she’d like to see a side-by-side comparison of this tea and Ailaoshan Black, so I thought why not? This was a single-serving sample, so I figured it’s now or never!

Visually, these two are nearly identical. The leaves are nearly black and they remind me of a smaller version of the “spider leg” Taiwanese Assam leaves. Same size leaves in both of these teas. I can’t comment on the dry scent, because my Ai Lao Mountain was in a zipper baggie and therefore lost most of its smell. Oh well! I brewed both teas in identical cups with identical infuser baskets. It was a 3 minute steep at 200 degrees with 3 grams of each tea (my sample of Ai Lao was 3 grams so I used the whole thing and matched the weight for Ailaoshan).

First, the smell-off! I found that both teas had strong dried fruit notes, but Ailaoshan’s were dark, syrupy fruits such as raisin, prune, and cherry, while Ai Lao had a lighter dried fruit profile (raisin still maybe, but paired with fig or golden raisin). Both teas had a strong molasses aroma, and an interesting herbal or spice hint that I couldn’t quite place. The biggest differences I noticed between the two: Ai Lao had a little wisp of floral dancing around which was absent from Ailaoshan. In contrast, Ailaoshan had an obvious dark caramelized sugar scent that was divine! So far, pretty similar but each with its own flair.

On to the taste-off! There is also similarity here: both teas have a nice bready quality, although I would say it’s stronger in Ailaoshan. Also, both teas have strong molasses-ish rich flavor and that same dastardly unidentified herb/spice note! Does it bother anyone else when they can’t identify a flavor? Harumph! Both are fruity teas, but in quite different ways. The Ai Lao has a tangier dried fruit flavor – think prunes, maybe with a bit of something tangier, like tamarind maybe? Meanwhile, Ailaoshan has a much sweeter, almost jammy cherry and blackberry flavor, which was a surprise to me considering the aroma! Just like the aroma, the Ai Lao has a (fairly strong) floral element, which unfortunately translates into a slightly soapy aftertaste for me. Ailaoshan retains that lovely dark caramelized sugar that I noticed in scent form, and it goes very nicely with the dark bread notes and the fruit. I noticed as Ailaoshan cooled, it developed a woody taste that was not at all unpleasant. The Ai Lao tastes almost the same cool as it did hot, maybe with a bit more of that soapiness at the end.

In conclusion… These two teas are far more different in flavor than I would expect. Yes, they have several similar notes, but the ones that are different affect those similar notes in a way that makes them taste dissimilar in the end. I would almost describe these as being the corporeal and the ethereal form of the same tea. The Ailaoshan Black would be the corporeal version, with its earthier dark sugar, wood, and dark bread flavors. Therefore, the Ai Lao Mountain becomes its ethereal counterpart, with its lighter and whimsical floral element combined with the mild tang of the fruits.

Hah, that probably makes no sense, but I’m sticking with it! Overall, my preference is for the Ailaoshan Black, but considering I’m not a fan of floral, I consider myself to be biased in that regard. :P

Yay, I got my first package of Yunnan Sourcing samples from fellow Steepsterites! This package is from Nicole and she sent me six lovely black teas. Thanks, dear! I’ve tried this tea before and apparently I loved it. The leaves are very small and thin, almost wiry in shape. Dry scent is sweet and almost fruity.

The steeped tea smells rich and savory and sweet, all at the same time. It’s quite dark brown in color. First of all, I’m pretty sure I overleafed this a bit, as the sample didn’t look like quite enough for two cups, so I used the whole thing and filled my cup about as full as the steeper basket would allow. But it’s a Chinese tea, it can take it! The flavor is rich and somewhat sweet potato-y. This tea has the most amazing dark caramelized brown sugar and molasses notes, I assume because of the way it’s processed. So rich and dark and delish! There’s a wee touch of dark dried fruit as well, but that brown sugar and molasses flavor is definitely the star here. Om nom!

Sipdown! (149)

Aww, I’ll miss this tea! But it’s more important right now for me to reduce the number of teas in my cupboard instead of hoarding tiny samples. I can always order this one later, especially considering that Yunnan Sourcing is absolutely at the top of my list once my hiatus is over. This tea is so good! Rich and fruity, grainy and with a touch of herb or spice flavor. Definitely on my list for purchase!

On a side note, I would like to give a shout-out to Mandala for their Smart Soak. I got an ounce of it with my ripe puerh sampler, and it works very well! One of my poor little noble cups had a stubborn brown ring stain from tea sitting in it too long, and I wasn’t having any luck with trying to wash it out. So I mixed two cups of water with a teaspoon of the Smart Soak and filled the cup, then let it soak for probably about fifteen minutes or so. Stain gone! No scrubbing required! I was so happy. :D A question though, the package just says to rinse the teaware afterward, but should I be washing with soap and water? I’m not sure what’s in the Smart Soak, but I guess it must be safe for consumption if they’re only recommending a rinse. Just wondering! :D

This is an older sample, I think it’s from my first box from Nicole… Oopsies! The name of this one confuses me, hah! I thought Shou Mei was a white tea? But apparently Fu Shou Mei is the name for this specific tea processed with red cane sugar. The only other Feng Qing tea I’ve had is the dragon pearl variety from TeaVivre, and I wasn’t terribly impressed with it. Good but not great!

Anyway, long story short, I didn’t really know what to expect from this tea! The leaves are black and spindly, and quite long for how thin they are. I didn’t get much of a dry scent from them, maybe a little touch of sweet and malt. Did my usual 3 minute steep.

Ooh, aroma! The brewed tea smells strongly of raisins or prunes, with an obvious caramelized brown sugar scent. There’s malt there too, of course. I confess, on my first sip, it was totally an eyes-rolling-back-into-my-head moment. I love the strength of the dried fruit flavor in this tea! It’s dark and rich, with lots of raisin/prune and maybe a touch of fig. There’s a dark grainy flavor, not quite bready, more like raw grain but in a rich sense. I wouldn’t describe this tea as “sweet”, but it has a lot of molasses flavor along with dark caramelized sugar. It’s weird to describe a sugar flavor as not being sweet, I guess it adds more of a richness and almost toasty flavor.

This tea is so delicious, I’m now sad that I waited so long to try it. I’m sorry, little baggie that got lost at the bottom of my sample pile! This is the tea I would reach for when I want something dark, rich, and comforting. Definitely a reorder, and I would love to try the autumn harvest too!

This tea has wonderful and unusual tones of blue fruits (Loganberry, blackcurrants and concord grapes), tempered by honey, cocoa and an unusual tone of musk. I was attracted to this tea by its description promissing tones of rum and chocolate along with the fruit. The chocolate and fruit are definitely there. The rum is mildly apparent in a kind of boozy sugar cane tone that I found in one steep.

This was my first purple tea, so at first I was careful with temperature because I’ve been told they can be astringent but I have found that this tea is fairly forgiving so I have used water in the upper 90°C on it before. What you do need to be careful of is the amount of leaf you use. This is one of those teas that has long, wiry loosely folded leaves and it is easy to under leaf it. I made sure to cover the bottom of my Gaiwan with it. The leaves themselves are almost black and smell of chocolate and fruit, but mainly fruit.

I brewed this tea 6 times this time. The first four ( 30,50,90,&120s) had a pretty consistent flavour profile of blue fruits, honey, cocoa, musk, and cream, with sugar cane and fruit in the aftertaste and an occasional deeper tone to the honey. Starchy notes appeared in these steeps that ranged from faint grain notes to white potato. The tea has a light walnut colour and a creamy texture in the mouth.

The later steeps (170, & 240s) were still fairly rich in flavour but the musk notes were fading and the other tones mellowed and mixed with an artichoke note.

Altogether I have grown quite fond of this tea when I want something with a complex, creamy and fruity nature.

I brewed this in a 10oz mug with 12.5g of leaf and boiling water for 15 sec. It is good. It is slightly more bitter than sweet but has a lingering aftertaste. It has notes of plums or something similar, hard to describe. It is a worthwhile tea for the price.

I love this tea. I know it’s officially “aged” at 1 year old, but it has stood it’s test of time, and when I poured the hot water over these little golden curls of tea, it gave that aroma that I love so well. Autumn 2013 Bi Luo Chun has the expected notes of apricot and cocoa, but the mid-note isn’t just earth….it’s a loamy earth, very much like the delicate loaminess of a fabulous keemun. This gentle nudge toward a keemun gives Pure Bud Autumn 2013 a bit more of a refined flavor profile, making me sad that I’m getting to the bottom of this tin. It will be missed.

This tea is beautiful. Gorgeous golden leaves, wrapped tightly, promise something wonderful in the cup. Steeped, the leaves unfurl into long lovely light brown leaves and tips that smell of apricot, bittersweet cocoa and …well… tea!! Whenever I have this tea, I am delighted. The combination of cocoa, apricot and a subtle keemun note of light earthiness gives this tea a beautiful round mouthfeel with just the right amount of complexity to deliver a great cup of tea. There is no astringency in this tea, which makes the finish true to the lovely notes of this tea. Highly Recommended.

From Marco Polo TTB.

This was really delicious. I got a lot of honey from it, some dried fruits, raisins perhaps. It brewed up strong but not knock me down strong. Just nicely balanced. And the price is great on it – $6 for 50g. http://yunnansourcing.com/en/yunnan-black-teas/2850-spring-2014-high-mountain-red-ai-lao-mountain-black-tea.html

Definitely recommend this one!

Thank Stephanie for the sample! Have I ever mentioned that you have really nice handwriting?

I pulled this out of the sample bag this morning, and really enjoyed it. I had more than enough for one steep (I steep 11 oz at a time) but not quite enough for two, so I put it all in there and steeped for less time. Really delicious. I think I can get a third steep out of it as well.

I drink so many similar black teas that I’m running out of unique things to say about them, but I really liked this and would reorder if I saw it on sale. I have too much tea otherwise, especially since I just bought 400g of tea from Teavivre’s sale this morning.

Steph we will be at that same place tomorrow if you want me to bring samples of anything for you.

Method: 3.7 g, 3 oz, 205 degrees, rinse-2nd rinse-10-15-20-25 (blended in one mug), filigree gaiwan

Aroma: My little apricots. You’re just everywhere, aren’t you?

Flavor: Now this is interesting. This sheng is much less sweet than others I have tried. It’s also less fruity and has a strong bite on the end chomp. It also has a slightly more brothy feel.

It leaves a little burn in the throat and I think my heart is beating a little faster. Must be love?

http://instagram.com/p/rMe2DUPkS_/

I’m shenging again! Woo!

Method: 3.3 g, 3 oz, 205 degrees, rinse & 15-20-25 seconds, filigree gaiwan and Dr. Who mug

Aroma: Wow. The dry tea smells just amazing. Grapes and some other delicious thing that I can’t quite place. I bought a sample b/c the cake is pretty pricey. I kept sticking my nose in the bag!

Flavor: Smooth and sweet. This is a little fruity, but not with the apricot flavors I normally find in the shengs I have tried. This is harder for me to determine, but I really like it. It’s so pretty and comforting. It leaves my tongue tingling a bit, also. There weren’t any reviews for this one, so I think I just picked it on a whim. Go me!

Edit: And I lied! I did another set of steeps at 20-25-30 and the apricot IS there! These steeps are more brothy as well. I’m watching Sharknado 2 with this really excellent tea. Sheng happy!!!!!

A lovely easy to drink young sheng. Very little bitterness. Flowery and sweet. I’m not sure if it will age well, but it is a great drink now for sure.

Balanced, complex flavor and a sweet after-taste. Moderetly compressed factory cake – not too difficult to pick. Evidence of a few buds and whole leaf. Tea soup is a clear reddish brown with a wood and fruit flavor profile. Seems to resteep several times (4 so far) and still produce a flavorful cup. Appealing quality to price ratio making it a solid choice for an everyday ripe puerh.

Terri sent me this a long while back and though i’d had it a few times now, i haven’t yet written about it because i hadn’t really figured out how i felt about it. Often with puerhs i generally either really like them right off the get go, or i dislike them. This falls into that random not sure how i feel about this sort of puerh. it’s sort of malty..but mostly just kinda of middle of the road, not really committing to anything solid. I feel like this wouldn’t be a bad intro to puerh for someone who didn’t like really bold black teas or something. Would i ever purchase this myself? nope. I’ve enjoyed others more..but it’s not a bad tea.. thanks terri!

I’m supposed to be hoarding this tea because it’s one of my highest rated teas AND the YS website says you can keep it and it gets better with age. I am failing. This tea is the fall/winter version of YS gorgeous golden yunnans. It is a beautiful yunnan with a sweater on. The toasty notes make me toasty inside. Chilly mornings beckon for this tea. And I caved this morning…. nom.

Quality Assurance check this morning…..just making sure that this tea is a good as I said it was when I drank it last week. I’m staring into the cup with disbelief, because it is as good as I said it was in my review….and it’s cheaper than other Yunnans, and it’s toasty nomilicious flavor makes me want to stuff my face in the cup and gulp…. my verdict stands. I really really like this tea. Good thing Yunnan Sourcing sends a 4 cup sample, as I still have 2 more to go and that makes me happy.

I received this as a sample with my first order from Yunnan Sourcing. In the past, I have tried darker versions of favorite teas and have been put off of them because my expectations were different in my head. THIS time, I’m clearing my head of all expectations…just because a tea package says “Yunnan”, shouldn’t mean I expect yams and raisins and apricots, right? Well, it’s a good thing I cleared my head!

I was excepting something different and exotic with the Yak Butter but it wasn’t much different from the milk teas I was having earlier.
I’m not sure what yak butter tea suppose to taste like, I’ve only had cow and goat butter teas, it don’t really taste much like a butter tea to me, but it does have a buttery smooth kinda mouthfeel.

It has that same little twang that all these instant milky teas have and it’s super creamy and smooth and not too sweet, not quite as sweet as the milk teas.

I didn’t get the salty one, I want to try it now tho :)

This is a nice slightly aged sheng, and pretty economical. It brews a deep fall orange and has a mixture of dry and juicy flavors. It can be pretty bitter if brewed with lots of leaf, and must have been a real bruiser when it was young. Light camphor flavor, peach, sandalwood, tobacco, walnut, and fall leaves are the flavors/scents that come to mind.

This is the first tasting note I’ve posted for quite a while now, and it feels good to be back on Steepster. I like the new interface, and it’s great to see that the pu’erh loving community here has expanded.

The dry leaves have a thick aroma of ripe fruit and tobacco. Most are medium-large leaves in a deep purple black hue with high contrast of bright red, green, and gold leaves standing out.

Initial infusions have a strong smoky quality. More of a bold “charcoal” flavor than the lapsang barbecue type. The smoke was much stronger, but has faded over the past months.

The tea brews a gold-orange color. Clean, pure, wild taste with a thick mouthfeel and a fruity aroma that stays in the mouth long after you drink it. Strong tropical fruit flavors (something I associate with purple tea) like guava, longan, and plantain. Very tangy, but also very hearty with tobacco, barley, and dark beer flavors.

The charcoal taste fades in the later steepings, and is replaced by a nice mineral quality. I’m left with strong qi feelings running along the forehead and feel strong and steady like a mountain. This isn’t my favorite tea from Yunnan Sourcing, but it is quite nice and I enjoy the unique purple tea qualities. Good bargain.

I’m really itching to place a big YS order, it’s been almost a year! I’ve been saving up money for it, but this past week the vacuum tubes in my guitar amp have gone microphonic, so it seems my tea acquisition has been set back yet again.

This is a nice little gem from the Boyou factory. The cake has a nice feel to it – a pretty wrapper and all. It is very tightly compressed. First infusions are sweet and flowery, with notes of Lucky Charms. Later infusions taste a bit deeper and darker, with some age showing through. But it still tastes young overall, probably because of the compression. A little huigan, sourness, and just a touch of astringency and smoke here and there. Overall a nice drink.